If there’s one dish that reminds me of my childhood, it’s mashed potatoes. We always had a simple version at home, that I enjoyed with a dab of butter that melted and transformed into a lake on top of the potato mountain… I also have a vivid memory of a dinner I had at my best friend’s house – I must have been something like 8 years old – and they’d added raw cubed onion in the mash. I was amazed – it was so nice, a tiny tweak and the mash had gotten a whole new dimension. (Yes, I’ve always loved food. And I also remember their pork cutlets.)
So, these days I like to add new things in my mashed potatoes and they sometimes hit the spot. After baking the pinwheels I was thinking hazelnuts, and the resulting variation might well be the best one I’ve mashed so far. Pink peppercorns added a touch of elegance in terms of taste and presentation.
We enjoyed these with steamed bok choy and fried tofu that Heikki prepared while I was busy with the potatoes.
Nutty mashed potatoes:
- about 10 small floury potatoes
- 1 dl cashew nuts, lightly roasted
- 1/2 dl hazelnuts, lightly roasted
- 1 dl cold water
- about 1 dl cooking liquid from the potatoes
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pink peppercorns, crushed
I peeled and sliced the potatoes, and boiled them in enough fresh water to cover until soft, for about 10 minutes. While they were boiling, I ground the cashews and hazelnuts with the 1 dl of water in our mini food processor, until the mixture became creamy and smooth.
When the potatoes were done, I drained them, reserving some of the cooking liquid, and then mashed them carefully with our potato masher. Now, I added the margarine, nut cream, salt, and enough reserved cooking liquid to reach the consistency I was after. Sometimes I whip the potatoes at this point to make them extra fluffy. Before serving, I sprinkled the crushed pink pepper over the pile of mashed potatoes.
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