May 11, 2012

Creamy Vegetable Mash

A winter dish in May? Surely, that can’t be right. It can if you live in Scotland. Our weather is bizarre and unpredictable most of the time.

I used to complain about the heat when I lived in Saudi Arabia and Cyprus. Today, I would love to be sitting on a balcony in Paphos, looking out over the Mediterranean. As I offer my face to the sun, I’m sipping a cold KEO beer and nibbling mezedhes.

But, back to reality and I’m in Edinburgh. It’s cold, wet and windy. I’m glad I don’t have to go out because it’s drizzling with the sort of rain that you can hardly see but manages to soak through to your bones. I need comfort food. And that means mashed potatoes.

But that’s only the beginning. Add mashed carrots, shredded greens, mustard and cream and you have a dish that’s warming and filling. Make extra and next day fry it in a pan on both sides, like rosti, and top with a fried egg and a couple of slices of grilled bacon. I used ruby chard for this dish as that is what I happened to have available. But, you can use Swiss chard, kale or even finely shredded cabbage.

Creamy Vegetable Mash (serves 2)

2 large potatoes, peeled and quartered
2 large carrots, scraped or peeled and cut into slices
2 bunches ruby chard
2 tsp wholegrain mustard
125ml crème fraiche
Sea Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Chives or spring onions (optional)

Steam or boil the potatoes until tender.
In a separate pan, steam or boil the carrots until tender.
Meanwhile, prepare the chard. Remove the leaves from the stems and shred. Cut the stems into short pieces. Steam the stems for 5 minutes then add the shredded leaves and steam both for a further 5 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside.
Mash the potatoes then add the cooked carrots and mash them together until smooth. It doesn’t matter if you have a few small lumps of carrot but try to get the potatoes really smooth.
Mix the ruby chard in to the potatoes and carrots with the mustard and the crème fraiche.
Add a sprinkling of salt, grind in some pepper.
Taste and add more seasoning and more crème fraiche, if necessary. The mash should be smooth, creamy with little flecks of orange and red.
Serve hot with snipped chives or shredded spring onions.