One Potato, Two Potato

Warm Comfort of Root Vegetables

During the holidays, and all throughout the cooler months, root vegetables are a cook's best friend. They're inexpensive, they're popular, they're delicious. Who doesn't like a good spud?

Thanksgiving is a perfect opportunity to pull out the stops, something reliable like perfect mashed and then something new.

For Best-Ever Mashed Potatoes

Start with the right potato. Baking potatoes (Idaho potatoes) are best for, guess what: baking. And they are unparalleled for that. High in vitamins and potassium (more than a banana!) you should have one or two around for a good, healthy snack or lunch.

Choose Yukon Golds. By boiling these golden, cream-fleshed potatoes in chicken broth, you reduce the fat needed to get buttery golden mashed potatoes.

Ingredients:

• Yukon Gold potatoes (1 per+1 rule, see below)
• Chicken Broth (low sodium, low fat, natural)
• Milk, S&P (white pepper is best)
• Butter to taste. 

Tools: A potato masher or ricer, or hand mixer.

Technique:

1. Scrub potatoes clean. Depending on their size and your appetites, one for each person and one for the pot is a rule of thumb if they're large. In my house, we double this, but that's probably about my gravy....
   
2. Cut the potatoes in half. You may peel or leave peel on if you choose.
   Bring two cartons of low sodium chicken broth to a boil, add salt.
3. Add potatoes, boil gently (medium rolling boil) until knife inserted yields with minimal resistance.
4. Drain potatoes, return to pot and return to burner with heat turned off. This will dry out excess moisture.
5. If you have left peel on and would like to remove it now, simply wait until the potatoes are cool enough to handle and pinch off the skin. It will slide off easily. This is much easier than peeling.
   If you have a potato ricer, you can also press the potatoes with the skin on and it will be left behind in the basket of the ricer.
6. Heat some milk, low fat is fine, between 1/4 C and 1/2 C.  Add a bit at a time.
   Add a Tablespoon or two of butter. White pepper and salt. 
   

Variations:

You may add roasted garlic, chives, cheese or parsnips which make a slightly sweet and nutty contribution.

Rutabaga
The poor unappreciated rutabaga. It originates as a cross between turnip and a cabbage – talk about a modest start. It grows well in harsh weather and cold climates. It even grows in Siberia. It keeps so many people alive during wars it picks up the reputation as “famine food.” People want to leave the humble “yellow turnip” or “Swede” as they’re called in Europe, behind.

But why turn our backs on such a humble and reliable friend? I say we give this faithful root vegetable its proper respect. It asks so little of us: boil it, mash it, a smidge of butter to complement its sweet and slightly bitter taste, a little s&p. That’s all.

You want to dress up your country cousin? Go ahead. You’ll be in the company of some of the top chefs in the country. Even celebrity chefs are rediscovering the humble rutabaga. Some people balk. Some people love it. You won’t know until you try.

White turnips can be sweet with just a little bite. Boil them, mash them, add a little gruyere, milk, butter, and nutmeg.  

Celeriac
Talk about staying power. This knobby ugly duckling goes all the way back to the Greeks. It’s in Homer’s Odyssey. The French have used it since the Middle Ages. We’ve just begun to discover it. This root vegetable is a cousin of celery and carries a slight celery flavor to prove its lineage.

It is pleasant enough to stand on its own as a mash…It’s agreeable enough to play nice with others, add it to a potato gratin. Fabulous when added to soup, diced and added to a roasted root vegetables, it adds a terrific dimension.

The French love it raw in a slaw like salad called rémoulade. Tryy it as an addition to carrot soup.

Celeriac is a good source of fiber, vitamins (B6, C), minerals (magnesium, potassium, manganese, phosphorus.) No fat, no cholesterol. All it needs is a good peel and a little acidulated water (squeeze some lemon juice into a bowl of water) to keep it creamy white before cooking. See http://www.epicurious.com/cooking/menus/cooknow/celery_root%E2%80%9D%3E%20%20Epicurious.com%3C/a%3E" target="_blank" mce_href="%3Ca%20mce_thref=%E2%80%9Dhttp://www.epicurious.com/cooking/menus/cooknow/celery_root%E2%80%9D%3E%20%20Epicurious.com%3C/a%3E">Epicurious.com for some great ideas using celeriac.