READING: I’m getting in a lot of reading on this trip . . . Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10(Luttrell); on my Kindle; about a Navy SEAL team who went into Afghanistan to capture an Al-Queda senior operative. Luttrell is the only one who survived; Ungarnished Truth (Matthews); actually I’ve just finished reading this on my Kindle. True story about a woman who won the Pillsbury Bake-Off some years ago. It was a quick and easy read, about her experiences from beginning to end. She won a million dollars. Also read, in one day, another book on my Kindle -Same Kind of Different as Me: A modern-day slave, an international art dealer and the unlikely woman who bound them together (Hall & Moore); About an illiterate black man named Denver Moore (true story, this) who is befriended by a wealthy couple in Ft. Worth, Texas. It’s partly about their Christian faith (the latter couple) and how they minister to Denver at a homeless shelter and a soup kitchen. It’s also as much about Debbie Hall’s fight with cancer and how everyone who knows them is touched by her courage. No way can you read this story without crying. Debbie Hall lost her life to cancer. But Denver Moore deserves lots of tears too. What he endured as a young person, in the 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s, is almost not to be believed. But I’m sure it’s true.
BOOKS WAITING ON MY KINDLE: Shanghai Girls(See); Olive Kitteridge (Elizabeth Strout), The Help (Kathryn Stockett).
JUST FINISHED: Unaccustomed Earth(Lahiri short stories, on my Kindle); enjoyed the stories immensely. I wanted every single one of them to continue. To be a book rather than 20 pages long. These are all relatively long for short stories. Lahiri just pulls you in to her characters.
IN THE POWDER ROOM: Ratio (Ruhlman), the book about using ratios in the kitchen, mostly for baking; Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant (Adler, editor), a collection of stories about people who cook and/or eat alone; and Other People’s Love Letters(Shapiro, editor), a collection of real love letters, people from all walks of life, and the funny or awful things they write to a spouse or lover. The Trouble with Poetry, by Billy Collins, also lives there (the author used to be a U.S. poet laureate). These last two always reside in the powder room for my guests to grab for a quick read.
How did the word “yum” ever come into being? It’s not a very pleasant sounding one, to my ears, and yet I do use it. Probably too often. I don’t even like the look of the word in print, either. And yet, it conveys the meaning very well. Maybe I liked it better before Rachel Ray started using the word “yum-o,” which I think is really a rank permutation of a not-very-good word. Makes me think we can’t come up with adjectives to describe something that tastes really, really good. Something that wakes up the taste buds, or soothes them, whichever the case may be.
And surely, mashed potatoes are mashed potatoes, after all. I do enjoy them immensely. More than rice. More than pasta even, but now we know they’re not all that good for us because they’re a high glycemic carb. That means they digest quickly, turn into sugar which pours into our bloodstream faster than we’d like food to do – we want food that sticks to the ribs, but in the low glycemic way – like grains do – to sustain energy, to keep us going for hours before another meal. Like brown rice does. So these days, mashed potatoes are a real, honest-to-goodness treat. I try to slap my hands when I reach for a 3-lb. bag of Yukon Gold at the market. Once in awhile I succumb, though.
Last week I attended a cooking class about comfort foods. I’d signed up for the class months ago, and didn’t even recall the subject until my friend Cherrie and I arrived at the class. Ah yes, “comfort on a plate” it was titled. We got four recipes altogether (short ribs, these mashed potatoes, green beans, and a chocolate dessert). They were all relatively simple to make, but they sure did rate high on that comfort factor. The short ribs and mashed potatoes with the sauce from the ribs poured over the potatoes . . . oh yes. Comfort for sure.
This recipe is nothing all that different as far as prep. While the potatoes are simmering (starting with COLD water, by the way) you sauté the shallots under low, low heat, so they turn golden brown, but not burned. The potatoes are riced, if possible, tossed with a bit of cream and butter and truffle oil is poured in at the end. That’s it. Nothing more. Nothing less.
One of the students in the class asked with a low voice and eyes downcast, if the chef would remove her portion before she added the truffle oil. You don’t like truffle oil? the chef blurted out. No, she said, I don’t like mushrooms. The chef said, there’s nothing in truffle oil that even remotely tastes like mushrooms.
We know that truffles are a mushroom. A much-prized one I might add – to the tune of several hundred dollars per mushroom. But they have the most elusive, yet unique flavor. But one tablespoon of truffle infused oil in a big pot of mashed potatoes? To tell you the truth, I couldn’t even TASTE the truffle oil. But anyway, the chef said she’d give her a small portion of both so she could taste the difference. Most of the rest of us were teasing the poor young woman. She did speak up later and said she liked the one with truffle oil, so she would never disparage a truffle again! So, in case you’ve never had truffle oil, I heartily suggest you try it. You can buy very small bottles of it in some places. Or larger bottles as well.
Prior to this above dialog, one of the other students in the class asked why the chef would put chocolate in mashed potatoes? She’d only seen truffle candy and couldn’t quite get the incongruity of mashed potatoes mixed up with chocolate. We all got a good laugh about that.
But oh so good are these potatoes. Delicious. Smooth. Comforting. Hot. And yes, yummy.
Mashed Potatoes with Caramelized Shallots and Truffle Oil
Recipe By: Deb Buzar, professional chef
Serving Size: 4
2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes
1/4 cup heavy cream — warmed
3 tablespoons unsalted butter — softened
1 tablespoon truffle oil salt and pepper — to taste
2 tablespoons Italian parsley — chopped
1.Peel the potatoes if desired, cut them into quarters and place in a large pot.Cover by 3 inches with COLD, salted water and bring to a boil, then cook under simmering heat until potatoes are fork tender.
2.Drain potatoes and place back on the stove top (no heat) or in a warm oven and allow potatoes to dry out for 5-10 minutes.Once dry, push potatoes through a potato ricer or food mill and back into the pot.Add warmed cream and softened butter and stir until desired consistency is achieved.Add more cream or butter if needed.Add any herbs you’d like, or parsley and mix in.Add truffle oil and mix well.Add salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately.
Now, just guess what I’ll be having for my dinner tonight?? Nothing else, just the potatoes, perfect comfort food on a cold spring day.
I didn’t know whether to laugh at the comment about chocolate or be saddened that someone had not been taught better about food. On the whole I think it better to laugh with the lady.
Toffeeapple
said on May 15th, 2008:
Now, just guess what I’ll be having for my dinner tonight?? Nothing else, just the potatoes, perfect comfort food on a cold spring day.
I didn’t know whether to laugh at the comment about chocolate or be saddened that someone had not been taught better about food. On the whole I think it better to laugh with the lady.