Mashed Potatoes with Mascarpone

Ah. Mashed potatoes. With some little puddles of melted butter. What's there not to like, I ask you?


When I was planning the menu for the dinner I did the other night, I wanted something to go with the pork chops and apple cider sauce. Something that would also be a vehicle for the sauce. I could have made plain rice (which I admit, sounded the best), but somehow the cider sauce didn't sound good with brown rice. I rarely make white rice anymore. I actually don't make mashed potatoes much either. Last time was Thanksgiving dinner. But, after pondering my menu, I decided mashed potatoes were the best fit. But not just plain mashed potatoes. Once I consulted my recipe collection I knew the mashed potatoes with mascarpone was the right one. It has tons of chopped Italian parsley in it, and of course, an ample amount of mascarpone.


Probably most people think mascarpone is used mostly for desserts. And here in the U.S., I suppose it is. But after all, it's just a cheese. Something like cream cheese, but made a bit differently. It has a consistency that's in between sour cream and cream cheese, and it has a very creamy taste. The credit for this recipe goes to Tarla Fallgatter, a cooking instructor here in our part of the world.


You cook the potatoes with the green onions, which flavors the potatoes throughout. Then you mash them by hand (you want a few lumps) and add in the mascarpone, a bit of the water you cooked the potatoes in, and a mound of chopped Italian parsley. Season it, and you're done. Making this recipe seemed like the right option since I could make this ahead. Once made, I plopped the whole batch into my crockpot and set it to low, then scooped it out into a serving bowl at the last minute. Delicious.


Cook's Notes: be sure to save a cup of the potato water when you drain the potato and green onion mixture. And be careful adding white pepper - it's more potent than black pepper.

Mashed Potatoes with Mascarpone
Recipe: Tarla Fallgatter, cooking instructor
Servings: 8
3 pounds Yukon gold potatoes -- scrubbed
2 bunches green onions -- coarsely chopped
1 1/2 cups Mascarpone cheese -- room temperature
1/4 cup Italian Parsley -- chopped
Ground white pepper and salt -- to taste
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1. Cut the potatoes into large chunks if they're big. Cover with water in a large saucepan and add green onions. Add salt, cover and simmer for about 25 minutes.
2. Drain potatoes, reserving about 1 cup of the cooking water. Return potatoes to the pan and coarsely mash them with a potato masher, add cheese, parsley and some of the cooking liquid if they are too stiff. Add additional liquid to make the right consistency. Season to taste with salt and white pepper. Keep warm in a low oven until ready to serve.
NOTES : Be careful of the white pepper - it's powerful stuff.
Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 263 Calories; 13g Fat (43.9% calories from fat); 5g Protein; 31g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 37mg Cholesterol; 25mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 2 1/2 Fat.
Printer-friendly recipe: click title at top.

Crostini with Blue Cheese, Apples & Watercress

(photo from crostini.com)

I really need to get a photo of this appetizer for you all. The above photo looks sort of like it. Wish I could prepare this right now and could photograph it for real. Soon. Hopefully. The broken bone in my foot is improving, thank goodness.

Crostini is an Italian word - I think it means little toasts, or something similar. That's exactly what these are. The recipe calls for a nut or fruited bread. Here in Southern California we can buy bread from La Brea Bakery (Nancy Silverton's famous bakery, although it's been sold to a big baking conglomerate). They have a raisin and pecan baguette that is perfect for this crostini. Otherwise find some kind of nut bread or fruit bread if at all possible. You slice and lightly toast the pieces, spread on a little bit of the cheese mixture containing mascarpone and blue cheese, some thinly sliced apples, then you top each one with some watercress leaves, THEN you lightly drizzle the top with honey. Oh. My. Goodness. Delicious. This recipe is going into my TOP FAV's over on the right column.

Last Fall Cherrie and I attended a cooking class at Our House South County, in San Juan Capistrano. It was all about apples. The cooking school had about 10 varieties of apples from New England shipped to them and they developed recipes all around them. We did a tasting of 6 different apples with 6 different artisanal honey varieties. Gosh were those good. Many of the apples are varieties we can't buy here in California. They're never available in our local markets. So they have to be shipped.

Remember my adage about cooking classes - if I come home from a cooking class with even one special recipe that I'll make, then I count that class as successful and worth the class fee. THIS is the recipe from that class, and I've made them several times.

With apples, you sort of have to cut them up just before you eat them or they will turn brown. If you want to get everything ready before you serve them, you could toss the apples with lemon juice, but I'm not crazy about the lemon juice taste on the crostini. So maybe just acidulated water (a bit of lemon juice in a cup of water) would be better. You can leave the skin on the apples - in fact the crostini look prettier with it on, especially if you're using a red skinned apple. Everything else can be prepared ahead and then it's just a matter of assembling them. I've been known to ask a guest to make them for me. But, you may want to make one and taste it so you know the proportion of cheese to watercress, apple and honey. The honey helps everything stick, so usually you layer the cheese, then the apples, then a bit of watercress, then honey on top.

This is one of those recipes that had I read it in a magazine or a cookbook, I probably would NEVER have made it. Why? Well, I'm not sure I can say. There isn't anything I don't like in this combination, but I don't know that I would have bothered to layer everything up, toast the toasts, etc. Lots of detail work. And yes, that's true, there is a bit of fussy work to be done to serve these. But the end result is extraordinary. And worth it. Absolutely everyone I've served this to has raved about it. So will you, if you try it. I guarantee it.

Crostini with Blue Cheese, Apples & Watercress
Recipe from: Our House South County Cooking School
Servings: 30
BLUE CHEESE SPREAD:
1 cup mascarpone cheese -- softened
2 tablespoons heavy cream
4 teaspoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons fresh thyme -- minced and crushed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper -- freshly ground
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
2 cups blue cheese -- crumbled
CROSTINI:
30 slices baguette bread -- nut or raisin, toasted lightly
2 large apple -- thinly sliced
4 teaspoons honey
3 cups watercress -- leaves only
1. CHEESE: Mix mascarpone, cream, lemon juice, thyme, salt, pepper, cayenne together in a medium bowl. Gently stir in blue cheese. Cover and chill until ready to serve.
2. CROSTINI: Allow cheese spread to warm to room temperature, then spread it onto the toasted bread slices. On half of the blue cheese spread, place thin apple slices, and on the other half lay a few pieces of watercress, pushing it on slightly so it will adhere. Drizzle the honey over the top and serve.
Serving Ideas : You can't assemble this ahead, but it doesn't take much time to assemble if you have everything ready in small dishes. A tray of these will keep at room temperature for about an hour. AND, leftovers the next morning are just fine. NOTES : This sounds kind of ho-hum. But the combination of the mild blue cheese spread with the fresh, crispy apple slices, the watercress for crunch, and the drizzle of honey makes it sublime. I buy La Brea Bakery's pecan and raisin bread, slice it thin, toast it for about 8-10 minutes at 350. This is best with some kind of fruited bread.
Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 123 Calories; 5g Fat (38.1% calories from fat); 4g Protein; 15g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 12mg Cholesterol; 280mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 1 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.
To view a printable recipe, click on title at top.