Exploits of a Vegan Wannabe

A few weeks ago while at the farmers market picking up our CSA share, I overheard my friend Charlie from Living Stones farm telling another customer to add beets to her mashed potatoes.  He told her that they would add a soft sweetness and earthiness. Plus, they would turn the mash pink or purplish, depending on the amount of beets used. Sounds like a great way to get your children or yourself to eat beets.

So, last night we paired them to create a very surprising dish. Really,  I just thought that it would taste like mashed potatoes with beets. I like both mashed potatoes and beets, so why not make a big pink bunch of it? The surprising part was what they did together. Like a legendary dance duo, both were very good on their own,  but completely memorable together.

Photo By: S. Duquet

We used both white and red beets because that is what we had in the fridge. Use any beets you have to create this dish. I bet it would be wonderful with Golden Beets as well. We enjoyed ours with stuffed green peppers. Yum. Thank you Charlie for the tip.

Beet Mash

By:  Inspired by Charlie and created by S. Boulton

Ingredients

6 C water + 1/4 C for mashing

3 C of beets peeled and chopped

3 C of redskin potatoes cut into approx 1 inch pieces  (the key here is that the beets need to be cut smaller than the potatoes because they would take longer to cook if not)

1 C of non-dairy milk  (may need more if not creamy enough)

1 Tbsp of nutritional yeast

1 tsp fresh ground pepper (more to taste)

1 tsp of garlic powder

Make it Happen:

Bring 6 C water to a boil and cook beets and potatoes until fork tender, about 15-20 minutes.  Drain, rinse and now add 1/4 C water and all remaining ingredients.  Blend and mash together with potato masher until creamy, leaving a few small lumps for texture.

The beets somehow made the potato silkier and creamier while the potato made the beets taste sweeter. The added texture of the beet helped the dish transcend mashed potato status. The combination, which we served naked, without added vegan butter, salt or otherwise was divine just sitting there on the plate. They were earthy in a beautiful way like a hand picked cucumber or fist full of ripe blackberries.

This is a fun dish and a great way to enjoy more beets.

Have a delicious day.

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