Mashed Potato and then do the Twist!
Recipes
FEM Chef

18th June 2013

 

Our Executive Chef Dushan Lukovic shares his method for mash using a Vollrath planetary mixer

With great serving suggestions

Not far away from my village in Lincolnshire there is a cottage on a quiet lane where farmers leave vegetables for sale. There is rarely anyone around – you simply take what you want and leave money in a jar. I buy my potatoes from these farmers I have never met. Last week I bought these knobbly earth encrusted new potatoes, simmered them, roughly mashed them, added olive oil, salt and pepper, chopped lemon thyme and a bunch of watercress on top - that’s all I had for dinner and I have never tasted potatoes so good.
It’s a shame that in our industry we do not have time to walk around quiet country lanes - we order from a trustworthy source, our veg
man as we call them. I always ask Bob, our local veg man, for Charlotte potatoes for my mash: Charlotte for mash is the answer!


Ingredients
2kg of Charlotte potatoes
450gr of unsalted butter (cut in cubes)
Warm milk to taste
2 tbs salt

Equipment
Potato ricer
Vollrath Planetary Mixer

 

Recipe (for the fluffiest of all!)
1) Peel your potatoes and cut them 2-3cm thick. Run the potato slices under cold water to wash off surface starch.
2) Heat a large pan filled with water until it reaches 80°C / 175°F. Add your potatoes and simmer for 40- 45 minutes (don’t let the potatoes boil and brake).
3) When soft, drain potato slices. Place them back in the pan and get rid of any remaining water by shaking the pan over gentle heat.
4) For the fluffiest of all, tip your potatoes in a potato ricer and rice hot potatoes over cubed semi cold butter, mix well, then push the battery potatoes through a fine meshed drum sieve.
5) Heat up the pan again, whisking the potatoes and gradually adding warm milk. You will end up with fluffy, smooth, silky mash. Add salt and a touch of white pepper, there you go!
6) Now, you could quenelle it on the plate, you can put it through a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe it on the plate, or just spoon quenelle, dipping the spoon in hot water for every new portioning.
7) Tip for fast service wrap a cling film around your oval spatula, mash potato will never stick.
8) LARGE BATCH METHOD: Use the same cooking method and ingredients, this time instead of the ricer use the industrial mixer with a balloon whisk. Drain the potatoes when soft, lightly mash them with a potato masher, place them in a mixer bowl, add your cubed butter. Fix the balloon whisk on to your mixer, and whip it up on the medium speed. For just a few minutes or until fluffy, add salt white pepper to taste.

Serving Suggestions
You could propose and marry your mash potato with:
- Basil pesto
- Roasted smoked red bell pepper pesto
- Crispy garlic, or garlic infused olive oil
- Crumbled black pudding
- Young spinach leaves or savoy cabbage , turning it in to colcannon
- Creamy bell paese cheese
- Cubed smoked fried bacon ( lardons )
- Drizzle with white truffle oil
- Turn it in to Irish champ with spring onions and peas
- Chopped fresh lemon thyme and basil
- Crispy crumbled pancetta
- Crushed pork scratching’s and red peppercorn ( if that’s your taste, I love it! )

View Vollrath Planetary Mixers
 

 

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