My Lilac-Blue Mashed Potato Recipe

I cooked that meal last night for dinner. I am showing you because I used a type of potatoes I never seen before. You probably noticed that grocery stores are carrying more and more types of potatoes. With 4000 types of potatoes, it seems appropriate that we explore new ones.

One of the gourmet potatoes is the All Blue potatoes. In Finland, they serve it mashed with sour cream. The purple-blue flesh has a mild, slightly sweet flavor with a subtle hazelnut taste. This potato is versatile since it is very good mashed, steamed and boiled. The minute I saw it, I thought that the All Blue potatoes could be a special addition at the Christmas table of anyone who embraces the lilac trend (winter) this Holiday season.

My Mashed Potato Recipe

No need to find this specific potato, you can use any potato fit to be mashed with my recipe. I transformed my mother’s recipe over the years to include my love of bay leaves and fresh herbs. You get pleasing texture if you heat your milk.

• You cook the peeled potatoes on salted boiling water with 1 to 3 bay leaves – it depends of your taste.
• In the meantime, warm a cup of milk – you may pour a little less in your potatoes but I prefer to be ready. Once the milk is hot, drop 3 whole bay leaves, put a cover and infuse for 15 minutes. Then, filter the milk with a fine strainer.
• I dry the drained potatoes with a tea towel before putting them back in the pot
• Add the warm milk slowly as you manually mash the potatoes. I believe that you get the best results with a potato masher. I use a strong wire potato masher.
• Cut about 3 ounces (100 grams) of salted butter in small pieces. Spread over the potatoes, put freshly ground pepper to taste. Mix well. Adjust the seasoning.
• I add 1 to 2 tablespoon of freshly cut herbs that I finely chopped. Which herbs I use depends on my main dish.

Grilled bison medallions were the main dish. Therefore, I select fresh marjoram because it goes well with red meats.