Friday, December 9, 2011

Pink mashed potatoes with beets and beet greens

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I am drawn to color. My shirts are lipstick red, royal blue, lime green. My laptop case is magenta. The winter coat I bought last year when I got a job that required me to travel to Minneapolis in January is bright purple. If you ever see me wearing a beige anything, either I inherited it from my mother or I got it as a gift from someone who didn't know me very well.

The house in which we've lived for the past 15 years has white walls. White, that is, except for one. I woke up one morning a few years ago and felt an overwhelming need for color. The white walls, the oak floors, the neutral shelves, the leather couch - something snapped and all of a sudden I felt as if I were living in a stranger's house.

I went to the paint store while Michael was at work, got a dozen tiny pots of paint, stood on a step-stool, and painted big vertical stripes on the header beam that separates the older part of our kitchen from the addition we put on a dozen years ago. Blue, green, purple, red, rust, yellow. I wanted an accent wall.

Michael walked in that evening and stopped short. "What...what is that?" he asked.

"We're painting the header and beam with an accent color," I said firmly.

Silence. Silence.

"Well," he said, "I guess we are now."

We picked (I picked) a brick-red, and I love it. Michael does not. It's been years and he's still not over it. I keep thinking that one day I'll come home from work and he will have made it white again. So far it hasn't happened...but you never know.

Does this explain the magenta mashed potatoes? I like food with color, too. I'm trying to bring more vegetable colors into my diet. Mashed potatoes on their own are good. But mashed potatoes with beets and sauteed beet greens are quite fabulous to the palate and the eye. And they're good for you, too.


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Pink mashed potatoes with beets and beet greens
Classic mashed potatoes mixed with creamy goat cheese, pureed beets and sauteed beet greens - tastes great, looks outrageous.
Ingredients
  • 2 large Idaho russet potatoes
  • 1 beet, any size
  • beet greens, from 1 bunch beets
  • 2 tsp olive oil
  • 4 ounces fresh goat cheese (chevre)
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • salt and freshly ground pepper
Instructions
Wash the potatoes and beet well and peel them with a vegetable peeler. Cut the potatoes into chunks, then cut the beets into pieces about half as small as the potatoes. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Boil the vegetables about 20 minutes, until both the potatoes and beets are tender. While the potatoes and beets are boiling, wash the beet greens and slice them into thin ribbons. Heat the olive oil in a pan and add the beet greens. Saute 3-4 minutes, until they are wilted but not cooked thoroughly. They should still be bright green.Use a slotted spoon to transfer the potato chunks to a large bowl, then put the cooked beets with a little of the cooking liquid into a blender or food processor and whizz until smooth. Add the pureed beets to the potatoes and mash together with a potato masher. Crumble in the goat cheese with your fingers and add the cream. Mix until everything is well blended, then fold in the sauteed beet greens. Season with salt and pepper and serve immediately.
Details
Prep time: Cook time: Total time: Yield: 4 servings

9 comments:

Sunchowder said...

I really like the look of this recipe and I just happen to have beets that I recently pickled, I am going to try this with them and subsituting the greens for sauted balsamic onions. Great inspiration and beautiful colors!

Erika Kerekes said...

Sunchowder - let me know how it tastes with pickled beets - I bet it will be great, nice and tangy!

Dena said...

Pretty wild. I not only like the color of the dish, but the beets and potatoes together sound delish. And I hear you about color. When we bought our house every room was chalk boring white. Now there is a different color and texture in every room. Kudos to you.

BonnieBanters said...

Well, Erika, I too love color; and these pink potatoes drew me right in! With the goat cheese, I'm just totally wowed! Thanks for an unordinary and fun dish to serve!

Marnely Rodriguez-Murray said...

I love beets and had never thought about adding them to mashed potatoes, gorgeous!

Will said...

I thought I'd wait till after I tried this recipe to comment on it. I was a little worried that my traditional family wouldn't like it very much but they tried it and even the young kids loved it this is a great variation of mashed potatoes that will be done on many dinners in the future

Erika Kerekes said...

@Will I am so happy to hear that your family liked it!

Ami said...

I want an all pink / red meal for our Valentines dinner. Going to pair these with a med-rare steak! Maybe some pomegranate as a garnish for the steak... Still brainstorming.

Erika Kerekes said...

@Ami that sounds delicious! What time should I be there? :)

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