Mushroom Mashed Potatoes

I recently purchased some black truffle oil at the store. I made the purchase as one of my colleagues keeps talking about a truffle oil mashed potatoes that he makes, and you can see the excitement on his face when he talks about it. I did a little research, not thinking that my local grocery store would carry such a thing, but low and behold, an Italian made truffle oil. Not only was I excited about the fact that they had the truffle oil in stock, but now I had something new to use, however I darn well pleased.

I immediately thought of making my version of the truffle oiled mashed potatoes, but I wanted something earthy this week, and since I made roast beef slathered in a rosemary and garlic marinade, I wanted to have the mushroom mashed potatoes as a side, and boy, was it ever good.

Ingredients:

• 1 pint of button mushrooms, stems trimmed, dirt removed, chopped
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cracked black pepper
• 7 yukon gold potatoes, peeled, and cubed
• 1 head of roasted garlic
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup of milk
• 1 tsp truffle oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Begin by making your roasted garlic as this will take a bit of time to cook. During this time, add one tablespoon of the butter and olive oil to a saute pan.  On medium low heat, add in the finely chopped mushrooms, and let them sit there and do their thing, for about 15 minutes. Stir often. The goal here is to remove the moisture from the mushrooms, coming up with a nice and earthy mushroom base.

Add the cubed potatoes to a large pot of water. Cover, and cook on medium high heat until the potatoes are fork tender. Drain and return the potatoes back to the pot, and back on medium heat until all of the water is evaporated from the potatoes. Remove, and get ready to make the mashed potatoes.

To the pot, add the four tablespoons of butter, a teaspoon of salt and pepper, the milk, and squeeze out the roasted garlic. Get your potato masher out and do just that, mash. Mash to your desired consistency.

Toss in the cooked mushrooms, and truffle oil, and mix well. You are now ready to plate and serve.

The outcome is a perfect combination of mushroom and garlic flavor and a nice texture from the chopped mushrooms in the potatoes. If you are looking for something earthy, and super delicious, try this new take on mashed potatoes. You will be glad you did.

Enjoy.