Mystery Mash

Surprise your family with an absolutely delicious alternative to mashed potatoes. Here's a recipe for a beautiful and tasty vegetable dish that your family is bound to love. For best results you will need a food processor.  But if you don't have one, then I would recommend using a good hand masher or pushing the finished product through a potato press before whipping with a regular mixer. And it goes without saying (but I will say it anyway), always choose fresh organic produce for the healthiest end product.

This recipe will feed two or three, but is easily expandable.

Ingredients:

• 1 Golden beet
• 1 Turnip
• 1 Rutabaga
• 1 Potato (Russet will give best consistency)
• Garlic, one or two cloves, pealed and quartered
• Fresh parsley, about a tablespoon finely chopped 
• Butter ("Pasture" butter from grass-fed cows), about 1/2 stick
• Salt & Pepper (to taste)

Instructions:

Vegetables should be approximately equal in size. For a larger number of people, increase the quantity of vegetables in roughly equal proportions. Peel and dice each of the root vegetables into about one-inch chunks and set in separate bowls of filtered cold water until ready to add to the pot. Fill a medium (2 quart) stainless steel pot about half full of water and bring to a boil over a medium heat. When water is boiling, start the beet and garlic first and boil for ten minutes. Use a timer - you don't want to overcook. At the end of ten minutes, add the turnip and rutabaga and boil another five minutes. Then add the potato and cook a further ten minutes (25 minutes in all). Drain the water off and transfer to your food processor. Add the butter and parsley and process until all the chunks are broken down but there is still some body (a minute or so).

Serve hot!

Dare to be different! Feel free to mix up the vegetables based on what's in season. You may want to include a parsnip or even a carrot in place of the rutabaga or turnip. The more variety you include, the less like any one vegetable the mash with taste. I have also traded out the russet potato for a sweet potato. It tastes good, but the texture is a little sloppier. If you prefer a milder mash, add more potato. Bear in mind that cooking times vary for different vegetables, so plan the order in which you add them to the pot accordingly.

Whatever you choose, you can't go wrong. Root vegetables are loaded with vitamins - particularly vitamins A and C - minerals and fiber.

A few DO NOTs...
Do not use margarine in place of butter. Margarine is loaded with transfats and made from tortured vegetable oil. Be kind to your body and stick with the real thing!
Do not overcook (especially the potatoes) -- the end product will be watery and mealy.
Do not tell your children what's in it until after they taste it and tell you how delicious it is (maybe your husband, either!)


This post is part of Real Food Wednesday blog carnival.