In France, if you organise a fancy dinner or a top notch Sunday lunch with a roast, any roast, the best thing to do is offer a few different “fancy” mashes called purées. The fancy thing is not the purées themselves really, it’s the fact that you offer a choice of original blends instead of the good old spud one, which, don’t get me wrong, is possibly one of the best things there are. These purées are served either in a serving bowl (one per flavour) or on the plate, often placed nicely with cooking metal circles.
This is my very easy and delicious recipe for fennel mash. It goes with absolutely everything. Babies, kids and adults alike just love it. It’s quite a nice change from the usual side dishes and if you want to make a fancy roast meal, choose amongst the following fancy mash ideas. You may add potatoes or sweet potato to give it a mash consistency and make sure you pour the cooking water/juice in a bowl when you strain your veggies so that you can use this juice later to make the mash a bit less thick or dry. Milk, butter or olive oil are also a good idea to dilute a purée if needs be.
Here is my mash ideas list:
– Jerusalem artichoke + potato
– Leek + potato, also called Irish mash
– Carrot, sweet potato + potato
– Green pea + potato
– Spinach + potato
– Celery + potato
– Split peas + butter
– Broad beans+ potato
– Cauliflower + potato
– Zucchini + potato
– Asparagus + potato
– Aubergine/eggplant + potato
– Beetroot + potato
– Artichoke + crème fraîche
– Potato, apple, speck, crème fraîche and cheese
– Coral lentils, French yoghurt (Yoplus), fresh avocado and walnuts
– Roasted échalotes + potato
– Pumpkin + potato
– Chestnut + potato
– Celeriac (+ potato optional)
– Parsnip + potato
– Brussels sprouts + potato
– Salsifi + potato
– Suede + potato
– Turnip + potato
– Rocket pesto + potato
– Watercress + potato
– Fried échalotes, corn and crème fraîche
– Sweet potato, vanilla + potato
– Diced black and green olives + potato
– Sorel + potato
Ingredients to sprinkle or add:
– Truffle oil
– Or fresh truffle of course if you can
– Foie gras (to melt on top)
– Cheese such as parmesan, blue, cheddar, emmenthal, gruyère, anything really…
– Cumin powder
– Coriander/cilantro chopped leaves
– Fresh parsley chopped
– Fresh tarragon chopped
– Freshly grated nutmeg
– Cracked pepper
– Smoked or black garlic
– Saffron
To be updated with more ideas.
In the meantime, here is my Fennel mash recipe.
- 2 medium fennel bulbs or 1 big
- 4 small potatoes
- Coarse salt
- Cracked salt and pepper to taste
- Rinse and chop fennel in pieces.
- Peel and rinse potatoes. Cut them in 2
- Place all pieces in a saucepan. Add cold water and salt.
- Boil until cooked through.
- Strain well over a bowl.
- Tip strained potatoes and fennel in a bowl. Add butter (optional).
- Using a hand held mixer, mix very well. Add a bit of the strained water to make it to the right consistency. Add salt to taste (if necessary). Crack some pepper.
All of the mash ideas sound delicious Flo!
Thanks Lorraine :) I love mash… I feel the need to try different things to make life more entertaining ;)
thanks flo!
I love fennel so i’d love that smash!
they all sound great! love m:)X
Hi Merilyn,
Let me know how it goes. It’s my fav mash :) My daughter refused to eat for her first 12 months. And then started on that, without the butter, it’s still very buttery.