Mashed: Who was asking about mashed potato?

Subject: Who was asking about mashed potato?
Newsgroups: rec.food.cooking
From: djmaizels at mac.com (Debbie Wilson)
Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2006 12:51:46 +0100
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Someone was asking for mash suggestions a while back, being a lurker I was too shy of posting my humble offering. Anyway here's a recipe of ours we made last night for the second time, which is too good not to share.

Sage and Mustard mashed potato

To your preferred quantity of mashed, boiled potato add finely chopped fresh sage leaves (we used 1 heaped tablespoon for 2 people), 2 generous teaspoons of Dijon mustard (wholegrain or smooth) and a knob of butter, plus salt and pepper to taste. Mash together until smooth. This makes a richly-flavoured mash that goes really well with 'gourmet' sausages or pork chops/fillets. You could use fromage frais, plain Greek yoghurt or creme fraiche in place of the butter - probably about 1 tablespoon for 2 people, which would give a slightly cheesy tang to the mash.
BTW Sage must be fresh for the best flavour, dried just won't be the same.
From: Margaret Suran (margaret at no.spam.for.me.invalid)
Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2006 12:53:46 GMT
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Debbie Wilson wrote:
> Sage and Mustard mashed potato

Thank you, Deb, This sounds really good. It never occurred to me to add mustard to mashed potatoes. I will do so the next time I make something like Bratwuerste or some other kind of sausages and especially when I make Choucroute Garni.

I will not add the Sage, as I am not fond of that flavor, but I will suggest it to a friend who loves it.
From: djmaizels at mac.com (Debbie Wilson)
Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2006 14:46:15 +0100
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Margaret Suran wrote:

> Thank you, Deb, This sounds really good. It never occurred to me to
> add mustard to mashed potatoes. I will do so the next time I make
> something like Bratwuerste or some other kind of sausages and
> especially when I make Choucroute Garni.

You're welcome, Margaret! It would go great with either of those dishes.

> I will not add the Sage, as I am not fond of that flavor, but I will
> suggest it to a friend who loves it.

The fresh sage is a rather strong flavour and I could understand it isn't to everyone's taste. However the mustard alone will still make the mash very interesting and if you use wholegrain Dijon it does look attractive on the plate. Maybe if you were using a herb in the accompanying recipe, it would probably go well in the mash in place of the sage. The colour combination of fresh green herb in the golden mustard mash looks good. I'm trying to think of another herb that would work as well, possibly fresh thyme would do.
From: "Michael \"Dog3\" Lonergan" (shopalot at foodsource.eat)
Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2006 13:11:58 GMT
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Debbie Wilson wrote:
> Sage and Mustard mashed potato

This sounds wonderful. I've never used mustard in mashed before. I've added sage to mashed and liked it. The recipe sounds really good and would go well with just about any type of pork or chicken. Not sure about the sage and beef but what the heck, I might try it with beef anyway. I think it would be excellent with grilled sausages too.
From: djmaizels at mac.com (Debbie Wilson)
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2006 17:38:00 +0100
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Michael "Dog3" Lonergan (shopalot at foodsource.eat) wrote:
> This sounds wonderful. I've never used mustard in mashed before. I've
> added sage to mashed and liked it.

Glad you like it, Michael, thanks! It would be great with grilled sausages I am sure. It's a strong flavour so it might overpower a delicate recipe, but what the heck, experimenting is the only way to get new recipes :-)
From: Wayne Boatwright (wayneboatwright_at_gmail.com)
Date: 20 Aug 2006 17:25:18 +0200
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Oh pshaw, Debbie Wilson meant to say...
> Sage and Mustard mashed potato

Debbie, this sounds inventive and delicious! A must try for when I next buy fresh sage. Thanks for posting, and welcome to the ranks of rfc posters!
From: djmaizels at mac.com (Debbie Wilson)
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2006 17:38:00 +0100
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Wayne Boatwright wrote:
> Debbie, this sounds inventive and delicious! A must try for when I next buy
> fresh sage. Thanks for posting, and welcome to the ranks of rfc posters!

Thank you Wayne - it was partly inspired by wondering how to use all the sage growing on the large bush in our garden!
From: Wayne Boatwright (wayneboatwright_at_gmail.com)
Date: 22 Aug 2006 02:20:27 +0200
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Oh pshaw, Debbie Wilson meant to say...
> Thank you Wayne - it was partly inspired by wondering how to use all the
> sage growing on the large bush in our garden!

Oh, that would be so nice to have in the yard. I would have to make heroic efforts to grow that in the desert. :-(
From: Kent (kh6444 at comcast.net)
Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2006 16:14:56 -0700
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Debbie Wilson wrote:
> Sage and Mustard mashed potato

A great idea! Do you use this recipe with sauce or gravy, or when the mashed potatoes are not sauced? I would guess a flavored gravy might fight with the potatoes. What has been your experience with that?
Thanks again,
From: djmaizels at mac.com (Debbie Wilson)
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2006 17:38:00 +0100
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Kent wrote:
> A great idea! Do you use this recipe with sauce or gravy, or when the mashed
> potatoes are not sauced? I would guess a flavored gravy might fight with the
> potatoes. What has been your experience with that?

We've used it once with gravy, and once with just the juices from the accompanying meat dish (pan-fried pork fillets). Both did work OK - the gravy we had was onion gravy which goes with sage anyway, so it did complement it well. Not sure about other flavours, you'd have to choose carefully something that didn't fight with the sage and mustard as you say. Worth thinking about, for sure.