Mashed Potatoes - Meet Truffle Oil

serving mashed potatoes with some extra flare this holiday season

Good morning from Madrid !

Even on vacation I was looking forward to our weekly chat and even in another country I am writing this little email with my famous cup of coffee…or if I’m being honest. Its just a cup of pure fuel - pure espresso from the heart of Spain !

This week I am dropping a little teaser. I am sharing a recipe for sofrito which acts as a sort of prerequisite recipe for next weeks sancocho. What better way to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month ? Sofrito is a sort of cooking base that is commonly made in bulk which is exactly what this recipe is as it makes 2 quarts ! Feel free to scale down if needed but in this house hold it goes pretty quickly as it can be used in so many dishes. Sancocho is a soup that is loved in so many Spanish speaking countries and is made up of hearty meat and vegetables like yuca, calabaza and plantain making it rich in flavor.

As much as I am in love with sofrito and sancocho. Let me not forget to share with you one of the easiest ways to elevate mashed potatoes. If you haven’t tried truffles before this is a great way to test the waters and see if that’s your jam. No need to go out looking for truffles. For this recipe I am using truffle oil which can be found in most grocery stores and can be used in all sorts of things - even popcorn. Just melt some butter and mix in some truffle oil and pour that over your pop corn and give it a toss. Its amazing and if you have some everything bagel seasoning - oh my goodness its legendary !

Garlic Tofu Truffle Mash and Charred Green beans

* Serves 2   * 

Ingredients - Tofu +Marinade

16 oz - firm or extra firm in tofu

2 tbsp - soy sauce

2 tbsp - grapeseed oil

1 tbsp - maple syrup

1/2 tsp - lemon pepper

1/4 tsp - garlic powder

black pepper to taste

Ingredients - Mash

7 - medium sized potatoes peeled

1/4 cup - vegan butter

1 tbsp - truffle oil

1 tsp - salt or to taste

1/4 tsp - black pepper or to taste

1 tsp - white pepper

Ingredients - Green Beans

1/2 - yellow onion sliced or julienned

10 oz - green beans ( I got a 12 oz bag and used a majority of the bag )

1 tbsp - grapeseed oil

2 tbsp - vegan butter

6 - cherry tomatoes ( optional )

2 tbsp - minced garlic

1 tbsp - soy sauce

salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Step 1 - Gather all ingredients & marinate the tofu

There is nothing worse than going to make something and realizing you don’t have the stuff !

You could cut the tofu how ever you typically would or you could go about making it the way I did as shown in the photo above. To do that I patted the block of tofu dry and then layed the block on its side and cut it down the middle in half to make two “sheets” of tofu or 2 rectangular pieces and from there went about cutting them into chicken breast shapes. To get the grooves or squares on top I used a chef knife and made cross hatched cuts ( see video for a visual guide ).

In a glass container build the marinade over the tofu and gently move the bowl around to move around the marinade or use a spoon to spoon over and disperse the marinade. You could do this before hand or just let the tofu sit in the marinade for 20 minutes or so before cooking it in the air fryer. To air fry these the way I did, I simply put them on a lined tray and cooked them at 400 degress Fahrenheit for 20 minutes on each side.

Step 2 - Boil the water & peel potatoes

Once the water is boiling add maybe a tablespoon of salt and then dump in all the potatoes and cook till you can pierce the boiled potato chunks with a fork. Reserve a cup of hot starchy water before draining it out. After straining the potatoes, return them to the pot and add in the butter, truffle oil, salt, white pepper and black pepper. To mash the potatoes you can use a potato masher or even a whisk, thats what I like to use actually. I like the way it smashes the potatoes and also whips them nicely to make sure there arn’t any clumps.

Step 3 - Sauté the green beans

I decided to go with a cast iron skillet for this and warmed that up to a medium heat before drizzling in a bit of grapeseed oil and sautéing the onions a bit first before adding in the green beans and grape tomatoes. Once the green beans got some color and char I drizzled a bit of soy sauce and added in the minced garlic. Saute that for a few minutes to allow all the veg to mingle and take in that flavor then turn off the heat and allow everything to stay warm in the heat of the pan while plating.

Step 4 - Plating

Since this recipe serves two. To plate I grabbed two pretty bowls and spread some mashed potatoes on the bottom as a base and then went about putting the tofu on each one and then a nnice little pile of green beans with the sauteed onions and tomatoes. Eat right away and enjoy !

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Sofrito

* Makes approximately 2 quarts   * 

Ingredients

5 green bell peppers

1 red bell pepper

1 tomato

1 yellow onion

1 bundle of cilantro

1 bundle of culantro

10 cloves of garlic

8 different colored mini sweet peppers

1/2 cup - grapeseed oil

1 tsp - salt

Instructions

Step 1 - Gather all ingredients and wash the produce

There is nothing worse than going to make something and realizing you don’t have the stuff !

To wash my produce I like to grab a large bowl and submerge everything in water along with a cup of white vinegar and 1/4 cup baking soda and let everything foam and soak for 5 min before rinsing. I recommend doing this with the cilantro and culantro as well.

Step 2 - Cut the veg and take out the seeds

Cut the tops and bottoms off all the peppers and go about taking out their inner membranes ( the white parts ) along with the seeds. Roughly chop up the onion and cut the tomato into quarters and cut out the little stem piece.

Step 3 - Process each veggie at a time in a food processor or blender

One vegetable at a time, process the vegetables in a food processor and then dump into a large bowl. I do all the green bell peppers first and then the sweet peppers and then the onion with the tomato.

The last step after processing each vegetable in a food processor is to blend everything together in a blender.

Step 4 - Blender time

Now that the bulk of the work is done, all thats left is to blend everything together. Using a measuring cup I like to scoop about half the mixture into the blender along with the garlic, oil, oregano and salt. Once everything has been blended I like to pour the sofrito into tubs or take away containers. I like to use 4 pint sized containers for easy use later as it can last for up to 2 weeks in the fridge and 2 months in the freezer.

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