romantic dinner

I'm truly disappointed in how these photos came out, but this meal was just too special for me not to talk about it just because it was kind of a hot mess for the camera. This year, with Nathan back at school, we've kind of scaled back on our big special occasion dinners, and have made fancy meals at home rather than shelling out the big bucks at a restaurant. For Valentine's Day we made this duck breast with orange gastrique, aligot mashed potatoes, braised leeks and then a lightening-fast chocolate mousse for dessert.

gouda mashed potatoes with bacon and crispy sage

I appologize for the less than stellar photographs, but let me assure you: these pictures depict the best thing to happen to mashed potatoes since they first discovered milk and butter: cheesy bacon and sage mashed potatoes.



This was, as you might already suspect, a decadently rich dish, even without boiling the potatoes in stock as the recipe instructed. (I just used plain old water since I figured there was quite enough going on with these potatoes already.)

We peeled and chopped our potatoes, and then boiled them until cooked through. After draining the potatoes, we put them back in the pot and turned the heat back on. We stirred the potatoes for a few minutes to help dry them out before the mashing began, and then added a couple tablespoons of butter and a couple of cups of grated gouda cheese. From here on out, this was all Nathan, as he lovingly mashed the the potatoes into creamy and cheesy goodness with the electric mixer, adding a splash of warm milk to bind it all together. Meanwhile, I was frying up some crispy bacon bits and sage leaves for the garnish.

I normally find gouda to be a little overpowering with its smokiness, but the mashed potatoes definitely tempered and mellowed the cheese, and then end result was smooth and delicious. The bacon and sage added salt, color and texture to really kick things up a notch.

This was like eating an awesome stuffed baked potato, only it felt super classy instead of like something off the TGIFriday's menu. Frizzled sage leaves tend to have that effect. Plus, Nathan did a really excellent job mashing these up for optimal silk smoothness. The boy makes peerless potatoes. What more could I ask for?

colcannon mashed potatoes

cabbage and mashed potato colcannon

Wow, I could use a break from this whole "writing a blog post every day thing" already, and its only the 8th. I have a feeling it is going to be a long month. Today I read an interesting article about the growing popularization of vegetables, which are no longer considered second class citizens in a meat eater's world. Between my diet being dictated by my injury and the epic veggie share at the CSA, I've become much less dependent on meat in my own diet, so I found it an interesting read.

In fact, the last couple of posts, in conjunction with today's, represent a great meatless dinner I put together for Laura and Nathan back in September. Luscious, tender leeks in vinaigrette, nutty and peppery romesco sauce, and creamy crunchy colcannon potatoes. It was a pan-European meal, what with the French leeks, Mediterranean romesco and Irish cabbage and potatoes. It was also extremely filling and satisfying without any meat or even cheese. If I had thickened my mashed potatoes without milk and butter, it would have even been vegan! I know I know, this is scaring me too.

But seriously, what with the horrible state of livestock farming in this country, it's obviously good for each of us to scale our meat intake down a little bit. Feed lots are a huge health problem in our world, not to mention totally disgusting and rife with animal cruelty. I know it's easy to get blindsided by a carnivorous love for meat, but I'm here to tell you that it's possible to cook such delicious food that you won't even miss your daily steak or pork chop. I know Nathan still raves about this meatless meal months later, and if that's not a ringing endorsement, I don't know what is.

I made the colcannon based on this recipe. I had never heard of colcannon, but basically all it is is mashed potatoes mixed with some boiled kale or cabbage , onion and parsley that has been seasoned and dressed with some lemon juice and olive oil. The author used kale, but mentioned that cabbage was also traditional. There was a big head of CSA cabbage in the fridge, so that's what went in. It was a nice variation on plain mashed potatoes and quite delicious.


Irish mashed potatoes

Together with the leeks and romesco sauce, the colcannon made for a very hearty and filling meal. We wanted for nothing. Not even a little meat.