Fun With Carbs

So okay, we eat at a lot of restaurants. But what you might not know – basically because I’m terrible at photographing and articulating recipes – is that we cook more than we go out. And after a week of vacation dining, plus a bout of sickness, I was ready to get back into the kitchen last night.

I’d planned panko-crusted cod with grilled asparagus and some starch, maybe brown rice. But then I saw the potatoes on my counter and they were looking a little…spiky. I determined that they weren’t rotten, but I figured I’d better use them.

Mashed potatoes and I have never been great friends. I always thought they were too boring, unless drenched in sour cream and butter and bacon and cheese and other things that can stop your heart. And so we’d only cook them for Thanksgiving. But I had a change of heart when we made Valentine’s Day dinner at home last month. To go with our beef tenderloin, we made a rich batch of whipped potatoes with fat-free sour cream, roasted garlic and a little FF half-and-half. Bingo. All that velvety flavor with so much less fat.

So I cut the antennae off the five small spuds, peeled and boiled them up, while simultaneously roasting a fresh bulb of garlic in the oven. (That smell is beyond intoxicating, by the way.) Once the potatoes were ready for mashing, they went into a bowl with six big caramelized cloves, about 1/4 cup of fat-free half and half, 4 tablespoons of melted Smart Balance butter substitute and a 6-ounce container of fat-free Chobani Greek yogurt. And if you’ve ever cooked with great Greek yogurt, you’ll never buy sour cream again.

The kicker flavor, though, was the 1/2 teaspoon or so of white truffle oil blended into the mix. I bought this to top our Valentine’s Day fontina fondue, and I’ve been in love with it ever since. I know, truffle oil sold here is faux and manufactured, but I don’t care.

Once the potatoes went into the baking dish, I topped them with fresh grated Parmesan, two twists of cracked black pepper and a few more drops of that truffle goodness.

The end result was 100% ridiculous. Creamy, sumptuous, diabolical. But devoid of too much fat. Rob took one bite of fish, asparagus and potato and then commented, “This is how it should be. Always potatoes.” (I’m guessing the brown rice might get shoved to the back of the cupboard.)

Apologies for not having a good photo of the finished product. But rest assured I will be making this again.

If you’d like the recipe, feel free to comment. I can try to write it down more clearly.