Now that the holiday season is officially here, I've been seeing a ton of great seasonal recipes around the blogosphere. So many new, creative ideas to try out this year! But as excited as I am for some of these fresh and new recipes, my all-time favorite holiday dish is one that's made an appearance on our family table for years! Mashed potatoes! This amazing holiday side dish is always whipped up by my Mom. But she's not just making any ordinary potato side dish. She's turning up the volume on regular old mashed potatoes by adding in a secret ingredient. One that makes these potatoes super creamy and packed full of flavor.
Boursin cheese! Have you heard of it or tried it? This light, fluffy creamy cheese is packed full of roasted garlic and herb flavor. It's a great addition to your traditional cheese plate or smeared on crackers, but most importantly, Boursin cheese is amazing when mixed in with mashed potatoes. It adds such a wonderful creaminess and also a great depth of flavor to mashed potatoes. You won't even need to add heavy cream or much, if any, butter — the Boursin cheese takes care of it all!
The only thing that can make these potatoes any better is a nice big drizzle of gravy. However, as a vegetarian, I'm not really into my family's traditional turkey gravy. So this year I'm offering to make my vegetarian mushroom gravy! It's a great substitute for the traditional meat-based gravy — still full of rich, earthy notes from the mushrooms, just sans the meat!
Trust me, the Boursin mashed potatoes with the mushroom gravy are a match made in flavor heaven. Try them out this holiday season!
Boursin Mashed Potatoes & Mushroom Gravy
Recipe developed by Maria Tadic, RD
Makes 4-5 servings
Ingredients
Mashed potatoes:
4 pounds Russet potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
2 tbsp salt
1 tsp fresh cracked pepper
7 oz light Boursin cheese
1 tbsp salted butter
1/4 cup vegetable stock
1/4 milk
Mushroom gravy (prepare while potatoes cook):
8 oz sliced crimini mushrooms
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt and pepper
1/2 tsp dried sage
1/4 cup dry white wine
3 tbsp all purpose flour
3 tbsp salted butter
1 1/2 cups vegetable stock
Instructions
- Fill a large pot with cold water and add in the 2 tbsp salt and the chopped potatoes. Bring to a boil and let cook for about 15-20 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender. Drain potatoes thoroughly and put them back into the pot.
- Add in the pepper, Boursin cheese and butter. Mash together until everything is thoroughly mixed. Leave in some bigger pieces of the poatoes if you like your mashed potatoes a little chunky.
- Slowly add in the vegetable stock and milk. You may want to add more or less depending on your desired consistency for the mashed potatoes.
- Taste and adjust for seasonings. Serve warm. NOTE: If keeping potatoes warm or reheating, you may need to add a little more stock or milk to thin them out
- Prepare mushroom gravy while potatoes cook.
- Heat the olive oil in a sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add in the mushrooms and cook for 5-7 minutes or until mushrooms begin to brown.
- Add in the minced garlic, salt, pepper and dried sage. Continue to cook over medium high for another 1-2 minutes or until garlic is fragrant.
- Add wine to deglaze the pan, stirring frequently. Cook another 1-2 minutes to allow the alcohol to cook off. Remove mushroom mixture from pan and set aside.
- In the same pan, melt the butter, then add in the flour and whisk the roux together over medium-high heat. Cook the mixture until the flour turns a a nice golden brown color, about 5 minutes.
- While whisking, slowly pour in the vegetable stock. Continue whisking so there are no lumps and the gravy begins to thicken.
- Once the gravy is nice and thick (about 5-7 minutes), add in the mushroom mixture and simmer on low until ready to serve!
