Harvest Mashed Potatoes

I have become addicted to buying produce at the Pole Green Produce Market down the street from me. One of the reasons is that they have had the tastiest fingerling potatoes. I have been roasting them, boiling them, and sautéing them. They have been side dishes and main dishes. Tonight it was a side dish that became the main dish.



I am a huge fan of Pinterest. Back in April, I pinned a recipe from Southern Living, called Harvest Mashed Potatoes. I had been dying to make these and wanted to wait until the fall, because tasty mashed potatoes belong in cooler weather. Summer mashed potatoes just does not do well with me. 

Being a Friday night, my husband and I were too tired to do anything crazy and cumbersome. There was a pork loin defrosted and a jar to Stubb’s to marinade with. I scavenged Pinterest and remembered my harvest potato recipe. We made a few adjustments to the original recipe to use ingredients we had left over and were quite pleased with the outcome. The dish was so tasty that we ate more of the potatoes than the pork loin.



When I first read the recipe, I was skeptical about using horseradish. Butter, milk, potatoes, cinnamon… and horseradish? After tasting the earnest goodness of the cinnamon and the potatoes, I discovered that the horseradish was needed to break up the overwhelming monotony of the sweetness. The spicy pinch gave the dish a little extra kick that allowed the cinnamon to shine even more as it overcame the complexity.

I highly recommend making this dish in either the recipe I created below or the Southern Living recipe linked above. It embodies the full aromatic flavors of fall and makes me feel like the leaves are turning.

Harvest Mashed Potatoes Recipe
Serves 6

Ingredients
18 fingerling potoates, or 2 pounds
2 medium sweet potatoes
¼ cup butter
½ cup half and half
¼ cup sour cream
¼ heaping cup of Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Method

1. Peel the sweet potatoes and cut into 1 inch pieces. Wash the fingerlings and quarter. Boil them in salted water for 15 to 20 minutes or under tender. Drain them and place in a large bowl.

2. Add the butter, half and half, sour cream, cheese, horseradish, salt, pepper, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice. Blend the ingredients with a hand mixer until smooth.