Mexican Recipes from Cuernavaca.com

Potato Puree

  Purée de Papas (Sp.) - When I visited the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Oaxaca at the season of the parties accompanying local velas (Saints’ day festivals), I found this vividly seasoned dish being served everywhere. When I first tasted it, I was stunned. There were so many different taste sensations - tangy, creamy, salty, spicy - exploding like fireworks in my mouth, one after another. I instinctively realized that I had discovered a regional cuisine within a regional cuisine, with the boldest, richest flavors and most complex seasonings of all Oaxaca state.

6 potatoes, unpeeled, scrubbed, quartered
2 carrots, peeled, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1 cup  fresh peas, or frozen
3/4 cup  heavy cream, or Mexican crema
1 large whole eggs, beaten
2 teaspoon prepared yellow mustard, to taste
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1  onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup  Italian parsley, minced
3 ozs  pearl onions, pickled
1/2 cup green olives, pitted, sliced
1/4 cup pickled jalapeno chili pepper, drained, finely chopped
dash pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt

Bring a medium-size saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add the potatoes and cook until tender, 12 to 15 minutes. Lift out, letting them drain well, and peel.

Add the carrots to the boiling water and cook until tender but still crisp, about 5 minutes. Scoop out with a strainer and set aside. Add the peas and cook until barely tender, about 3 minutes. Remove and drain.

In a large bowl, mash the potatoes with a potato masher. Add the cream (or crema) and beat with a wooden spoon to eliminate most of the lumps. Add the egg and mustard, continuing to beat until the mixture is smooth and fluffy.

Preheat the oven to 350ºF (177ºC). In a medium-size skillet, melt the butter over medium-high heat until fragrant and sizzling but not browned. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring, until onion is translucent, about 3 minutes.

Add the parsley, cook for 1 minute longer, and beat the mixture into the mashed potatoes. Stir in the diced carrots, peas, pickled onion, olives, and jalapeños. Taste for seasoning and add the pepper and optional salt. Transfer the mixture to a buttered 2-quart baking dish and bake for 20 minutes. Serve at once.