A modern twist on the traditional Thanksgiving mashed potatoes side dish.

There are so many great things that I associate with the Fall. While it doesn’t compare to Summer for me, Fall is my second favourite season. I love the crisp fresh air, comfortable sweaters and layers, cozying up by the wood stove at the cottage, the changing colours of the leaves, and Thanksgiving dinners. Interestingly, I’ve only been celebrating Thanksgiving for 15 years now, since I met John. What can I say, I’m a sucker for turkey, stuffing, and gravy, which I was only introduced to during my first Thanksgiving meal. And while there’s so much to love and appreciate about the traditional holiday meal (John declares it as his favourite meal of all time), I was recently challenged by Loblaws to put a modern twist on it. This is part of Loblaws latest Canadian Food Trend: Rediscovering Traditions.

When I think about Thanksgiving dinner, which started with only John’s parents and siblings, and now includes spouses and 5 grand kids, the main dish that sticks in my mind is the mashed potatoes. John’s mom makes about 20 pounds of super fluffy and tasty mashed potatoes, and somehow, there’s never enough. On my side of the family though, we rarely have mashed potatoes except on our high holidays like Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year), which just passed, and Passover.  We do, however, eat it together with Borscht (a traditional Ukranian soup, adapted by my Polish grandmother). We eat it by scooping a little mashed potatoes into the Borscht soup. That’s why I came up with the idea of mixing two traditional dishes into one modern dish! Introducing Borscht mashed potatoes.

I personally love this dish not only because it makes the mashed potatoes a bit sweeter, but you’re also getting the nutrients from beets without eating actual beets! If nothing else, the pinkish colour adds a little colour flair to your dish. As a kid, I always remember my parents telling us (as they tried hard to get us to eat our Borscht) that if we eat it all, our pee will come out pink. Not necessarily table talk material, but hey – it worked!

So if you’re in charge of Thanksgiving dinner this year, or perhaps you’re helping by preparing a dish, consider making my Borscht-flavoured mashed potatoes.

Borscht mashed potatoes recipe

Mashed Potatoes:

1. Peel and cut 8 – 10 medium sized, yellow fleshed, potatoes into small chunks
2. Put in large pot and cover with water. Boil until soft (use a fork to test if ready).
3. Drain the water and using a potato ricer, mash the potatoes.
4. Add mayonnaise (dairy free option) to make it fluffy and add flavour. Alternatively, you can use butter if you don’t have any dietary restrictions. Set aside.

My family Borscht recipe:

Ingredients: 2.5 pounds of beets, 1 lemon (sliced in half and squeezed), 1 tsp salt, 3 egg yolks, 1 tbsp sugar.

Directions:

1. Fill a large pot with 2 litres (or 8.5 cups) of water.
2. Peel the beets and place in a pot over high heat and let boil.
3. Once boiled, add one half of the squeezed lemon juice and 1 tsp of salt. Let simmer for 1 hour.
4. Remove from stove and let cool down. Once cool, remove beets from the pot (you can slice them into bite size pieces for a beet salad). Tip: The next step requires the use of both of your hands at the same time. To make it easier, transfer the beet juice to a light jug.
5. Add 3 egg yolks to a large and tall bowl and whisk. Slowly, add the beet juice to the bowl while constantly whisking.
6. Add 3 tbsp of sugar and whisk.
7. Slowly add the remaining 1/2 lemon juice but taste between pours to make sure the taste is to your liking (should taste bittersweet).

When you are ready to serve this dish, heat up the mashed potatoes. Once warm, pour some of the Borscht onto the mashed potatoes. You can add as much or as little as you like (the mashed potatoes will vary in colour between light pink with the yellow showing to bright red, depending on how much Borscht you add). If you have any leftover Borscht, you can serve it as a soup.

 

What’s your favourite Thanksgiving dish?

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Loblaws as part of their Loblaws 2018 Canadian Food Trends campaign. In exchange for this post I have received perks in the form of product and compensation. All opinions on this blog are my own.