Recipe: Dino-Mash (Dairy-Free Colcannon)

the appetizer:

The Meat Lover's Meatless Cookbook: Vegetarian Recipes Carnivores Will Devour by Kim O'Donnel includes recipes like West Indian-Style Channa Wrap; Romesco Sauce; Pepita-Crusted Tofu; and Dino-Mash.

Dino-Mash

Makes 4 servings

This pretty mash is completely dairy free yet manages to be creamy and full-flavored, with the help of starchy cooking water and a head of roasted garlic. (See Pepita-Crusted Tofu for more information about this recipe.)

Pepita-Crusted Tofu and Dino-Mash

Ingredients

1 head garlic
Olive oil for slathering, plus 1/4 cup
2 pounds Yukon Gold, Yellow Finn, or red-skinned potatoes
(4 or 5 medium-size), scrubbed, trimmed, and peeled as necessary
2 teaspoons salt
2 cups Lacinato kale, stemmed and chopped finely
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Here's What You Do:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Trim the top of garlic and pull away the outermost skin. With your hands, lightly rub the garlic with oil and place in a small roasting dish. Cover with foil.

Roast the garlic until the cloves are fork tender (but not burned), about 50 minutes. Check for doneness at 40 minutes. (A kitchen timer is helpful.)

Meanwhile, prepare the potatoes: Quarter and place in a mediumsize saucepan with 4 cups of water. The water should just barely cover the potatoes. This is important.

Add the salt. Cover the saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to medium. Cook for 25 minutes, place the kale on top of the potatoes, replace the lid, and allow the kale to steam for 5 minutes. Test the potatoes with a fork for doneness. Remove from the heat.

Squeeze the garlic flesh from the cloves into a large mixing bowl. With tongs or a strainer, transfer the potatoes and kale to the mixing bowl, reserving the cooking liquid.

With a hand masher, mash the potatoes and kale, focusing on the potatoes at first, ensuring that they're smooth, ladling in their cooking liquid as necessary (you'll use some, but likely not all). Use a wooden spoon to combine all of the ingredients. Add the remaining 1/4 cup of oil and black pepper, stir, then taste for salt, adding more as needed.

Eat hot.