Pumpkin Smashed Potatoes with Roasted Garlic and Parmigiano

It’s day two of our Virtual Thanksgiving Potluck and we have Chef Kendra Peterson from Drizzle Kitchen and writer of the blog Urban Tarte, joining us to shed some culinary insight and innovation to our Thanksgiving meal.

Hello all! My name is Kendra Peterson and I am a chef living in downtown Chicago.  I own a business called Drizzle Kitchen, which offers personal chef services, boutique catering, private cooking lessons and culinary consultation to individuals and businesses. The focus of Drizzle is “whole food” cuisine, that is, food that is not processed or manufactured.  Clean food that is good for the mind, body and soul. There is a Spanish Proverb that reads, “The belly rules the mind,” so fill your belly with the best food you can and make your body happy

For most people Thanksgiving is a holiday full of family tradition, the knowledge that your favorite dish will be on the table ready for you to take a big bite of and that familiar smell of the turkey in all its glory roasting in the oven.  Well, that’s a nice story and all but in my little world of culinary craziness tradition=boring.  Much to the dismay of my family!  For me, the tradition has to do with the china that is placed out, the crystal that is wiped, the silver that is polished.  The dining room set with its formal place settings, the candles that are lit and the comfortable glow of family smiling, chatting and enjoying each other’s company.

When I began my serious passion for cooking I saw the holidays as a fabulous time when I had a large audience at my ready, willing to try what I brought out of the kitchen.  And because at an age of 15 I wanted everything to be organic, look beautiful, taste fabulous and be healthy (over-achiever) I spent much time honing my holiday creation repertoire. Through the years my family has been very kind and has put up with some of the crazy concoctions that I presented to them (lentil-chestnut loaf. Yep.) But they have also been the happy recipients of many recipes that are now part of my collection. Pancetta roasted Brussels sprouts (in lieu of green beans amandine), sweet potato biscuits with ginger butter (in lieu of canned crescent rolls) and flourless chocolate tart with orange and crystallized ginger (in lieu of-gasp!-pumpkin pie). Yes, it’s true. There is only ONE person in my entire family who likes pumpkin pie (Good ‘ole daddio) and for the rest of us dessert is typically pumpkin mousse with gingersnap crumbs, pumpkin cheesecake or anything chocolate based!

So, now that you have an idea of what will be on my Thanksgiving table this year here is a recipe that maybe you can use to sass up your “traditional” menu!

Pumpkin Smashed Potatoes with Roasted Garlic and Parmigiano

Serves 4

1 whole head garlic
1” Yukon gold potatoes (“butter” potatoes)
3 generous pats of unsalted, organic butter
¾ cup canned organic pumpkin puree
¼ cup milk, any kind-whole, skim, plain soy, plain coconut
1/3 cup parmigiano-reggiano plus another ¼ cup, divided
1 tsp. fresh lemon zest
2 T. minced fresh parsley
sea salt, cracked pepper, olive oil

Directions
Preheat oven to 350.  Cut the top off the garlic (think about cutting off a “hat”).  Place the garlic-discard the top-in the center of a piece of foil, drizzle with a bit of olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt.  Close up the foil into a packet and roast 30 minutes until nice and soft.

Meanwhile, fill a medium saucepan with cold water.  Add the potatoes, a nice big pinch of salt and cover.  Place on medium heat and cook until potatoes a knife slips into the potatoes like a hot knife through butter.

Drain the potatoes and place in a large bowl. Gently smash with the back of a fork and add the butter.  Let it melt into the potatoes.

Remove the garlic from the foil.  Using a paper towel, grab the base of the garlic and squeeze the cloves out into a small bowl.  Discard the papery skin. Smash the cloves with a fork (oh yeah, it smells ammmmazing!).

Into the bowl with the buttery potatoes add the pumpkin puree, the smashed roasted garlic, the milk, the 1/3 cup parmigiano and a hefty pinch of salt.  Smash all together with the back of a fork until pretty blended.

Add the fresh lemon zest, parsley, cracked pepper and more salt if needed.  Stir to blend.  Spoon into an oven safe baking dish (8×8 or smaller. Perhaps a pretty oval stoneware dish?!).

Sprinkle the remaining ¼ cup parmigiano over the top and drizzle with a bit of olive oil.  Place under the broiler just until the cheese begins to melt the tips of the potatoes start to brown.

This year I am grateful for the incredible gift of my girlfriends.  Without them I would not have made it through this past year.  They held me up as I dealt with a very difficult situation and have pushed me forward in both my personal life and with my business.  They have made connections and opened up doors for me within the creative realm of Drizzle Kitchen that I never thought possible. So make sure to mentally send all your friends a little “thank you” during your Thanksgiving Day festivities and I guarantee that gratitude will come back to you tenfold.

With a big smile and a non-traditional Thanksgiving hug  ~ Kendra

Join the Party!

Got a great Thanksgiving dish or decorating idea? Share a link to your Turkey Day blog post or recipe in the comments or on our Facebook page!