In My Mother's Kitchen

Sometimes we just need a little bit of lovin’ from our foods.  Plus, this time of year (mid February, when the temperatures rise a bit, the snow melts, but the skies remain gray and we’re caught in their weird in-between from Winter to Spring) we may be tiring of those sweet little roots and tubers that we’ve been eating for three months now, and wanting something more.

At the end of last week, after multiple rounds of roasting root veggies and winter squashes, both for my own personal consumption and for the nutrition lab assignment that I’d given to my students, I found way too many of those little guys left over in my refrigerator, and rapidly approaching their “best-by” date.

I was also in the mood for a traditional bechamel-style sauce (#foodlove), but not in the mood for actual bovine dairy (#plantsonly).  And so, here’s what I created, using what I had, and reaching for what I wanted.

I blended my leftover potatoes, sweet potatoes, and beets (along with the onions and garlic with which they were originally roasted), added a little broth, nutritional yeast, and oat milk, and voila a cream sauce (of sorts, delicious nonetheless) was born!

If you’re interested in making your own creation, something like this, here’s my basic recipe.  Follow along using what leftovers you have, and are tiring of:

Potato Cream Sauce

Serves 3-4
Bake Time (none if using leftovers; otherwise 30-40 minutes to roast)
Prep Time 10 Minutes

Ingredients

1 cup leftover roasted potatoes (and/or use sweet potatoes, beets, winter squash, turnips, parsnips), plus 1/4 cup leftover roasted onion and 1-2 cloves roasted garlic

the juice of 1/2 lemon

1/3 – 1/2 cups oat milk (depending on your desired thickness)

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 Tbsp nutritional yeast

optional 1/4 tsp chili powder

1 cup broth (I used and recommend homemade, otherwise just use water and just add a little extra sea salt and perhaps dried herb to add flavor)

Instructions

1. In a food processor, first pulse, then blend, just the leftover potatoes, onion, and garlic until they become somewhat pureed.
2. Then add the sea salt, nutritional yeast, and optional chili powder.  Pulse to incorporate.
3. Add the oat milk in increments, pulsing or blending to incorporate.  Once the oat milk in incorporated, you should have something about the consistency of hummus.
4. Now add the juice of 1/2 lemon and just mix in.
5. You can stop here and store just this in an airtight container in your refrigerator.  Add the broth when you’re ready to use/serve.
6. When you’re ready to use/serve, transfer your potato puree into a sauce pan over low-medium heat on the stove.  Using a whisk, add the broth in 1/4 cup increments, whisking to combine each time.  Add enough broth to bring your sauce to your desired thickness (or thinness!).  I liked mine somewhat in the middle, almost just barely spreadable; I added about 1 cup of broth.
7. Serve this over pasta (we used whole-wheat; I also highly recommend brown rice) or a whole-grain like farro or kamut.