Thursday, October 9, 2008

Pure de Papa Con Calabasa al Horno (Potato Winter Squash Mash)

This is my grandmother's version of mash potatoes in my home we simply call it "Pure de Papa" which means mash potatoes because this is the dish we are thinking of when we hear mash potatoes, it is not like the typical American mash potatoes. It is a very rich potato mash, that has good amounts of rich sweet unsalted butter, egg yolks, garlic, and parsley, baked in a dish to brown and dusted with paprika. It is given a beautiful light yellowish color with the yolks, butter, and a little bit of kabocha squash is added (a type of orange yellowish colored squash) if one does not have the squash my grandmother would sometimes substitute sweet potato for it.
Ingredients:
-8 medium or small russet potatoes
-1/2 small kabocha squash (Japanese Squash that is green on the outside orange/ yellowish inside)
-5 tablespoons unsalted sweet butter (I got a good organic one from Trader Joe's)
-1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf Italian parsley very finely minced
-4 egg yolks
-3-4 cloves of garlic mashed to a paste (mortar and pestle or garlic press)
-1 teaspoon paprika more or less for dusting
-salt to taste

Directions:
(1)Cur Kombucha squash in half, peel, and scoop out seeds and pulp. Get potatoes, wash and peel away all the sides leaving a top skin and bottom skin (this is so it doesn't absorb so much water when steaming my grandma likes the potatoes starchy and rich not watered down)

(2)Add about water along with potatoes and squash enough water to cover about 1/3 of potato, like 1 inch enough to steam, cover bring to a boil and simmer on medium low until potatoes and squash is cooked, squash will cook faster so you may want to check and remove squash to set aside until potatoes are cooked.
(3)Peel potatoes while hot, add squash, garlic, egg yolks, butter, and parsley and salt and mash to a smooth consistency. Now grease a baking dish with extra butter pour in the mashed starchy potato/ squash mash and bake in oven between 375 or 400 degrees enough to brown the top a bit/ make it a little golden. About 30 minutes, this is also to cook the yolks.
(4)Remove from oven and dust with sweet paprika.

My grandmother cut's it like if it was cake, into thick square slices everytime she serves it, enjoy while warm/ hot because it will turn more starchy and firm as it sits but it's still really good the next day I LOVE IT! Sometimes my grandmother will use the orange variety of sweet potatoes to make this when we have no squash.

5 comments:

Marilyn said...

Hi Nathan,
Very interesting pure de papas, no conocia esta manera de hacerlo.
Pero se que la calabaza es muy usada en cuban cooking.
Butter from Trader Joe’s!
Yo compro an excellent olive oil alli. Goya Olive Oil (my favorite)is getting very expensive here.
Great Store!

Anonymous said...

Yummy! My family's version of pure de papas con calabaza doesn't include eggs, but I'll try it soon. I haven't had this dish since the mid 90s. Of course as a little kid I had it often. It was also a regular dish made for the great-grandparents. I hope someday you taste Cuba's calabaza criolla...in a free Cuba!

Nathan said...

Marilyn,
Yup we use the calabaza a lot, in stews and sometimes just steamed with Mojo or for fritters or to give color to certain things like it was used here.

Mamey,
You can make Meringue with the leftover whites for dessert when your making this, yesterday I made Natilla to and have sooo many egg whites so I'm gonna make plenty of Meringue today or tomorrow.

Calabaza Criolla, I have never tried it, but yes hopefully someday there will be a free Cuba and I hope that the country hasn't forgotten it's delicious cuisine which do to the conditions in Cuba has been dumbed down and lost many of it's things.

Anonymous said...

nice blog!
i'll try the "pure de papas"
d.

Nathan said...

Anonymous,
Hope you like it :)