Goat cheese and celery root add a festive flair to these creamy Yukon gold mashers! We cannot say enough about the addition of these two ingredients to this dish. It takes mashed potatoes to the next level! Sooooooo good! The goat cheese adds a little pop, the celery root adds a super fresh flavor and the creamy texture is the perfect vessel for your gravy! If you can’t find celery root, be sure to still add goat cheese to your mashers. You’ll never regret it!
When we dined at the Desert Bistro in Moab, Utah, their special dish of the evening was bison filet, wrapped in bacon and served with goat cheese mashed potatoes in green peppercorn demiglaze. OMG … truly one of the best meals in our decades of eating fabulous food! The bison was perfectly cooked and the sauce was sublime, but those potatoes were so fluffy and herby and goat cheesy and utterly decadent.
We went home and immediately recreated them but added in a little bit of celery root, which always adds great flavor to mashed potatoes! If you don’t have the time to bother with cooking celery root, you can leave it out and just use the potatoes, but it does add a fresh taste that is unmistakeable and delicious.
To make the potatoes really smooth, it’s really great to use the KitchenAid with a food grinder attachment. It purées the potatoes and the celery root like a dream, but a good food processor or even a hand masher will work as well!
To make the potatoes swirly and fancy like the photo shows them, you will need a pastry bag and a #824 open star tip and you simply pump the potatoes through it, moving in a circular fashion around your casserole dish.
Creamy, Dreamy Mashers with Celery Root, Goat Cheese & Herbs
Equipment
- Kitchen Aid with meat grinder attachment, food processor or a good potato masher
- large pot
- French steamer basket
Ingredients
- 4 large Yukon gold potatoes, peeled (about 2 1/2 lbs.)
- 8 oz. celery root, peeled and cut into quarters
- 4 oz. goat cheese, cut into 1-inch pieces and softened to room temperature. Or you can use a creamy goat cheese.
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1 tsp. fresh rosemary, finely minced
- 1 tsp. fresh thyme, finely minced
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. white pepper
Instructions
Potato Preparation
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease an 8×8 inch (or equivalent) casserole dish.
- Fill a large pot with cold water and about 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
- Peel potatoes and cut into 2-inch chunks (+/-)
- Place potatoes into the cold water in the pot and bring to a boil.
- Continue to cook until potatoes are knife tender, but not too mushy. This time varies depending upon the size of the potato pieces, but should take approximately 20 minutes or so. Keep your eye on them and test them frequently so they don’t get too mushy.
- Once the potatoes are tender, drain them in a colander and cool enough to handle.
- While the potatoes are still warm, mash them using the food grinder on your KitchenAid, a food processor or a good hand masher and move them into a large mixing bowl.
- Immediately add the goat cheese to the mashed potatoes while they are still warm and mix well to get the goat cheese well-integrated.
- Add the mashed celery root (directions below), buttermilk, minced herbs, salt and white pepper and stir well.
- Turn the potato mixture into the prepared casserole dish. (Note- this whole process can be done a day ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator until ready to serve.)
- Cover the casserole dish with foil and bake for 20 minutes, or until heated through. Remove foil and continue to bake for another 10 minutes to get a little color on the top.
Celery Root Preparation
- Fill a large pot about 3 inches full of water and place the steamer basket over the water.
- Peel and clean celery root by removing all of the tough outer skin and any of the dark veins. Cut celery root into 2-inch size chunks.
- Place celery root in the steamer basket and cover the pot. Bring to a boil over high heat. Once the water below the basket is boiling, reduce the temperature to medium-low and allow the celery root to steam until you can easily insert a knife all the way through the pieces. Immediately remove from heat and remove the lid and let cool just enough to be able to handle it.
- Mash the celery root while it is still warm, but not too hot to touch, either using a masher, a food processor or the food grinder attachment to your KitchenAid.
- The mashed celery root can be prepared several days ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator until you’re ready to make the mashed potatoes.