Black Trumpet and Chinese Chive Smashed Potatoes
Black Trumpet mushrooms and Chinese chives turn humble mashed potatoes into a show-stealing side dish.
Servings: 4 servings
Ingredients
- 1 oz dried black trumpet mushroom (or 8 oz fresh)
- 5 Yukon Gold Potatoes
- ½ cup butter or ghee
- ¼ cup Chinese chives minced (plus more for garnish)
- ¼ cup Pinot Grigio
- ½ tsp dried sweet basil
- ½ tsp savory
- Juice of half a lemon
Instructions
- Rehydrate mushrooms by soaking in a bowl of hot water for at least 30 minutes. Drain well through a fine-mesh sieve. Roughly chop and set aside.
- Scrub potatoes and cut into 1” pieces (do not peel). Place in a medium to large pot and fill with enough water to cover by one to two inches. Bring to a boil over high heat. Boil for 10-15 mins. Drain, set aside, and keep warm.
- While potatoes are boiling, heat butter or ghee in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add black trumpets to the pan and cook, stirring often, until the mushrooms start to pop (about 5 minutes).
- Add minced chives and cook for another 1-2 minutes. Add basil, savory, and wine. Stir to combine. Cook until wine has reduced by half. Squeeze lemon into the pan, stir, and then remove from heat.
- Add cooked potatoes to the pan. Using a fork, smash potatoes until no large pieces remain. Stir to combine thoroughly with the other ingredients. Serve garnished with additional chives.
Notes
- Black Trumpets (also called "trompette") are true wild mushrooms that have thus far eluded attempts at large-scale cultivation. They are a favorite of wild mushroom hunters and are prized for their rich, earthy flavor. Dried black trumpets are frequently available at gourmet grocers, many Whole Foods locations, or online. When they are in season, they may even turn up fresh at those same retail outlets as well as at local farmers' markets (if they are native to your area). Of course, if you are one of those aforementioned mushroom hunters, you know this already and probably came here looking for recipe to use them in. Naturally, if you want to use fresh black trumpets in this you can simply skip the soaking step.
- Chinese chives (also known as garlic chives and nira) have long, thin, flat leaves and taste more like sweet garlic than common chives. Try looking for them in Asian markets - here in the Chicago area we find them at Mitsuwa under their Japanese name (nira) and occasionally at Tony's Fresh Market (under the confusing name of "chive flowers", which actually refers to a different part of the same plant). If you can't find them, try substituting regular chives or (if they are in season) wild ramps.
- Be forewarned that Chinese chives have a very pungent aroma that will fill the entire room if you try to store them for any length of time (which, from personal experience, includes putting them in the crisper drawer in your refrigerator). Their flavor is well worth bringing them home for, but plan on either using them up quickly or putting up with everyone else in the house complaining about the smell in the kitchen.