Leftover Mashed Potatoes Go Gourmet

My sinister plan to cook all day Tuesday and Wednesday for our family Thanksgiving feast and a weekend's worth of subsequent meals has so far worked out great. Noone's complaining about a lack of food in the fridge and I've been free to slave away at other projects. This morning, though, I was doing leftover inventory control and noticed that my big bowl of mashed potatoes had not been dented.

Hmmmm. I didn't feel like doing my usual potato cake strategy, as they always fall apart in the flipping stage anyway. Hmmmmm again. Some perusal of my cookbook collection inspired me to do a sort of mashed potato kugel recipe in my trusty clay pot and so in less than an hour we had a Sunday breakfast of colorful, reinvigorated potato leftovers that turned out rather successfully. There were no leftovers this time around.

Roasted Mashed Potato Remix

4 cups mashed potatoes (Yukon Gold potatoes looked beautiful in this dish)
2 large carrots, peeled and coarsely grated on a box grater
1 onion, chopped fine
3 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1/2 bunch parsley, minced (comes to 3 Tbsp.)
2 Tbsp. butter
2 tsp. fennel seeds
1 Tbsp. olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Soak clay pot in cold water for 10 minutes.

Melt butter in frying pan. Add onions and garlic and saute over medium heat, stirring often, for 5 minutes. Add carrots and saute another 5 minutes. Add parsley and fennel seeds and saute 2 minutes longer.

Turn out sauteed mixture into a large mixing bowl. Add mashed potatoes and mix with your hands to blend ingredients well. If too dry, add olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Drain clay pot and add potato mixture. Cover and place in cold oven. Turn oven heat to 450 degrees F and bake 30-35 minutes or until potatoes are brown and CRISPY at the edges.

Serves 4-6.

I wanted to use my clay pot roaster for this recipe because I wanted a nice brown crust on my potato casserole and so it is necessary to soak the clay pot right before cooking so it can steam the food inside while it's baking at that high heat. If you wanted to make this Potato Remix in a regular baking dish I would try baking it at 350 degrees F, uncovered, for 20-25 minutes.

I am submitting this recipe to the indefatigable Joelen at Joelen's Culinary Adventures for her monthly Tasty Tools event which is now featuring recipes made in roasting pans. Well, I made my Roasted Remix in a clay roasting pot, which I think is covered under this category. This clay pot works great in roasting foods so that they both steam in their own juices and seasonings and get CRISPY and brown at the edges.