Pandy

What you might know as mashed potatoes or mash, we called pandy when we were small. I had Carb Lover's Cauliflower from The Paleo Diet Cookbook as part of a dinner recently. It was meant to replace mashed potatoes and I had it to vary what was on the dinner plate instead of getting sweet potatoes all the time. But it neither had the look nor the texture of mashed potato. I had parsnips as part of dinners as well recently and noticed the texture of them when cooked was much softer than carrots and reminded me a little bit of mashed potato, even in the taste. I decided to put my own twist on the Cauliflower Mash recipe on The Healthy Gut Cookbook to try and do a better, and more familiar mash than the paleo diet carb lover's cauliflower. It turned out pretty much just like the pandy I used to eat when I was young. Same look, same texture, similar taste. I divided it into four portions, as you can see above, and stored three for dinners for the next few days in my usual meal prep. To reheat the stored portions I added a little bit of water to a small pot - just enough to cover the base - before adding the mash and warmed on a medium low heat on the hob, stirring occasionally, until I could tell from the steam that it was warm. It was a judgement call rather than timed. I used a bag of frozen cauliflower florets for convenience but you can use a large head of cauliflower cut into florets if desired. It'll still give the same result. I said on my instagram that I'd put the recipe here today so here it is.

Cauliflower 'Pandy'

Serves 4 as part of a main meal

Utensils:
2-tier steamer pot
food processor fitted with a metal chopping blade

Ingredients:
400g frozen cauliflower florets* (or a large head of cauliflower cut into florets)
3 large (or 4 medium) parsnips peeled and sliced
2 tbsp chopped chives
half tsp sea or Himalayan salt
60ml (2fl oz) ghee

Method:
Add 3 or 4cm (1.5 or 1.75in) of water to the base of the steamer pot and bring to the boil on the hob over a high heat while preparing the vegetables.
Add the parsnips to the lower tier and the cauliflower to the upper tier of the steamer**. Place them on the base, reduce heat to medium low and steam for 10 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.
Place the chives, salt and gee in the food processor. Add the steamed vegetables and pulse to a smooth mashed potato-like texture.

Notes: *I didn't actually measure out 400g of florets. This is a guess based on less than half of a 907g bag of frozen cauliflower florets filling a tier of my steamer pot. 400g is 14oz for those of you not in metric land.
**I did it this way because the upper tier didn't sit properly on the lower tier of my pot when the cauliflower was on the bottom as the florets took up a lot of space, but the cover sat comfortably on it with either vegetable on the top tier.

I used the pandy in a dinner that also had spinach, pork chop and carrots as you can see below. A typical Irish dinner growing up would have consisted of potatoes, bacon and cabbage. I never liked cabbage and it doesn't really agree with me unless as small amounts of sauerkraut. So I went with spinach because it's a leafy green that I can easily digest and pork chops instead of bacon because they can be grilled, saving time and hob space. I'll be having pandy again next week I'd say.

Nutrition Details (per serving)

Kcal 140; fat 15.2g (of which saturates 9.3g); cholesterol 9.6mg; sodium 147.5mg; potassium 169.3mg; carbohydrates 6g (of which sugar 1.7g); dietary fibre 1.7g; calcium 1.3%; vitamin A 2.3%; vitamin C 27%; iron 1.3%; magnesium 2.5%