Dehydrated Potato Flakes, my newest culinary obsession.

Sometimes I am easily influenced, and by that I mean a lot of times, and what I really mean is always. As I mentioned last week, I have become quite enamored with Kevin Lee Jacob’s YouTube channel wherein, in his quiet and gentlemanly way, he shares recipes, household tips, and the lovely home and garden that he shares with his partner, “Mr. Fox.” Kevin recently, by way of his videos, turned me onto dehydrated potatoes. Make no mistake, they are not instant mashed potatoes; there are no added ingredients, simply dehydrated potato flakes. There’s a difference. Trust me, I know, and you have to look for them.  It appears that Kevin does most, if not all of the cooking in his household, and he makes good use of dehydrated potatoes to make mashed potatoes to serve with various dishes that he prepares.

The beauty of the dehydrated potatoes, of course, is that you can make small portions. I’m a fan of mashed potatoes, but I hate making them, because I hate all of the trouble involved for just one person, and I am terrible at gauging the amount. I do like the Bob Evans’ mashed potatoes available in the dairy case at the grocery store, but even the small container is too much for me. As a consequence, and influenced by KLJ, I started ferreting out dehydrated potato flakes, and I found some here. 

At the same time I discovered these from Bob’s Red Mill, I learned that Bob Moore, founder of Bob's Red Mill and one of the most recognized figures in the natural foods industry, peacefully passed away at his home on Saturday, February 10, 2024, at the age of 94. I was so sorry to hear this. Clearly, at the age of 94, with a successful business under his belt, Bob had a good run. He also changed the way a lot of us shop, but I’m wandering from my point. The point is that I ordered these hoping that Kevin didn’t let me down, and that I could make my life so much easier by making these. I thought they were quite pricey until I realized that I had mistakenly ordered a case of them, so I see a lot of mashed potatoes in my future.

 As it turned out,  they are every bit as good as they appear to be on Kevin’s YouTube channel. Will I stop making my own fresh mashed potatoes? No. But I will make these at least once a week to make my life so much simpler.

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Puréed Broccoli Soup

 

I don’t know what you did over the weekend, but for me, it was a weekend of wild discovery. One of the things I discovered was that I own a blender. Seriously, I did not know. I happened to be rummaging around in a kitchen cabinet that I tend to avoid due to its chaotic nature, and found a blender container. I wondered why I had this container with a strange lid until I realized that it goes with my mini ninja chopper (that I have had for about 15 years). What a surprise!

This discovery was quite fortuitous because I also became acquainted with the absolutely delightful Kevin Lee Jacobs and his YouTube channel by the same name. From there, I discovered that Gordon Ramsay wasn’t quite the jerk that I thought he was, and, finally, from there I discovered the pure deliciousness of broccoli purée soup (which is where the blender came in).

I was looking for a new way to prepare broccoli, and that’s how I found Kevin. Kevin made a broccoli purée that he made look wonderful, attributing his find to Gordon Ramsay. I knew that I had to give this a go because it seemed like the perfect starter for a St. Patrick’s Day meal. Once I found that I did indeed own a blender, the rest is history.

There really isn’t much of a recipe for the soup, although I’ll try to write one up below. I tend to always use a bit of nutmeg when I’m working with any type of cruciferous vegetable (or spinach), so I added some here, making this recipe my own. Essentially, you just cook broccoli, blend it up with a little of the cooking water, season it, and serve. What could be simpler than that?Puréed Broccoli Soup

1 large head broccoli
6-7 c. cold water
1 T. sea salt
4 gratings fresh nutmeg
Freshly ground black pepper

In a medium stock pot, add salt to water, and bring to a rolling boil. While water is heating, cut florets off of the head of broccoli, rinse well, and drain. Once water has reached a boil, put all of the broccoli in at once, and set a timer for four minutes. When the four minutes are up, drain the broccoli, but reserve 2 cups of the broccoli water. Place drained broccoli into a blender, add the nutmeg and a half cup of the broccoli water, and purée. Add more water, as needed, to reach the desired texture. That’s it!

You can top it with a swirl of heavy cream or a little dollop of sour cream (as I did) and a few gratings of cracked pepper. Gordon Ramsay serves his with a slice of goat cheese at the bottom, so I suppose you could do that as well. Personally, I thought it was perfect as is.

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