OVERVIEW
This dish of creamy mashed root veg involves unpeeled vegetables being dirty cooked directly on the coals until blackened all over, resulting in a deeply savoury, smoky flavour. To make your Christmas Day as stress-free as possible, this is a dish that can be prepared ahead of time and reheated on the EGG while your centrepiece is resting.
It’s always a good idea to do the dirty cooking after an earlier cook has finished, to make the most of the hot coals before they die down. Either way, you don’t want too much flame or you risk incinerating the veg.
DIRTY COOK YOUR VEG
Place your unpeeled veg directly onto the hot coals. Turn occasionally to evenly blacken the edges. Remove each piece once the centre feels soft when pierced with a fork. If the heat appears to be too intense, remove the veg from the coals and continue cooking on a grid.
Leave aside until cool enough to handle, then break off the excessively blackened edges. Roughly chop the flesh, but don’t worry if there are some burnt bits still in the mix – they’ll only add to the flavour.
MAKE THE MASH
Place the chopped-up veg into a Dutch Oven and pour over a little water – go easy, as the aim here is to finish softening the veg, not to make soup. Place on the heat and simmer until everything is cooked through, adding a little more water if it’s drying out too much. Finally, add the butter, cream and mustard.
Mash the creamy veg using a potato masher, a ricer on a larger setting, or even a hand blender. If you’re finding it too thick to mash, add a splash more water. Stir well and season to taste with sea salt and white pepper. To finish, pile the mashed veg into a dish.
BAKE UNTIL GOLDEN
Set up your EGG for indirect cooking with the ConvEGGtor in place, topped with a Stainless Steel Grid. Your target temperature is 180°C-200°C. Bake the mashed veg for 20 minutes or so until the top is crispy and golden.
