Potato Filling with Dark Beer Mushroom Gravy

 

Makes 12 servings

Potato Filling with Dark Beer Mushroom Gravy

    for the potato filling

  • 4 lb potatoes, peeled
  • 1 medium onion, chopped into medium dice
  • 2 stalks celery, chopped
  • 2 Tablespoons butter
  • 4 ciabatta rolls, halved horizontally and cubed
  • 1 stick butter (4 oz), melted
  • cream
  • butter
  • 1 Tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

    • for the mushroom gravy

  • 1 lb mushrooms, cut into chunks
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 4 Tablespoons butter
  • 1 teaspoon oil
  • 8 oz dark beer (Andechser Doppelbock much preferred, but see note)
  • 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
  • 8 oz cream
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • black pepper to taste

Special equipment

potato ricer

Method

Preheat oven to 350° then start by boiling the potatoes in lightly salted water until soft. While they’re cooking, cook the onions and celery in the 2 Tablespoons butter over medium heat until the onions have become translucent. Remove.

Toss the breadcubes in the butter and toast in the oven until golden, turning with a spatula frequently so that the sides don’t brown unevenly. Remove.

Push the potatoes through the ricer twice so that your mash is smooth. Add cream and butter to taste and texture. Fold in the onion-celery mixture, then parsley. Set aside while you work on the gravy:

Brown the mushrooms and onions in the butter over medium high heat. Go ahead and use the same saucepan that you used for the onions and celery for the potato filling. Deglaze the pan with the beer and boil for 5 minutes. Mix cornstarch into the the cream, stir into the beer-mushroom mixture, add salt and pepper to taste, and simmer for 3 minutes.

Now fold the toasted breadcubes into the potato filling and make 3 long rows in a 13x9 pan. Spoon the mushroom gravy into the 2 rows between and bake uncovered in the 350° oven for 30-45 minutes.

Notes

This is a personal combination of a PA Dutch potato filling with German potato Auflauf that we serve only at Thanksgiving.

We recommend Green’s Endeavour gluten free dubbel ale and Schar’s GF Ciabatta rolls (mix of multi-grain and white. Schar’s are smaller than typical bakery ciabattas; you’ll end up using 6 or 7) to easily render this dish gluten-free.↩

Suggestions

You can probably make the potato filling — except for the bread cubes — the day ahead, which means on feast day you need only toast the breadcrumbs and make the gravy, but we haven’t tried that yet.

Using easily available gluten-free ciabatta rolls quickly renders this recipe acceptable for celiacs.