It has been such a beautiful, busy and active summer, I had to go and rest a few days at my favorite hideaway, the Sivananda Yoga Ashram, (sivanandabahamas.org) in the Bahamas.
Honestly for me, there is nothing like waking up at 5:30 in the morning, sitting for long meditation sessions and practicing four hours of yoga a day, to get me back on track and in shape. No electronics, no coffee, no alcohol, just stretching and breathing peace.
I happened to be there last weekend, during the Rosh Hashanah celebrations and of course, I was in the kitchen on Sunday afternoon, busy cooking for the feast, with a group of fantastic yogis from all over the world, mostly from Israel. I was assigned to the making of a Moussaka, a Greek dish traditionally made by layering eggplant over ground lamb, topped with potatoes and béchamel sauce. Since the Ashram only serves vegetarian dishes, we replaced the meat with lentils and decided, instead of using a béchamel, to make very creamy mash potatoes to top the eggplants. That’s when I thought it would be great to mix the potatoes with an almost equal quantity of grated feta cheese, to make it as creamy as possible. It turned out to be the most amazing mash potatoes I ever tasted, no butter, no salt (the feta is salty enough!), just a little milk.
I didn’t think it was possible but it almost beats my previous lifetime most amazing mash: the mash potatoes and truffles I once had in Burgundy, in the beautiful Bernard Loiseau’s Relais & Château. Now, I am curious, what is your best-ever mash?
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