Carrot and Swede Mash with garlic butter

A creamy mash swirled with garlic butter is comfort food heaven, served with vegan sausages and gravy, or topping a rich shepherds pie. And whether you're trying to cut down on starchy carbs, or trying to increase your five-a-day vegetable intake, this deliciously creamy carrot and swede mash is for you!

Both carrots and swedes are incredibly cheap, and also packed with nutrients. Once you've tried this buttery mash it will become a regular weeknight staple. Why not make a big batch in one go, and freeze individual portions for speedy weeknight suppers?

This creamy mash contains almost half the calories and half the carbohydrates that an equivalent made with the same quantity of potatoes would contain, but is still creamy, garlicky and delicious. What's not to love?!

🥕 How to serve your mash

This creamy mash is incredibly versatile, you can use it in all the same ways as you would mashed potato. How about:

• With vegan sausages and gravy A regular family dinner in our house, with some lovely vegan sausages (Richmond, Naked Glory or Sainsbury's 'Shroomdogs' are all firm family favourites), and a rich mushroom and onion gravy.
• Topping a Vegan Shepherds Pie - you could even turn it into 'colcannon' to top my Vegan Cottage Pie with Colcannon Mash - just sub in the carrot and swede mash for the potato. If you're planning to pipe it into pretty swirls, just make sure you have made it thick enough - keep it cooking for a few extra minutes to get rid of more moisture.
• Serve alongside a Vegan Sausage Casserole to add some vegetable goodness
• Or try it with my Mushroom Bourguignon - the rich red with gravy is a great pair with this creamy garlic mash.

How will you serve yours?

📝 What you need

Ingredients

Carrots are incredibly cheap and very good for you, so a perfect base for this creamy mash. This is a great way to use up surplus carrots, if you've grown too many in your veg patch or have a load in your veg box. The mash freezes well too so make as much as you can.

Swede (or Rutabaga) is an under-rated vegetable from the turnip family. Whilst it smells quite strongly whilst cooking, it actually has a very mild flavour, so is perfect for bulking out this mash, and taking on the flavour of the garlic butter.

Dairy-free cream adds a richness to the mash, but you can use plant milk if you prefer. Use an unsweetened cream - Elmlea Plant Double Cream is ideal.

Equipment

A stick blender is the easiest way to blitz your carrot and swede mash to a smooth and silky purée. No pouring into a blender, just stick it in the pan and blitz. Mine is by Dualit and has served me well for many years, but any good quality stick blender will do the job well.

You can of course mash it by hand with a standard potato masher, but you will never achieve that smooth consistency of a restaurant-standard mash without a blender.

👩🏽‍🍳 Variations

You can use this basic mash recipe to take on all sorts of other flavours:

• Nutmeg is a simple but delicious addition - just grate through when you add the cream at the end of cooking.
• Orange works really well with the carrot and swede - use grated orange zest instead of (or as well as) the garlic in the butter, and a splash of orange juice instead of the cream.
• Curry spices I've made this to serve alongside curried chickpeas, and stirred 1 tablespoon of korma curry paste through the butter at the same time as the garlic. It was really delicious!
• Herbs This would be delicious with lots of fresh herbs stirred through - parsley or coriander would be a good match with the carrot.
• Coconut milk would be a delicious addition in place of the cream in the recipe - you may need to add 3-4 tablespoon for the flavour to really come through.

❄️ Freezing

This mash freezes really well, so whilst you're at it you can make up a double (or triple!) batch and freeze portions for another day.

You can defrost and reheat in the microwave or on the hob. Freezing may slightly affect the consistency, so check before serving and cook for a little longer to remove more water if it is a little sloppy, or add a splash of plant milk or cream if it is too thick.

🔪 What else can I use to make lower-carb mash?

For those who are choosing to avoid white potatoes, there are lots of alternatives that you can use to make a creamy mash with fewer starchy carbs.

Use the same basic recipe below to make mash (or purée) out of:

• Cauliflower (see my Cauliflower Mash recipe)
• Tinned beans (such as my creamy Butter Bean Mash recipe)
• Butternut Squash
• Celeriac
• Turnips
• Broccoli
• Parsnips
• Sweet Potato

Which will you try first?!

🍽 If you liked that...

.... you might also enjoy these vegan recipes from The Veg Space: