Coconut Basil Mashed Potatoes with bacon

Coconut Basil Mashed Potatoes with Bacon

A fast, easy to prepare non-dairy tasty alternative to plain old mashed potatoes (Serves 4, Total prep and cooking time under 20 minutes)

Ingredients

• 4-5 medium red potatoes
• 2 green onions, trim the end and dice both the green and white portions
• 5 slices of your favorite bacon - cooked, drained on paper towels and diced into small pieces
• 1/2 can Polar Coconut milk - mixed well before portioning
• 1/4 cup finely chopped purple Thai Basil
• 3 tablespoons Butter (or margarine if going completely dairy free), room temp
• Salt and pepper to taste

Prep (10 minutes or so):

In this order:

• Make the bacon in a skillet or frying pan.  Once browned and crispy remove from pan and drain on paper towel - dice.  You can also substitute prociutto if you want something a little saltier.  I prefer all-natural Seven Bridges Farms bacon.
• Wash, Trim and clean the green onions and chop into small pieces, set aside
• Wash 2-3 stalks of Thai basil and shake to remove excess liquid, remove the leaves from the stems and chop the leaves and flowers finely.  Set aside.
• Shake then open a can of Polar Coconut Milk (other brands may work, but polare is the best.  Stir to make sure all solids are mixed in.
• Clean and Eye the potatoes (but do not peel) and place in a bowl larger than the potatoes, with room for additional ingredients and cover. 

Cooking

• Microwave potatoes in covered bowl on high for 9-12 minutes until there is no resistance to a fork.  Remove from microwave and slice into quarters (carefully they will be hot).  Put them back in the bowl
• With a potato masher, mash the potatoes until the skins are broken and they are in chunks, but not completely mashed.
• Add the butter or margarine and mix well as it melts
• While completing the mashing slowly add Coconut milk until you get the right consistency.  You can always add more in, but you can't take it out.  Depending on the size of the potatoes this may use up to 1/2 or 2/3 of the can
• Add the green onions and the chopped bacon, mix well
• Salt and pepper to taste - it's important that you TASTE as you do this.  I use ground sea salt and a peppercorn mix for the pepper.  Add a bit, taste, add more until you get the right amount. This will be bland without enough salt and pepper.
• Stir in the fresh thai basil a bit at a time with the masher until you get just the amount you want - up to the full 1/4 cup. Thai basil is strongly flavored so don't over-do it.   If you have any left at the end you can sprinkle it on top of each serving for flavor, with some green onion dice

Serve hot.  You will not need or want sour creme, this has a subtle sweet coconut flavor (like Thai coconut rice).