Herb Smashed PotatOes

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, several awesome bloggers — aka Sara of Ms. Adventures in Italy, Jenn of The Leftover Queen and Michelle of Bleeding Espresso — are hosting an O Foods Contest to raise Ovarian Cancer Awareness. Michelle also wrote a great post on the signs and symptoms of ovarian cancer.

Please consider participating in this contest and/or posting about it on your blog and/or donating to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund.

This entry will serve as my submission to the O Foods contest. Pictured above is one of my favorite dishes, Herb Smashed PotatOes. It is a combination of several mashed potato recipes and has become a favorite.

Herb Smashed PotatOes
For 2-3 people

3 medium potatoes, washed
2 tablespoons milk or cream (I use skim milk)
2-3 oz goat cheese with herbs
1Tbsp chopped chives

Peel the potatoes if you don’t like potato peel in your mashed potatoes (I usually peel them somewhat, but then give up) and cut into pieces of the same size for uniform cooking. I usually cut each potato into thirds. Put in saucepan with just enough water to cover, bring to a boil, and cook until potatoes are fork tender. Then drain potatoes, and mash with the milk. When the potatoes have just about the consistency you like, add the goat cheese and the chopped chives. Enjoy!

A note regarding the cheese: I am lucky to find locally made herbed goat cheese at the various markets I go to. They are always delicious and one of the reasons I love this recipe — the tang of goat cheese adds another dimension to the mashed potatoes. However, you can absolutely substitute with a non-goat herbed cheese like Alouette or Boursin or even a soft cheese and add some more fresh herbs with the chives.

Picture by City Girl

O Foods for Ovarian Cancer Month

September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. In honor of Gina DePalma, author of Dolce Italiano: Desserts from the Babbo Kitchen and Executive Pastry Chef of Babbo Ristorante in NYC, who was recently diagnosed with ovarian cancer, Sara of Ms Adventures in Italy, Jenn of The Leftover Queen, and Michelle of Bleeding Espresso are asking you to donate to the:

Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (via FirstGiving.org)

and then, out of the goodness of your hearts and to be eligible for the O Foods for Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month Contest, please do the following:

1. Post a recipe to your blog using a food that starts or ends with the letter O (e.g., oatmeal, orange, okra, octopus, olive, onion, potato, tomato) and include this entire text box in the post;

OR

2. If you’re not into the recipe thing, simply post this entire text box in a post on your blog to help spread the word about the event and Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month.

AND

3. Then send your post url [along with a photo (100 x 100) if you’ve made a recipe] to ofoods[at]gmail[dot]com by 11:59 pm (Italy time) on September 30, 2008.

We will post a roundup and announce prize winners on October 3.

Prizes:

• 1 Recipe Prize for best “O food” concoction: $50 gift certificate to Amazon;
• 1 Awareness Prize for only publicizing event: Copy of Dolce Italiano cookbook.

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From the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund:

• Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death from gynecologic cancers in the United States and is the fifth leading cause of cancer death among U.S. women; a woman’s lifetime risk of ovarian cancer is 1 in 67.
• The American Cancer Society estimates that 21,650 women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer in the U.S. in 2008 and about 15,520 women will die from the disease.
• The symptoms of ovarian cancer are often vague and subtle, making it difficult to diagnose. There is no effective screening test for ovarian cancer but there are tests which can detect ovarian cancer when patients are at high risk or have early symptoms.
• In spite of this patients are usually diagnosed in advanced stages and only 45% survive longer than five years. Only 19% of cases are caught before the cancer has spread beyond the ovary to the pelvic region.
• When ovarian cancer is detected and treated early on, the five-year survival rate is greater than 92%.

Please donate to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund