beau who?

Like most people, I enjoy getting free stuff. So when I was contacted by Challenge Dairy and invited to participate in an event bringing attention to their wonderful butter, I jumped at the chance. I hadn't heard of the company before since it's based in California, but I'm here to tell you that we East Coasters have been missing out!


For this challenge, a plethora of food bloggers were divided up into groups and assigned a course--appetizer, entrée, side dish, and dessert. As someone who rarely, if ever, gets or eats appetizers, that's naturally the group into which I was placed. What's more, we were sent several spices from Spice Islands to use in the dish we'd be creating, and I received one I know intimately, one I’ve heard of but never used, and one I'd never even seen (Beau Monde? What's that? In addition to being yet another example of my sheltered nature, it's also a mixture of allspice, bay leaf, celery seed, cinnamon, cloves, mace, nutmeg, black and white pepper. Just so you know.)! So yes, this was indeed a challenge.

I turned to the potato, a tuber that has never failed me. I thought it'd make an adequate, nay, excellent palette for these unfamiliar herbs and spices, and also for the butter (of course). In hindsight, I realize that the traditional preparation of these pre-meal noshes is to cut them into wedges, but I went the diced route. So the silverware might have to come out early--it's not the end of the world!


To add decadence to deliciousness (and since a fork was required anyway), I drizzled a bit of my truffle oil over the seasoned and roasted taters. 'Twas a fine touch indeed.

And in case you're wondering, Beau Monde seasoning is wonderful--it's just a random and complex blend of some great herbs and spices. Try it out!

Truffled Taters with a Tasty Twist
2 lbs potatoes, scrubbed and diced or wedged
1/4 cup Challenge Dairy butter, melted
2 teaspoons Beau Monde seasoning
1 teaspoon fennel seed
1 teaspoon ground chipotle chile, more or less to taste
salt and pepper to taste
truffle oil, to finish

Preheat oven to 450°F. Line a 15x10x1-inch baking pan with foil.
Place the cut potatoes in large bowl. Add melted butter and toss to coat well.
In a little bowl, combine the Beau Monde seasoning, fennel seed, ground chipotle chile, salt, and pepper. Sprinkle this blend over the potatoes and toss to coat evenly. Arrange the seasoned potatoes in a single layer on the prepared pan.
Bake for 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender and golden brown. Add more salt and pepper as needed and drizzle with the truffle oil before serving.

If you want to be entered for a chance to win one of five $100 gift cards, all you have to do is write a post about the sweepstakes that Challenge Dairy is running. The winner of this sweepstakes wins a pretty spectacular getaway, which you can read about here.