Explain to me why the best midweek dinners feature a bowl of carbs – pasta, risotto, polenta, special fried rice or a virtuous brown rice bowl – and yet, when I suggest mash for mains my family protest, “That’s not dinner!”?

It is as ridiculous as belittling me for suggesting we could make nachos with crunchy roast potatoes instead of corn chips. Or for topping my tuna mornay with a big bag of salt ‘n’ vinegar chips before roasting it all off in the oven. It’s as if there is some conspiracy to ensure that potatoes always remain a dinnertime bridesmaid and never the bride. 

I am here to say that if mash is good enough to bury under a ladle of boeuf bourguignon, or to layer on top of savoury mince for a shepherd’s pie or creamy seafood in a fish pie, then why can’t a bowl of mash – heavily accessorised, of course – be the main event itself? 

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Credit: Rob Palmer

After all, mash is a silky bowl of reassurance once the evenings start to chill, especially if it’s made luscious with butter, cream, milk, olive oil or even avocado, if you’re that way inclined. 

This is also a budget-effective way of twisting your dinner costs, as potatoes are so much cheaper than mince – so it makes sense to make meat the condiment rather than the main event, and bulk up on the cheaper carbs. Anyway, I’ve often found myself commenting that my favourite bit of a roast chicken dinner or a hearty winter braise is those last few mouthfuls, when you scrape up the last of the gravy and leftover peas with your mash, the meat long gone. Unlike what they say in TV adverts, these days, mash and gravy should never be just a side… 

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Credit: Ben Dearnley

So, what if we threw a pasta sauce like amatriciana over mash? Or the braised mushrooms I usually load on polenta, complete with a thyme gremolata? Mash topped with roast broccoli and a drizzle of a sweet and sour sauce with chopped anchovies and fresh red chilli might also be rather nice. Or step up Ireland’s famous colcannon mash with spring onions and kale, topping it with crisp-fried diced ham and ribbons of cabbage or roasted brussels sprouts. 

I’ve got you interested, but can tell that you’re still not convinced — so maybe start out with baby steps, like turning ‘bangers and mash’ into ‘mash with bangers’. Over the top of your mash, pour a pan full of fried diced chorizo, slices of red capsicum, garlic and sliced red onions, complete with the rendered fat drizzling in scarlet ribbons down the side of the mound of mashed potato. 

Or maybe see the dinner mash as a more elegant version of stuffed baked potatoes. On the top goes toasted corn, some maple-glazed bacon, fresh coriander and a dollop of sour cream. Feel free to bury a few oozy-centred cooked eggs (poached or coddled) in the mash, or add a handful of grated cheese for saltiness and added goo. The secret here isn’t to mush everything together, but see the mash as the canvas against which each element can shine. Forget the rice bowl and say “welcome” to the loaded mash bowl! 

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