I learned of Rocco DiSpirito from an episode of Extreme Weight Loss, a show K and I used to watch a lot together during my summer trips back to Canada when I was on vacation from the college. We both enjoyed the show a lot. Despite the show’s title, it was really more about the individual journeys of the people who were losing weight to embrace a healthier lifestyle. However, there were a lot of staged moments and native advertising that generally detracted from the quality of the program. Rocco’s cookbook was one such example of native advertising. We watched an episode where they artfully worked in a plug for ‘Rocco’s 5 Minute Flavor’. The idea behind the book was that you could cook healthy, tasty meals quickly. So they had Rocco show up and cook something from his book, the person who was losing weight gushed about the food, plus Chris and Heidi, the husband and wife trainers who work with the people also plugged it. Overall the segment was pretty effective since I wound up buying the book.

Here’s where reality separates from reality TV. I’ve cooked two recipes from this book since I got it. One was a salmon dish, served with butternut squash soup and with red onions, which I liked and will add to the Newfie Kitchen later. The other was gorgonzola mashed potatoes, which I hated like they were a Star Wars prequel. For me, these potatoes are the culinary equivalent of Jar Jar Binks. Me-sa hate them so much! The gorgonzola just overpowered the potatoes.

The original recipe calls for sirloin steak tips, but I just did the rib-eyes with mushroom cream again so I could get some extra practice searing the steaks. To fix these potatoes, I’d recommend using about half as much gorgonzola, then adding some roasted garlic. I can’t comment on the amounts because I haven’t had a chance to play with the recipe. Though to be honest, I probably would just leave out the gorgonzola and go with full-fat milk, butter, and roast garlic for my mashed potatoes. At any rate, here’s the recipe. I’ve added my own recommendations to the recipe and will test out it out later.

Gorgonzola Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients 2/3 cups heavy cream Try 1/2 cup 750g store-bought precooked cubed golden potatoes 900 g raw potatoes (after peeling about 750 g remain!) Salt and freshly ground black pepper l cup frozen peas 2/3 cups crumbled Gorgonzola cheese Try using 1/4 cup instead. 4 cloves roasted garlic (my own recommendation) 3 Tbsp butter (my own recommendation) Boil the potatoes until they are soft, about 15 to 20 minutes.  You can check them by using a fork.  If the fork goes through the potato easily and the potato falls off the fork when the fork is lifted, then the potatoes are done.  Remove from heat and strain and set aside in a bowl. Set a medium pan to high heat, add cream, and bring to a boil. Add the cream and gorgonzola to the potatoes and mash it up roughly.  Microwave the peas for 2 minutes and stir them into the potatoes.  Serve with steak or chicken.

The featured photo used in today’s post came from thehomedesigns.net