Lay it on me!
Use Yukon Golds. Quarter and steam (do not boil) with skins intact. Mash with lots of butter and half and half along with from one to ten heads of roasted garlic, depending upon how many potatoes you’re mashing. Season to taste with salt and pepper and stir in some mixed, minced leafy herbs (parsley, thyme and basil are good, rosemary is not unless finely minced and very fresh).
Other possible additions are sour cream instead of some of the half and half and some cheese of your choice (I use grana or Reggiano, though sometimes blue cheese is nice).
The trick is to make sure you COMPLETELY mash the potatoes before you add anything to them. They will be lumpy if you try to mash everything all together.
Can’t really quibble with Bob’s version, although my preference is to not add a lot of flavorings. Just butter, S&P, and warm half & half (maybe some sour cream or creme fraiche). I never boil the potatoes, but bake them instead (I feel you start out with drier potatoes this way).
P.S. I don’t mind a few lumps, although many like theirs completely silky smooth.
I prefer lumps.
I’ll send you mine via email, so as not to anger the culinary police.
Good idea on the steaming, for some reason I have always boiled them. My go to is usually yukon golds, whole milk, S&P, and parmesan but I like the ideas above.
Looking for something good tonight as I will be serving the mashers with some killer waguy boneless short-ribs that I cooked overnight using Kathy Johnson’s recipe.
You can flavor the potato’s any way you want to compliment the protein.
The 3 key things are a high starch potato, getting rid of as much water as possible and a Potato ricer of food mill.
The more starch a potato contains, the less inherent moisture, high-starch varieties like russets or Idahos mash up light and fluffy
3 pounds russet or Idaho potatoes, peeled and quartered
6 ounces butter, cut into chunks, at room temperature
12 ounces half-and-half
Salt and pepper (I prefer white pepper for this), to taste
You’re going to need a food mill or a potato ricer. this will thoroughly mash the potatoes, making them lump free, without shearing open the cells. A food processor or blender, on the other hand, will rip the cells apart.
Place potatoes in a heavy pot, cover them with cold water by an inch, and bring to a boil over high heat. When the water is boiling, add enough salt to make it taste nearly like seawater, and turn the heat down to a moderate simmer. (Starting them in cold water saves time and lets the heat penetrate the potato more evenly.) Cook the potatoes until a paring knife slips in and out of them easily;
A few minutes before the potatoes are done, warm the half-and-half in a small pot. You want it nice and steamy, season it aggressively with salt and pepper — you want it tasting a little bit saltier than is pleasant, because this is going to season the potatoes
Warm your food mill or potato ricer
Drain the potatoes thoroughly, spread them in one layer on a baking sheet, and put them in a hot oven to dry.
Set the potatoes in the mill or ricer and purée into a hot bowl, alternating every few chunks of potato with some butter; this helps you mix them evenly
The butter will coat the cells of the potato and keep the half-and-half from waterlogging them. Science is magic!
Pour in the hot half-and-half in a moderate stream, folding or whisking just until it’s incorporated. The potatoes should be moist but still firm enough to hold their shape. If they’re stiff, add a little more half-and-half. Taste, add salt or pepper if need be, and keep hot!
My son loves mashed potatoes and I make a small batch about twice a week.
This is not a fancy recipe and it might have a lump or two but it is super fast
and tastes good.
I don’t measure anything but here goes…
two peeled and cubed (say 3/4 inch) russets
add to a small sauce pan with a big pinch of salt and about an inch of water
cover and put on a medium stove for about 12 min.
Check the doneness with a knife or whatever…
do not pour out any liquid (not that there is much left)
if done, take off the heat and leave covered while your MW some 1/2 n 1/2 and about a 1/2 stick of butter pour that over the potatoes and mash
have your kid taste it for salt and then serve.
Recipe for mashed potatoes?!?! This is a silly question. There really isn’t a recipe per se. You cook potatoes until they are tender, then mash them with cream and butter until they taste good. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Dan ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
6 lg russets - I boil mine
1 cube butter
6 cloves of garlic minced
1/2 pt (or less depending on potato size) Heavy cream
I boil the potatoes, drain and return to pot. Mash and mix in cream. In separate dish I mix minced garlic and butter and nuke until bubbly. It brings out the aromatics of the garlic and mixes the flavor better with the butter. Add butter to potatoes, cover pot with towel and then lid and leave until ready to serve.
A ricer is mandatory for great mash potatoes. Making mash potatoes is sort of like making cake batter; you want to manipulate/stir the potatoes as little as possible which is why a ricer is so good at making a mash that is silky and light. Continued handling of the potatoes breaks apart the potato cells releasing starch and making the mash a gluey sticky, heavy disaster.
boiling is fine as long as you dry out the potatoes afterwards to get all of the excess moisture off of them. Simply letting them sit for a minute or so in a colander will accomplish this just fine. The steam will carry off any excess moisture.
This is a great technique for over cooked pasta too. instead of trying to stop the cooking process by dowsing with cold water (it doesn’t work anyways) just let the pasta cool for a bit spread out in a pan after draining. The heat will carry off excess moisture and dry the pasta out a bit and making it more palatable.
Being a Bit Irish… I have always wanted to make Colcannon!!
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Paul
[quote=“Paul Bacino”]Being a Bit Irish… I have always wanted to make Colcannon!!
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Mashed potatoes with boiled spinach is one of life’s treasures (at least as food goes).
T.
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If you have ever tried the lobster mashed potatoes at Mastros, you won’t ever forget them.
Tried to find their recipe but came up with this instead. Invite me over when they are ready!
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Let me add some heresy to the thread. The best mashed potatoes require butter and milk or cream. No question about it. However, ponder trying to make good mashers without ANY dairy at all.
Why you ask? Well we keep kosher at home, so when I make a meat meal, if I want mashers, I have no choice but to find a way to do it without dairy. I was getting to the point of thinking it was not worth doing and just save the mashers for dairy meals. However after enough experimenting I figured out some tricks. People will often try to use EVOO, but I find that it takes over the flavor just too much, so I tend to use a bit of canola or refined olive oil with just a touch of nice EVOO. I have played with a touch of chicken stock, and it brings a bit of richness and body. The real secret though is to quickly whisk in a bit of dry white wine. It’s a surprising combination and actually makes a pretty good mash. So refined olive oil, EVOO, chicken stock, and a touch of white wine. Obviously plenty of salt to taste. And the only potato that works is something low in starch like a Yukon gold.
No, they are not the same as a traditional mash. But they are actually still worth having.
Sometimes when I have little time, I will boil potatoes, carrots and garlic all together and put them in a food processor, puree, add butter, sour cream…and finish with truffle salt and pepper…MMMmmmmmmm…
If I have time, I will sometimes add leeks.
You can use something like a rice milk/soy/oat/almond whatever kind of “milk”. I prefer the unsweetened variety.
My mother can’t eat dairy (lactose int. rather than b/c we’re jewish). Last night we have mashed potatoes with some garlic, onion and beef stock (it was with steak). They were really tasty
when with chicken, obviously I use chicken stock. you dont get that creamy texture, but if you make the mashed chunky, it doesn’t matter as much
I also prefer the potatoes riced, not whipped. This is our current ricer. You put halved or quartered unpeeled potatoes in the perforated hopper, rice the potatoes over a bowl, and pull the skin out of the hopper.
