The mashed potatoes recipe is one that has been used for over three hundred years. No thanksgiving dinner would be complete without a bowl of mashed potatoes on the table.
Ingredients
- 6 potatoes
- 1 cup heavy cream (this can be substituted with plain milk or buttermilk)
- A? cup salted butter (at room temperature)
Directions
- Peel the potatoes and place them into a bowl of cold water so as to prevent them from turning an ugly brown as you cut them up.
- After the potatoes have been peeled, cut them into about 1 & A? inch chunks.
- Completely cover the potato pieces in a pot of water. Bring the pot of potatoes to a boil over high heat and then turn down the heat to allow them to simmer for about 15-20 minutes.
- After the potatoes have simmered remove them from the heat and drain them so as much water as possible is removed from them
- Put the cooked potatoes in a large bowl and add the cream, butter or milk. If you are using milk, heat the milk first so that will make your potatoes very creamy.
- Use either a potato masher or an electric mixer to mash the potatoes but never use a food processor. With a hand masher, go with an up and down technique instead of stirring.
- Add salt to taste.
Tips
- If you are health conscious, replace the butter with milk and use less salt in the recipe.
- Whichever method you use to mash the potatoes, ensure not to over-mix. Mix the potatoes enough to remove lumps but not too much that your potatoes end up being sticky or gluey.
- In a mashed potatoes recipe, what makes each different in taste are the elements you add either before or after the potatoes are mashed. You can add garlic to your mashed potatoes before mashing them to add more taste. For this addition, roast about five (5) gloves of garlic for every six (6) potatoes you use. Add the roasted garlic and A? cup Parmesan cheese. Another interesting and tasty addition is wasabi powder. This addition makes for a mashed potato dish with an exotic and zingy taste to it. Add 1 tablespoon of wasabi powder for every three (3) potatoes. You can also add cheddar cheese to your mashed potato recipe. With this addition, you may use thinly sliced onions or onions fried in butter or oil along with the cheddar cheese to add yet another tasty variation to a mashed potato recipe. Bacon slices can also be added to a mashed potatoes recipe. Add some cooked and crumbled bacon slices to give your mashed potatoes a crunchy, meaty taste. You could also replace the bacon with prosciutto. With any mashed potatoes recipe a few minor ingredients can be added to make it as tasty as you like such as pepper or green onions.
- Many people will use a lot of gravy with their mashed potatoes but with the simple easy addition ideas above this can be avoided.
