It is close to the holidays and that means mashed potatoes! Mashed potatoes with gravy, turkey, ham, made into potato pancakes, and potato facials. It is the potato’s time to shine. I was once tempted for Halloween to serve Mashed potatoes. They weren’t going to be orange or anything. They would be normal… maybe with chunks though. And put it in the stomach of a Mr. Potato head to serve them. Get it? Like we were eating his innards? Boyband frowned upon that idea. I guess it would have been a little too traumatic for the young ones and a bit hard to clean out. I’m not so sure that toy is dishwasher safe. What was the point of this gross totally off topic tale? Right, I like to eat mashed potatoes.
As a kid I can remember eating the instant mashed potatoes. Which can be great, but I always wondered what were those hard brown things at the supermarket were actually used for other than baking and slathering with butter? Well it took one episode of Chef’s Around the World or whatever it was called when I was eighty years old (yes, I was such a weird child) and watching a French chef mash some potatoes and mix them with thick milk (cream, I would learn) and all sorts of goodness and pair it with a filet and I was sold. I love a good mashed potato. I like mine creamy. Not starchy. Not bland. Not like a ran over baked potato.
This is a really fast recipe that gives you super creamy potatoes. It is because of all the cheese and sour cream. And bicep building mashing. Now you don’t even have to peel these potatoes. Just boil. Smash. Devour. I use Yukon Gold which are a much softer creamier consistency to begin with. Man Boy likes it best with Russet. I’ve done it with Red potatoes too. Pretty much whatever not sweet not Mr. Potato Head type potato will work here. If you use Russet- peel it though. That skin is going to be a bit too tough. Sub whatever ingredients you want too. I use Parmesan cheese, but you could do cheddar or a nice pepper jack for a kick. Instead of sour cream you could do Greek yogurt. It will be tangier but if that is what sounds good to you, follow your heart. I trust you implicitly. Just leave the garlic and butter. It’s too sketchy without it.
Easiest Creamiest Mashed Potatoes by Gutsy Gluten Free Gal
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lbs Yukon Gold Potatoes- quartered
- 4 TBS butter
- 3 garlic cloves- peeled and minced (or finely chopped if you don’t have a mincer)
- ½ tsp paprika
- ¾ cup Sour Cream (I used light)
- Salt and pepper to taste. I ended up with ½ tbs salt and pepper
- ½ cup Shredded Parmesan Cheese
Instructions
Bring a large pot of water to a boil on high heat. Once rapidly boiling carefully add the quartered potatoes. Careful because this has been one of the largest sources of my kitchen burns. Why is boiled water so hot? Don’t answer that. Boil potatoes about 25 minutes or until you can easily pierce potatoes with a fork and they are soft.
Drain the water from the potatoes in a colander. Leave the potatoes in the colander and add the butter, minced garlic and paprika to the hot pot. Turn heat to low and melt butter and stir in the garlic and paprika. This will cut down the raw garlic taste a bit and infuse the butter. When done, add the sour cream, and salt and pepper. Mix and then turn off the heat.
Now add the hot potatoes back into the pot. With a potato masher or some device that smashes the tar out of potatoes (you could also be fancy and use a mixer), get the spuds to a creamy equally smashed consistency. Mix everything together well. Taste to see if it needs more seasoning. When all smashed and mixed. Mix in parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.
Notes
Note to check the parmesan cheese. I used Trader Joe's shredded parmesan cheese which is gluten free. But some pre shredded cheese contains gluten to keep the shreds from sticking to each other. If celiac check for cross contamination on the label.
No Comments