Mashed Potatoes

A few days ago i wrote a post about the top 10 things every new cook should know - things she/he should know as well as they know their own face. One of the things I should’ve, could’ve, and would’ve put on the list is this: Anyone who aspires to be a good cook MUST be able to make great mashed potatoes. Not decent, not good….and darned sure not instant or frozen!….GREAT.

For a simple, great traditonal recipe for mashed potatoes, see the Idaho Potato website. They have more recipes than just the basic one, you might want to check them out, too. Incidentlally, Idaho Potatoes are as good as it gets - they’ve never let me down.

Once you’ve mastered the basic mashed potato recipe, you can start getting cute. For really creamy and startlingly white mashed potatoes, add sour cream with the milk and potatoes - for thick and rich potatoes, add the sour cream instead of the milk.

If you’re wanting amazing richness in each bite, add cream cheese along with the other dairy products. And I know I’m a broken record, but use butter instead of margarine for the best potatoes (as well as everything else!).

Under the “Getting cute” category, you’ll want to try Alton’s Creamy Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Robin Miller’s Garlic and Celery Root Mashed Spuds.

I made The Garlic and Celery Root Mashed Spuds last week and they were out of this culinary world. If you’re looking for a way to jazz your potatoes up this Thanksgiving or Christmas - I promise you, this is the recipe you should try….and I’m not just saying it because the recipe calls for buttermilk! I didn’t include the celery root when I made these - I simply didn’t have one. I also sprinkled a bit of extra chives on top as well as folding in the desired amount.

One of my daughters now fully expects these mashed potatoes at every meal - she looks kind of disappointed when she doesn’t see them!

BTW, while on the subject, if you’ve never watched Robin Miller’s show on Food TV, you really should check her out. Like Emeril, everything she makes is amazing! I’ve never tried one of her recipes without it being a loud success….and I only recently started watching her show, myself. The title, “Quick Fixes with Robin Miller,” always fooled me - I thought she’d be all about instant this, canned that, frozen food…blah blah blech. She actually cooks just as much and just as brilliantly as any other chef. She gets jazzier than a lot of them, in fact. On the same episode these potatoes starred on, she made an Apple-Sourdough Stuffingthat lit the tv up. I want to make it sometime this week, but I’m sticking with my traditional family stuffing for the big day, itself.

Remember, I’m searching the net high and low to find the best recipes and tips I can - then I’m listing them in the Recipe scroller to the right (Not the Today on the Food Networkscroller….the one further down!). I’ve found so many amazing recipes, though, that I’m now listing some on the Homepage as well - so you’ll find some there that aren’t listed on the blog’s scroller. You’ll find the link to the BEST Sweet Potato Pie recipe you could hope for - it’s called * Homemade Sweet Potato Pie *(You know it’s dang good when I give it the asterick treatment.) and I guarantee it’s the best there is. The crust recipe with this recipe is amazing - and if you’re one of those who normally buys the crust instead of making it, make this the year you wax all kinds of brave and brilliant. I think it’s a lot of fun to make your own pie crust - just be sure your water is as cold as possible and the number one tip: Get a “Pie Crust Ring” to protect the edges of the crust from becomming overly brown. If you can’t find one of these rings, make one out of aluminum foil - it’ll save your pie. Maybe even your holiday.

Joi