How to Make: Creamy Mashed Potatoes
Potatoes are great! Well, all food is great, but potatoes are really up there in the list. Think about it: what other food is great when it’s cooked and fried, but you can also smash it to bits and it takes on a whole new, delicious flavor? It’s a small club of amazing, versatile food, and potatoes are definitely vying for the top spot.
There’s a misconception that mashed potatoes are somehow not elegant, that their main purpose is to be an accompaniment to a barbecue or as a large side dish on Thanksgiving. Many people might describe mashed potatoes as a larger-than-life meal which you have with tons of gravy, meat and other heavy dishes, and they’d say “I could never eat that regularly!”. If that sounds like you, then check out these beautiful mashed potatoes, made at the triple Michelin-starred Joël Robuchon restaurant in Las Vegas. When head chef Christophe De Lellis calls a small bowl of his mashed potatoes “the highlight” of a 1000$ meal, you know you’ve got a beautiful recipe on your hands.
Mashed potatoes are also a personal favorite of mine. They’re sleek, versatile and extremely elegant when they’re made correctly. But, it’s all about finding the perfect amount of milk and butter so that your potatoes aren’t too dry but not soggy either. Instead, they’re just this fluffy, smooth purée of goodness. Once you have that balance, you’ll be well on your way towards making the best entrée bar none, in my opinion.
This recipe is the result of a lot of trial and error, but it’s extremely simple, as I think many good recipes should be. There are a lot of ways to put a stylistic touch on these mashed potatoes; some of them include:
Using sour cream instead of milk and keeping the skin on the potatoes for a more rustic version,
Adding cayenne pepper and lime for an explosive version of meticulous chef Heston Blumenthal’s recipe,
Being a bit of a hipster and using sweet potatoes instead of mashed potatoes.
I’ve tried these and believe me, they all work well! But well before I’d dive into these variations, I want to give you an easy recipe for making the most beautiful classic mashed potatoes. Here you go!
Ingredients (for 1-2 servings):
A stick of butter (how much butter you use unilaterally decides the balance between healthy and tasty)
~200ml of milk (adjust as needed to make the mashed potatoes as smooth as possible)
3 large potatoes
Chives and parsley
Enjoy!