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
1. These are all the ingredients you really need. You’re gonna want to keep the milk and butter in the fridge though!
2. Peel the potatoes and quarter them. If your potatoes are smaller or larger, cut them accordingly to get the same size.
3. Put the potatoes into a pot and fill it with cold water. As explained here, potatoes should always be started in cold water. Then, throw a bit of salt in there. Not as much as for pasta, but not nothing either. This salt will be reflected in the mashed potatoes at the end.
Get the water to start boiling, then leave potatoes to cook for 20-25 minutes. They should be soft throughout at the end.
4. While your potatoes are boiling, combine your butter and milk in a little pot, and start cooking it at very low temperature. We want the butter to melt and become liquid, and simultaneously we want some of the liquid in the milk to evaporate.
As a general rule, you don’t want to “shock” the starchy potatoes with anything cold, and that’s why we heat up the milk and butter before adding it. However, be careful to keep it on very low heat.
5. Once your potatoes are done, let them let off steam in a colander. Leave them for a bit: this step is important because it releases all of the unnecessary water from the potatoes.
6. Put your potatoes back in the pot and start mashing them. A potato masher works best for this but a whisk works well too. A wooden spoon will make it rather hard for you to break the potatoes down so I’d recommend avoiding it, but feel free to use what you have in your kitchen.
Mash the potatoes until they’re broken down and there aren’t any big potato pieces left. However, don’t go too hard with mashing them; potatoes are actually really sensitive!
7. Now, add the milk and butter mixture. Add it slowly in increments. just like you would with a risotto. Make sure to mix the potatoes with a wooden spoon while you’re adding the milk and butter.
Also add some salt, pepper, parsley and chives. Spring onions work well in place of chives if you don’t have them, but chives are the real MVP in this recipe. It’s amazing how well chives synergize with mashed potatoes. If you have some fresh ones, it’s the best addition possible!
8. And you’re done! Serve next to basically any type of meat or with asparagus, or just by itself. Mashed potatoes work with pretty much anything.
Enjoy!