Roasted garlic mashed potatoes
Over the next couple of months I will occasionally be redoing a previous post since there are earlier posts I am not happy with or now notice they were missing something major.
The big debate with mashed potato is the type of potato that is used, russet or the yukon gold. The yukon crew claims that the yukon gold will yield a smoother texture and more buttery tasting. The russet crew claims that the russet will yield a earthy and fluffy mashed potato. Which side is right? To me it is a personal preference of taste however, I am biased since I like all potatoes.
The only thing I won’t do anymore is boil the potato. I think this introduces to much liquid and the boiling water removes the earthy personality of the potato.
For this recipe you will need:
- 3 lb of russet or yukon gold potatoes (I am using a russet)
- 4 TB of unsalted butter
- 1 cup of heavy cream
- 1 head of roasted garlic
- Kosher salt
- White pepper
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and poke the potatoes with a fork a couple of times.
Place the potatoes in the oven and cook till they are fork tender (about an hour).
Take your trusty potato ricer and a medium saucepan and using the ricer squeeze the potato into the saucepan. Do not worry about peeling the potatoes since the ricer will not pass that through.
Once all the potatoes have been through the ricer add in the roasted garlic, butter, and cream. Stir to combine. I like to do this on the countertop since there is a lot of residual heat left in the potatoes to heat up everything. Adjust the flavors with the salt and white pepper.
i’m a mashed potato aficionado, and these look creamy and magnificent. i don’t have a ricer and use a potato masher instead. i’ve heard good things about potatoes made with a ricer, so i’m curious–do you think i should invest in one?
Grace: Thank you! I love the ricer and for 10 dollars you can’t go wrong (Target time). Basically it makes anything baby food consistency so unless you are burnt out on looking at baby food I would go for it (I don’t know how you could be). Of course the joy is it gets added to the drawer of semi-used kitchen tools and it takes up a lot of real estate in that drawer.
I agree about the boiling of the potato and I really need to get a ricer. Nice work.
Looks like they came out really well! So having evaluated both approaches (boiling vs the oven), are you firmly now in favor of one over the other? This certainly sounds like a good approach to take–I always hate when the leftover mashed potatoes will let out a bit of water and make it just not the same at dinner #2. And I suppose one of these days I should try a ricer
…
If you are pondering buying a ricer - ponder no more. Just go do it. Sure it’s a little bit of hassle, but it makes an amazing difference. The texture is completely different from what you get when using a masher. It isn’t about removing lumps, but about mashing the potato without beating it up too much.
I will still make rustic mashed potatoes with a masher sometimes, but to take them to the next level, a ricer is a requirement.