Mashed potatoes are one of the easiest most loved classic side dishes. I did an event the night before thanksgiving and was shocked by all the people that had crazy horror stories from holiday dinners when the mashed potatoes came out like glue. The reason is the starch in potatoes will become stiff if it is over worked. Don’t ever use a food processor, blender and hand processor to whip your potatoes. A simple spoon and hand masher will do the trick. If you need all little help a hand mixer (like the one you use to make cake) will help.

Ingredients:

10 Medium potatoes (Washed)

1 head of garlic

3 TBS Salt (Plus a handful for water pot)

2 TBS Heavy Cream

2 Cups Milk

3 TBS Butter (melted)

1 tspn Rosemary

1 tspn Tyme

1 Tspn Tyme

The first step is the most important. Place all the potatoes in a large pot of cold water. Salt the water heavily. Turn the heat on high and bring to boil. Once boiling lower heat to a simmer and cook until potatoes begin to fall apart. This can take over an hour.

While potatoes are cook place the whole head of garlic on tin foil. Coat in oil and a tiny bit of water and sprinkle with herbs. Place in oven at 375 degrees for about an hour. Keep on eye on it. Your looking for the inside to get soft. When its done, squeeze out the inside cloves and get ride of the paper peel.

Once potatoes are done, drain and let cook for a few minutes. Depending on your preference remove the potatoes peals. My family loves the rustic potatoes so I remove about 50 percent of the peals. Believe it or not potatoes skins are filled with nutrition so leaving some on are a healthy option.

Return potatoes to pot, add garlic and mashed with potato masher. Add cream, melted butter, salt, and any remaining herbs. Continue to mash and add milk slowly until you have the leave of creaminess you are looking for.

Serve hot and save leftovers for my gnocchi recipe that is soon to come!