I have some leftover ingredients and I want to make my Christmas mashed potatoes more exciting. This is what I have:
-potatoes (duh)
-head of garlic
-shredded parmesan cheese (also some Cheddar) = at least a half cup of each
-chives and Italian parsley - plenty
-heavy cream and milk - plenty
I’m great at following recipes and terrible at creating my own. I think that parmesan garlic mashed potatoes would be awesome, but I don’t know exactly how to make that happen.
Can anyone help a clueless wannabe cook out? Please pretend like I’m four and use small words. :o
A couple of suggestions-
Roast the garlic, heat the cream to very warm, and put the herbs on either as garnish or put in at the last moment with the cheese.
Also a lot of black pepper and a spot of nutmeg(two grates on a grater).
I don’t usually bother with peeling he potatos and I like mine sorta lumpy so the hot cream sort of dissolves into a creamy matrix.
Also try potatos and carrots mashed- cheese is optional.
In my opinion, you want either the cheddar OR the parmesean, either the chives OR the parsley, not everything thrown in. Roasting the garlic would be an easy way to do it, but I’ve also seen garlic mashed potatoes done where you mince the garlic and simmer it in the milk before mashing the potatoes with the flavored milk. I’d just add the cheese while hot. My vote is parmesean and chives.
My vote is no skins. I hate skin on potatoes if I’m expected to eat the skin along with the flesh, as in mashed or fried taters. I’m OK with baked potatoes, because I just leave the skin on my plate, and then my husband begs it off me…he does like the potato skin. I know it’s easier to not peel the spud, but there are plenty of us out here who hate that skin.
Parmesan on potatoes is good, though I’m not sure that I’d put it in mashed potatoes. Roasted garlic mashed taters are awesome, you can roast either the garlic or the garlic and potatoes, and then mash them up together. Without skins. If you end up boiling the spuds, you can also break up a stalk or two of celery, if you have it, and boil that in the same water…just don’t try to mash it into the mix.
Oh, have you thought about making scalloped potatoes? That would be a good use of the cheeses and milk and cream, and the timing is far more forgiving.
I took the advice above and made scalloped potatoes - they were delicious. Thanks for the tips!