Serves 6 as a side dish Serves 6 as a side dish
My recipe for mashed potatoes depends on hot milk and cold butter to create a richly textured potato puree that, perhaps surprisingly, isn’t too heavy. The most important aspect of this recipe, as with all mashed potato recipes, is to season carefully with salt just until you taste a pronounced potato flavor but before the mixture tastes too salty. Feel free to vary the amounts of milk and butter to your liking, adding more milk for a looser puree, or more butter for a richer, thicker one.
3 pounds baking potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch dice
Coarse salt
11/2 cups whole milk
12 tablespoons (11/2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into very small dice
Freshly ground black pepper
1. Preheat the oven to 250°F.
2. Put the diced potato in a large, heavy-bottomed pot and add enough water to cover by an inch or so. Season with salt and bring the water to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat and simmer until the potatoes are tender when pierced with the tip of a sharp knife, but they still hold their shape, about 12 minutes.
3. Drain the potatoes in a colander and transfer them to a baking sheet. Bake in the oven until completely dried out, about 8 minutes. (This will intensify the potato flavor and keep the puree from being watery.)
4. While the potatoes are in the oven, heat the milk in a pot over medium-high heat; do not let it boil.
5. Remove the potatoes from the oven and pass them through a ricer into a bowl or put them in a bowl and mash them with a masher. Add a ladleful of the hot milk and about one-third of the butter. Mix the potatoes gently with a rubber spatula just until the butter and milk have been incorporated. Continue to add the remaining milk and butter in the same fashion.
6. Season with salt and pepper and serve immediately, or cover and keep warm for up to 2 hours in a double boiler set over simmering water.
Serve with: Potato and Leek Soup, Baked Chicken with Bacon, Mushrooms, and Pearl Onions, Mushroom-Braised Short Ribs, Braised Oxtail with Cipolline Onions, Braised Pork Shank.