Baked Mashed Potatoes

Did I already post a recipe for mashed potatoes? Can remeber but I guess it doesn't hutr to make anotherone.

Where do mashed potatoes come from actually? There are those that believe they were invented in France as the result of a potato recipe competition. But no matter where their origins, no Thanksgiving dinner in America would be complete without fluffy homemade mashed potatoes drenched in turkey gravy.

Ingredients

• 2.5 kilograms potatoes
• 250 millilitres sour cream
• 200 grams cream cheese
• Salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Let cream cheese warm and soften enough to be used.

2. Peel and boil 4 to 6 medium – size potatoes for 20 to 25 minutes or until tender when pierced with the tip of a knife.

3. Drain potatoes in a colander, return them to the pot they were boiled in and shake over medium heat until the potato pieces are dry and mealy.

4. Puree potatoes by passing them through a food mill or potato ricer, by whipping them with an electric mixer, or by mashing them with a potato masher or heavy fork. Work out lumps as best as you can.

5. Add all other ingredients you are intended to include.

6. Add salt and pepper to taste – be careful with the amount. It is healthy to use less salt.

8. When ready to use take out of refrigerator and bake at 325 degrees for an hour, covered. After ½ hour baking take out and stir. Recover and bake the other 1/2 hour.

This is also cool if zou have leftover mashed potatoes and want to warm them to serve them again. On the other hand there are all sorts of leftover mashed potatoes recipes that can turn your mashed potatoes into a whole other meal.

Mashed Potatoes Season

Thanksgiving is slowly approaching and all about turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy. So expect a few cool tips on how to make good mashed potatoes in the next few posts. Lets start with tip no.1 right now!

TIP No.1 For Good Mashed Potatoes

Cook potatoes whole or cut them in really big chunks. This way the will cook longer (which is bad) but they won't soak up so much water as they would if you cut them in small pieces (which is good). Water means less taste in your mashed potatoes.

 

Till next time..ta ta.

 

How to cook with potatoes

In most parts of the world, potatoes are a staple food thanks to its versatility while cooking. There are hundreds, and probably thousands of ways to cook potatoes. Similarly, you can combine potatoes with other ingredients to produce unmatched and mouthwatering recipes.

So how can you prepare potatoes at home? There are quite a few different ways. You can fry them, you can bake them you can simply cook them and then use a mashed potatoes recipe, you can prepare them in a stew or you can make chipped potatoes. Depending on the preparation it is wise to choose the right sort of potatoes for each preparation process. For instance russet potato is great for baking, frying, mashing and roasting.

For starters you can try and make whipped potatoes. You will need 8 potatoes, milk (1/3 cup), butter ( cup) and some salt and pepper.

The preparation is quite simple. First you need to peel the potatoes, cut them into a few big pieces and put them into a saucepan. Add water and bring them to a boil. Then turn the heat down a bit and cook for about 15 to 20 minutes. How do you know if potatoes are done? Try and pierce them with a knife of fork. It should go in very easily and you must feel that the potato is really soft. If it's not you need to cook it some more. Then drain the water and melt the butter in another saucepan, mix it with milk and beat the potatoes. Then add milk and butter and use mixer on hight speed to mix the potatoes so they become fluffy.

Next I will give you a recipe that you probably all know. but there is a little secret to it. French fries, you know them. You need to peel the potatoes and cut them into stripes. Choose the size that you like for your French fries. Now comes the trick. Soak the potatoes in ice cold water. Leave them there for at least on hour. This way you will get rid of some of the starch and your fries will be much more crunchy. Next you need to heat the oil to 375 degrees and then fry the potatoes until they are golden brown. Make sere that you drain them and dry them before you put them in oil. Otherwise you can get burned. Add salt at the end and they are done!

There are general tips while cooking potatoes that will help you come up with those great recipes. For example, for a crispier skin on your baked potatoes, rub some little oil, bacon drippings or butter on potatoes before baking. If you want to have mashed potatoes that have extra richness, cook them in milk. The milk should be evaporated skim milk as a replacement for whole milk.

A great thing about potatoes is that almost everyone likes them. There are not many people that do not eat potatoes so if you make a meal out of potatoes you can not go wrong.

6 ways to a delicious mashed potatoes

Dishes like french fries, potato chips, mashed potatoes are a corner stone of many worlds cousines. But it wasn't always so. Popatoes were first introduced into Europe and western cousine by Sir Walter Raleigh who brought them over the sea from the so called "New world".

A pioneer in the fiels of potatoes and mashed potatoes in Europe was Frenchman, Antoine Parmentier. He grew them on his farm and he even won an award for them. The story goes that local people stole his potatoes from the farm and this is how they became the part of French coisine.

The basic way to make mashed potatoes is pretty much the same wherever you go. With some exceptions off course. All the different variations are the result of what is later added to the mashed potatoes. The most common things used to spice up your mased potatoes recipe are cheese, bacon, garlic and onions.

So lets make mashed potatoes. You will need:

- one cup of half-half cream (you can also use heavy cream)

- half (1/2) cup of salted butter,

- salt for seasoning and

- six potatoes (medium sized)

First tip I will give you is about what kind of potatoes to use. The best ones for mashing are red and Russet Burbank potatoes. They give a rough and unique texture to the end product. If you don't like lumps in your taters, use Russet and Yukon Gold potatoes. These give a smooth and creamy feel to the whole dish.

Next we need to peel the potatoes and wash them. A little secret here is that if you want to make the recipe a bit rustic you can leave some the skin on the potatoes. They will be harder to mash later but the end result will be special.

Next tip: cut them to big chunks. Big pieces will cook longer but they will soak less water. Then add them to a decent-sized pot and cover them with cold water (tip No.4!) until the spuds are totally submerged. Adding salt is optional at this stage. Cover the pot and apply high heat until it comes to a boil. Reduce it to a simmer and allow it for 15 to 20 minutes. To check if they're cooked, poke it with a knife and it should have no trouble entering. If the taters cling to the knife, they need a few more minutes.

Drain the water and put them back on low heat so all the water evaporates (less water better taste!). In the mean time heat up some cream and butter in a saucepan at a low temperature. Now comes the fun part; the mashing. Use a food mill or a potato ricer. Avoid using electrical mixers, since they will over-mix the taters and break the starch molecules. The starch is what that gives the dish its wonderful texture. Mix them to a nice and lumpy mixture.

After the potatoes are mashed take the butter and cream and mix it in. This gives the best taste but you can also do this at the same time as you mash the potatoes. As I said you can also add some other things to your mashed potatoes and now is the time to do it. Find some recipes to help you out or just use your imagination.

Mashed potatoes are not only very tasty dish, they also have some health benefits. They can improve your glucose tolerance and protect you against colon cancer.