More recipies from LordOmar here, and I can't believe that there wasn't one out here, as nothing is more simple, and yields more creamy goodness for little effort than garlic mashed potatoes.

Ingredients
Potatoes (about 2 medium sized potatoes per person)
Cream (milk will just not do!)
Butter (use a margarine and I'll kill you!)
Salt
Pepper (I use white pepper as it looks better, but black will do as well)
Garlic (and lots of it, this recipe can be accomplished with whole or minced garlic)
Olive oil
Fist step, (and this can be done ahead of time) roast your garlic. This can be accomplished with whole or minced garlic. I use the minced garlic because I am a lazy bastard and it works just as well. But I'll include instructions for both:

Whole Garlic: Cut the top off of a whole head of garlic (actually I usually do two heads at a time) and drizzle olive oil over the , now exposed, cloves. Place the heads on a pie tin or cookie sheet and place in the oven, about 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes (this really all depends on the size of the garlic, it should end up soft with a nice brown color)

Minced Garlic: In a pie plate spread out an appropriate amount of the minced garlic, but make sure it is packed together in a little "cake" about 1/4 of an inch thick. drizzle olive oil over the "cake" (just a little), now place in a 350 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes. Bam! Roasted garlic in half the time, and already minced for ease of use.

Now peel and chop your potatoes, place in a pot covered with water (add a pinch or two of salt into the water), boil until the potatoes are good and soft. Strain and place into a bowl, with your garlic (a decent ratio is one clove per potato, although I go about one and a half). To the potatoes add about a tablespoon of butter per serving and about 2 tablespoons of cream per serving, also add salt and pepper to taste. Mash until it's all one smooth bowl of creamy goodness serve in heaping portions.

Variations on this recipe are neumerous, add Parmagiano Reggiano Cheese to suit italian dishes. A splash of red wine gives a subtle sourness that accents fish and other seafood (don't start in with the red wine/white wine with fish argument, it's a fallacy, but a debate for another node). The key being to add something to your potatos to accent what ever you main course is to be. A little experimentation is your best friend.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes with Bacon

A Node Your Dinner production

Ingredients

  • 1 pound russet potatoes, cut into big chunks (peeling is up to you; we just scrubbed them and cut out the eyes and other scary green bits)
  • a big pot of salted water
  • a whole bunch of garlic (say 6 really big cloves or 10 really little ones), minced
  • 4 strips bacon (1/4 pound)
  • 1 onion, chopped (a very generous cup)
  • salt
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • a little butter (optional, depending on how greasy your bacon is)

Directions

  1. As you prepare the potatoes, start your big pot of salted water heating on the stove. Go ahead and put the spuds in as you get them ready; they'll cook pretty evenly as long as they all get in before the water boils.

  2. Add a handful of the onions and about a third of the garlic to the potatoes as they cook.

  3. While the potatoes, onions, and garlic are boiling (about ten minutes or until you can easily pierce the potatoes with a knife), start cooking the bacon in a frying pan over high heat. Add the onions and garlic as the bacon starts to get crisp; eventualy it should get crisp enough to crumble into little bits as you stir it with a spatula. Drain off excess grease as you go along and reserve it to mash with the potatoes later.

  4. When the potatoes are done, drain them and mash them, with a little of the excess bacon grease (there should be plenty). Add more bacon grease as necessary to get the potatoes relatively smooth.

  5. When the potatoes are mashed and the bacon is crisp and crumbled, mix in the bacon, onions, and garlic. Season to taste with salt and pepper (the salt will do wonders for bringing out the flavor of the garlic).

Notes

I made this for dinner last night (14 April 2003), after originally wanting Mitzi's wasabi mashed potatoes but realizing that we didn't have enough spinach or cream to complete that recipe. I realized that what I really wanted was mashed potatoes with the crunch of onions and bacon in it, so I set to work on just that. I checked my current kitchen bible, Moosewood Restaurant New Classics, for hints on garlic mashed potatoes, but the only recipe they had that seemed appropriate had "Low Fat" in the title and called for the use of buttermilk (ugh) so I went my own way. The result was quite tasty, especially when I added a little extra salt (as mentioned before, this really brought out the garlic's flavor). Jongleur contributed a delicious mixed green salad as a side dish, and a good dinner was had by all (um, both).

Next time I make this recipe (or an approximation thereof), I plan to try roasting the garlic beforehand (probably as per LordOmar's directions above), to see if that enhances its flavor. Other possibilities include just plain using more garlic or perhaps using a garlic press to add raw garlic to the mix when I'm mashing the potatoes (although that could get overwhelming very quickly). I might also add a little grated Parmesan or Cheddar cheese to the mix (I think a little cheesy sharpness could go a long way in the flavor-enhancing department).


sneff says re garlic mashed potatoes: I bet this would taste great with green garlic

you said "re green garlic: ooh. does sound lovely. my favorite mashed potatoes recipe is chock full of shallots, from Moosewood Restaurant New Classics. Good stuff. Mitzi's wasabi mashed potatoes are pretty gorgeous, too." to sneff

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