GOLDEN MASHED POTATOES

“Shakespeare is like mashed potatoes. You can never get enough of him.” Frank McCourt (author of “Angela’s Ashes.”)

Closest I could find to mother’s Royal Rose

My son tells me that I make the best mashed potatoes. Now, this strikes me as very funny for a few reasons. First of all, no matter how long I mash or whip them they still come out with lumps, but I guess that is a good way to know that they at least did not come out of a box. In that case, I call them PIB’s, or Potatoes in the Box. No matter what you call them, YUCK is the term that comes to mind. But second, being raised in a strict Italian household we NEVER ate mashed potatoes! Baked, fried, sometimes boiled, but never, ever mashed. Why? Who knows. I do know though that for a time, Mother was working in Woolworth’s, so my older sister would sometimes prepare dinner. Now lacking any sort of cooking prowess, one night she decided to make the mashed potatoes. So, she peeled the potatoes, cut them up, put them into the big pot, usually reserved for macaroni, and covered them…with milk. Yes, milk. The result was, the old Royal Rose stove was soon replaced. I guess someday if it is still around somewhere, someone will try to get all the scalded milk off it, restore it and maybe use it again for storage. Shame too. Mother really liked that stove.

Anyway, over the years I guess I learned to like them and to make them much to the delight of my sons, especially the younger one. I guess it is also worth mentioning that my wife loves mashed potatoes, and will sometimes order an entire meal out around them. Me? They’re okay I guess. No substitute for macaroni. But it doesn’t take a genius to make them, and like most things the simpler, the better. But just as an added variation I tried these one night and they were a big hit both for the family and for company. So, here it is, the easy to do recipe for GOLDEN mashed potatoes. Forget the measurements. Use your eyes.

Russet Potatoes

Yukon Golds

red potatoes

Potatoes, I prefer either russet or Yukon Gold for this. I used red potatoes today. The small ones that you don’t have to rinse.
Salt to taste
Butter, no such thing as too much butter by the way
Whole milk
2 large carrots
1 LARGE tablespoon of cream cheese

Salt a large pot of water and add potatoes, diced. I like to cut them pretty small, about 1-1 1/2 inches wide. I also leave the skin on.
Peel and dice the carrots and boil them together with the potatoes until soft, but not mushy
Drain well, put them back into the pot and add butter and cream cheese. Then cover them for a few minutes until the butter melts and the cream cheese is very soft
Now, the labor…Mash them until they reach your desired mashed-ness, lumpy or not. Add milk and mix either by hand, which I prefer, or with a mixer.
Eat them! (Put them on a dish first)

Note the carrot, or ‘golden’ flecks

The mashed carrots will add a nice color to the potatoes and mixing with the yellow from the butter, they will have kind of a golden tint to them. The cream cheese gives them a little more body and creaminess and does add to the flavor. I do think my son prefers them without the carrots, by the way. There are some recipes that may call for tomatoes but I prefer using carrots for a number of reasons. First of all tomatoes have a much different taste and also have seeds. Carrots, on the other hand, have basically the same consistency as potatoes and mash better. They will also add some flavor but not change the basic taste of the mashed potatoes.

That’s it! I wouldn’t add the carrots all the time but they do make a nice variation. You can also add a few cloves of garlic to the water for delicious Garlic mashed potatoes. If only we had known then what we know now.

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