In the mood for festive dining as the year draws to a close? If you’re serving Western fare at your table this New Year’s Eve, you can’t go wrong with that perennial favourite – mashed potatoes.
There are probably 101 ways to prepare it, from the reasonably healthy to the sinful and decadent. The potato’s mild flavour allows you to incorporate more intricate flavours – herbs, lemon, smoked garlic, and truffle oil – that elevate this simple comfort food to a whole new level.
Mashed potatoes are a great side dish for roast turkey or lamb, and they’re delicious with steaks, sausages, or a good old-fashioned chicken chop.
Here’s a simple recipe for truffle mashed potatoes. If you can’t get your hands on truffle oil, just omit it and you’ll still end up with an awesome side dish that goes with just about everything. For added richness, add more butter and milk (or cream).
Also, a potato ricer is a great piece of equipment for mashing potatoes, but if you don’t have one, a standard masher works just as well.
Ingredients
1.25kg russet potatoes (about 5 large potatoes), peeled
220g milk, room temperature
100g unsalted butter, room temperature
6g fine sea salt
8g truffle oil
Method
- Peel your potatoes in a sink, as this makes cleaning up a little easier later. Don’t forget to remove the eyes (roots) as well. Keep the peeled potatoes in a bowl of water.
- Once peeled, place all the potatoes in a large pot and fill it with regular cold tap water. You want the potatoes to be fully covered.
- Place the pot on high heat and bring it to a boil.
- Bring the heat down to a simmer for about 25 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked through.
- Once the potatoes are ready, remove them from the pot; don’t turn off the heat until you’re sure they’re ready. Give it a poke with a knife – it should slide through easily with no resistance. Return the potatoes to the pot and give it a few more minutes if they’re not done.
- If you have a potato ricer, follow the next two steps. If you don’t, transfer the potatoes to another pot and use a regular masher to mash them until they’re smooth.
Some potato ricers come with two hole sizes. Use the larger size first and squeeze the cooked potatoes into a large bowl. - Next, run your potatoes through the smaller hole size into the pot. If your ricer only comes in one size, run the potatoes through twice.
- Now use a rubber spatula and mix your potatoes, using a folding motion to get more fluffiness instead of a stirring motion.
- Add a third of the milk and fold to mix. Repeat twice until the milk is finished.
- Once the milk is thoroughly combined, transfer the pot to the stove on medium heat. Add butter and continue folding until it melts and is incorporated into the potatoes.
- Use a vigorous folding motion so it’s almost as if you’re “whipping” the potatoes with the spatula – this should take about 4 minutes. Don’t forget to scrape the bottom and sides of the pot so the potatoes don’t burn.
- Sprinkle sea salt and continue folding for another minute.
- Remove from heat, drizzle in truffle oil and fold it in until thoroughly mixed through. The strength of your truffle oil may vary depending on the brand, but the general rule is to pour and mix until your mashed potatoes smell good.
- And that’s it! Transfer to a serving bowl and enjoy!
Tips
- Russet potatoes are high in starch and make great, fluffy mashed potatoes. Other types can also be used, but they will require more mashing and may not be as creamy.
- You can use salted butter. If you do, adjust the amount of salt added later accordingly.
This article first appeared in butterkicap.com, a food and culture platform and community that enables anyone to experience Malaysia through stories of its people, food and places.