So. Roast and mashed potatoes...very traditional. At least for me. And I did promise to share how to make the best garlic mashed potatoes you'll ever eat. So here we go!

They're actually deceptively simple. Start with a large pot. Pour in 2 boxes (not cans, and this should be about 6-8 cups) of low sodium organic chicken broth. I use the low sodium organic variety because it's lower sodium than the regular low sodium kind. Turn up the heat to bring to a boil.

Select yourself a few potatoes. Use your preferred variety, but I like a mix of red skin and yellow, so I will assume you'll do the same. :) Wash and skin the potatoes. Throw away the yellow skins but keep the red. Chop the potatoes into 1/2" sized chunks. The broth should be at a boil by now, so add the potatoes and the skin.

Peel 5 or 6 garlic cloves, depending on sides, and slice (not chop or dice) 3 of them and toss them in with the potatoes. If you really like your garlic, use more! But leave 2 or 3 out.

But, Andy, what am I to do with the other 2 or 3 cloves I just spent 5 minutes peeling skin off of, dammit? You may be asking.

Easy. You know that big-ass knife you used to chop up the potatoes? Yeah. That one. Go get it out of the sink and wash it off. I'll wait.

Got it? Good. Lay the cloves on a piece of wax paper on the cutting board. Side by side. Take that knife and turn it on its side. The big flat side. Lay it down on the cloves and press down and crush those little suckers good. No, don't use a garlic press. Chances are you have a cheap plastic one and that never works. And don't use a meat tenderizer, or a mortar and pestle, because the former will make the juice go everywhere and the latter is too hard to get everything out of.

Wipe your knife off onto the paper, and take it...the paper, not the knife...over to the pot, and dump the crushed cloves into the water, making sure you get all the oil off the wax. Now, put a lid on the pot and boil the potatoes for 15 minutes like that.

Take the lid off after 15 minutes and boil, uncovered, for 10 more minutes. Test your potatoes for mushiness. If you can squish them between your fingers with a little resistance from it, they're ready.  Remove from heat.

Now, waste not want not! Strain the broth into a bowl, and put the potatoes into another bowl (or you can use the same pot depending on your serving later). Grab your potato masher and start mashing. Mash until you've got most of the large chunks squashed.

Add to the potatoes 1/4 cup milk (don't use anything thinner than 2%), a full stick of butter (and use real butter, not margarine), and 1/4 cup of heavy cream. Now..here you have your options. If you want thicker mashed potatoes, toss a yellow potato in the microwave for a few minutes, like you would normally bake a potato in the microwave, then cut it up and add it to the mix and continue mashing until you get the consistency you want. If you'd like creamy whipped potatoes, get out your hand mixer and go to town.

See? Simple. You can do a few other things, if you'd like, like add a tsp of cloves, or a tsp of sage... If you like cheesey potatoes, shred in a couple cups of smokey cheddar, or colby jack, or even goat cheese.

Serve these up with your roast and some crunchy bread, and you've got a great meal for any night. And the leftovers (if there are any!) are even better. :) But why, you might ask, are these the best I'll ever have? The secret, my friends, is in two things: The crushed garlic mixed with the sliced garlic, which releases the garlic flavor in a progressive trend; and boiling the potatoes in chicken broth.

 

 

 

Oh. yeah. The stock we drained out? That's usable too! That's why we saved it! So what are we gonna do with it? Soup, people, soup!

Put the stock back in a pot, and cut up 2 large yellow potatoes. Leave the skin on.  Cut them up as small as you can. Add them to the pot and bring a boil. Boil for about 15 minutes with a lid on. Take your potato masher and mash the potatoes in the stock ... do this carefully, would you? So you don't splash boiling liquid all over yourself...moving on. Make sure everything's mashed up really well and drop the heat to a simmer. Add 1/2 cup of milk, 1 cup of half and half, some crushed garlic cloves (3 or 4), a couple tablespoons of your italian seasoning mix, and 1/4 cup of diced onion. If the mix is too thick, add VERY hot water slowly until it thins to the consistency of cream. Stir thoroughly, cover, and simmer this for about an hour.

 Boom. You gots you some cream of potato soup.