I bought a food mill a few years ago to make and can apple sauce. I keep seeing food shows with people making mashed potatoes using it. I was raised on the hand held mixer version of mashed potatoes, so I was wondering what the big deal was? I was worried that the potatoes would cool off too much before I got them all processed, so I never really tried it – until last week.
I made enough for about 4 servings, so I thought they would stay hot since I didn’t have to process that much. I also decided to heat up my butter and cream together to help keep things warm. That did the trick! What you get a silky soft mashed potatoes that are like what you would get out at a white tablecloth restaurant. Don’t get me wrong, I still love my traditional mashed potatoes, but these are good for a change of pace.
Here’s all you need for this recipe of roasted garlic whipped potatoes via a food mill. You can sub Idaho potatoes, regular milk and leave out the garlic. This is pretty basic:
- 3/4 Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and diced
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2-3 garlic cloves unpeeled
- salt/pepper to taste
Cover the potatoes with cold water and about 1/2 a teaspoon of salt. Bring to a boil and cook until potatoes are cooked through, about 15-20 minutes depending on how small you dice them. While the potatoes are cooking, heat the garlic and olive oil up in a small skillet over medium heat. Turn the garlic a few times as it heats up, until the garlic is soft and slightly golden brown. Take the garlic out of the oil and drain on a paper towel. Save off the olive oil for another use- you just made garlic olive oil too.
Heat the cream and butter up in a small saucepan over low heat. You just want to warm it up and melt the butter, not boil or scald it. Once the potatoes are finished, drain them and return to the hot pan. Place your food mill over a mixing bowl. Place a layer of potatoes in the food mill and start spinning. Rotate the blade backwards to clean off the bottom every few turns. Add more potatoes as they process through the food mill. Squeeze the garlic out of the skins and drop them into the potatoes and process them through the mill with the potatoes. Repeat until all the potatoes have been processed. Don’t forget to scrape off the bottom of your food mill too. Put the potatoes back in the warm pot you cooked them in. This will help them stay warm.
Slowly add the heated cream/butter mixture to the potatoes. I used a spatula at first, but I found that a flat whisk worked a lot better, although I did splatter cream all over the stove at one point. If you aren’t making a mess you aren’t really cooking, right?? Keep slowly adding the cream/butter until they are the consistency that you like, and add salt and pepper to taste – I like a heavy dose of fresh cracked black pepper and salt. Don’t these look lovely? I almost added a dash or two of parmesan cheese too, but maybe next time.
I have to admit, these are very smooth and silky potatoes, just like you would get at a high end restaurant. The cream, butter and garlic made them a tiny bit sweet, but they were really good tucked under a mound of braised beef short ribs. I would definitely make these for a dinner party or a holiday. They are worth the extra effort. Enjoy!
Amy’s Kitchen 