Chief's Gourmet Mashed Potatoes

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Chief Longwind Of The North

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This recipe gives you full potato flavor, plus potato skins for filling to make twice baked potatoes, or crispy fried potato skins. I could eat this before kidney issues. Now I have to soak, and twice boil potatoes to remove potassium from them. However, these are great mashed potatoes that can be made for a crowd, or made from baked potatoes right at you plate.

I came up with this method while eating at the workplace cafeteria. They'd serve baked potatoes with foil wrapped pats of butter. So, as I always bought milk as my beverage, and I wanted mashed, not baked potatoes, I came up with this method of making mashed potatoes, right in the skin. To my delight, they were some of the best mashed potatoes I'd ever eaten. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
1 large baking potato per person, Russet, or Yukon Gold
1 tbs. butter per potato
2 tbs. milk per potato
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper per potato
1/4 cup minced chives for garnish.
olive oil
Kosher salt

Preheat oven to 350' F. Wash potatoes, and pat dry with paper towels. Prick the potato skins to allow steam to escape while potatoes are baking. Put a tbs. or two of olive oil onto a paper towel and rub potato skins with it. Season with kosher salt.

Place potatoes directly on oven grates, and bake for about an hour. Check the baked spuds with a toothpick. It should easily slide all the way through the potato with no resistance. If needed, bake another ten minutes.

When potatoes are done, remove from the oven. Here's where you make a choice, have each person eating the spuds make their own mashed potato, or you make all of them as a batch.

For individual mashed potatoes, cut each spud in half, crosswise. Use a hot pad to hold them as they are hot. Stab the tines of a fork from top to bottom of each half, and top with butter. Again with the fork, work the butter into the potato flesh as it melts. Add the milk, slowly stirring it into the potato until smooth, and creamy. Sprinkle chives on top.

For the crowd, cut each potato in half, lengthwise. Scoop out the potato flesh into a suitable bowl. Mash in the butter, and milk until smooth and creamy. If you want them smoother still, replace half of the milk with heavy cream. Garnish with chives, or fill the skins and place under the broiler to lightly brown the potato for twice baked potatoes. Garnish with chives.

If you're not using the skins, fry them until crispy, seasoned with salt, and paprika. Serve with Ranch Dressing, or avocado slices as an appetizer.

Enjoy.

Hint: If you have chicken skins not being used, save the for a treat. When you need something crispy, and delicious to serve like chips, or to sprinkle on top af a salad, dry the skins until brown , and crispy, seasoned simply with salt. These taste better than bacon bits:ohmy:, IMHO, and are great as part of an appetizer tray. You can even dip the skins in a seasoned flour/cornstarch mixture, and deep fry with your chicken.
Oh yeh:yum:.

Seeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North
 
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I have to throw away the skins nowadays, or save them for DH. Most of the nightshade toxins in potatoes are in the skins and sprouts, and probably a short distance inward from the skins. I have noticed that I don't get the arthritis issues when I don't eat too much potato with no skins. Actually, I have noticed that a few skins on baby potatoes don't seem to bother me either. I guess it takes a little while for the potatoes to produce the toxin.
 
Thanks for the Gourmet recipe, Chief!

Often, when I want mashed potatoes, but don't want a lot of work, I "bake" the russets in the microwave first. Then, I cut them in half the short way and push them thru the Ricer -- the kind that looks like a giant garlic press -- that way, I don't even have to peel the potatoes. Of course, one doesn't get to keep and use the skins that way. But it does make quick work of fresh mashed potatoes!
 
I make a couple of variations on the standard mashed potato, that is, butter, cream/milk, S&P.

Consider using sour cream in place of the usual milk/cream. Also, consider adding grated parm. reg. to the standard mix. both are great.
 
I love Boursin Fines Herbes mixed in with the mashed potatoes. Delish!
Yup, Boursin in mashed is the truth. Any leftovers makes fantastic tater tots. We used to do this in a restaurant I worked at using Michel Richard's technique.

Or mix leftovers with a protein like pulled pork, portion into 2 oz. rounds, coat with panko and pan fry like crab cakes.
 
Never realized how much I missed mashers... been making potato salad and mashers recently...

Actually made some mashers yesterday to have with some halibut - but got interupted and never did do the halibut (did tonight tho). Ate half of the mashers before they could be put away. :pig: :LOL:
 
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