4 lg Potatoes -- peeled
Water
1/2 c Milk -- or more
2 tb Butter
Salt and pepper -- to taste
1 pn Nutmeg -- optional
Cover the potatoes with cold water and bring to a
boil. Cook for 20 minutes, or until tender. (Watch the
pot! Potatoes have a tendency to boil over.) While the
spuds are cooking, slowly heat the milk and butter.
When the potatoes are done, drain them and add half
the hot milk mixture. Mash the potatoes with a
handheld potato masher or an electric mixer. Keep
adding the hot milk until you reach the proper
consistency (which, of course, varies from family to
family). Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, if
desired. Serves 4 to 6.
VARIATIONS- *Spuds with Jewels: In a frying pan, heat
1 teaspoon of vegetable oil and briefly saute 1 diced
red pepper (add hot peppers such as green jalapeno for
fire). Stir in 1/2 teaspoon basil. Immediately pour on
top of mashed potatoes.
*Green Potatoes: Use an electric mixer to blend 1 to 2
cups chopped cooked spinach into one batch of mashed
potatoes until they turn green.
*Red Coats: Use purple, red, or new potatoes with
their skins on.
*The Cheddar Broccoli: Mix 1/22 cup grated Cheddar
cheese with 1 cup chopped, steamed broccoli florets
and fold into the mashed spuds.
*Prague Potatoes: Panfry 4 strips bacon until crisp.
Remove from the pan and add 1 diced onion, cooking
until translucent. Crumble the bacon into the onion.
Top mashed potatoes with bacon, onion, and drippings,
using 1 1/2 teaspoons, or less, of fat per serving.
*Golden Broil: Spread prepared mashed potatoes in an
oven-to-table baking dish. Drizzle 1/2 cup heavy cream
over the top and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Broil
until the top turns golden.
*Breakfast for Dinner: Serve mashed potatoes in a
large bowl topped with 3 to 4 chopped hard-boiled eggs
chopped fresh parsley and chives.
*Tatties'n'Neeps: For the Scots' way of using up
leftover mashed pototoes, mix equal amounts of mashed
potatoes and mashed turnips.
*Colcannon: Mix mashed potatoes with l 1/2 cups
shredded, cooked, drained cabbage or kale. 20 *Bangers
and Mash: Try this English recipe - serve plain mashed
Potatoes with broiled or pan-seared sausages
("bangers") on the side.
*Fenced-in Spuds: Surround a mound of mashed potatoes
with a fence of steamed green beans and carrot sticks.
~ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -20
NOTES : Reviewed in "Vegetables your kids will eat,"
Family Fun Magazine, May 1996. Flavored to
perfection, homemade mashed potatoes may seem like a
lot of work, but a little peeling and mashing are
worth the effort.
Recipe By : Deanna Cook, 1996. Disney's Family
Cookbook
