Kickin’ Recipes

by Chef Brian Henry Culinary Editor www.thespiceco.ca www.chefbrianhenry.com Owner of Angle Iron Kitchens & The Spice Co.

GETTING ALL FIRED UP!

Most people’s go-to comfort food says something about where they grew up and provides a feeling of contentment, typically associated with one’s childhood. You can expect most comfort foods to be loaded with carbs, fats, sugar, and salt.

Potatoes do this for me, in particular mashed potatoes, boiled with the skin off, mashed with a ricer and served with gobs of salted butter that melt and form rivers that flow into pools of gravy that picks up bits of horseradish left on the plate accented with the gentle bite of green onions. Yup, the lowly potato discovered in South America which was eaten mashed by the Inca’s quickly became a dietary mainstay of the poor and downtrodden throughout the world has become a culinary mainstay. A common request at caterings is a Potato Bar which includes a base of garlic mashed, tater tots, and sweet potato mash. These are then garnished in a self-serve manner from an assortment of condiments. Our most requested condiments are beef gravy, bacon bits, butter, scallions, cheese curd, sour cream, marshmallows, brown sugar, candied pecans, maple syrup, fried onion straws, candied bacon, assorted cheese, bacon bourbon jam, truffle oil, roasted garlic, asparagus, broccoli, and other stuff. I use a blend of starchy and waxy potatoes in the following recipe which can be served up with whatever your favorite toppings are or try some new ones as mentioned.

COMFORT FOOD

MASHED POTATOES

INGREDIENTS:

2.5 lbs. Yukon Gold potatoes

2.5 lbs. Russet potatoes

2 large cloves garlic,

minced Kosher salt

6 tbsp. butter

1 cup milk

4 ounces cream cheese,

room temperature Salt and pepper to taste

METHOD:

Peel or don’t peel your potatoes. Cut the potatoes in half and ensure that they are all relatively the same size so that they cook evenly.

Place potatoes in a large stock pot and fill until the potatoes are just covered with cold water.

Add about a tablespoon of kosher salt to the water and bring potatoes to a boil over med-high heat.

Boil potatoes until you can insert a knife without resistance but the potato is still firmly intact.

Carefully drain out all of the water then pan-dry the potatoes returning them to the hot stockpot and placing it back on the still hot burner, which is now turned off to help cook off some of the remaining steam within the potatoes.

Separately heat the butter, milk and garlic either in a saucepan or in the microwave until the butter is just melted.

Mash the potatoes with your preferred kind of masher to your desired consistency.

Next, pour half of the melted butter mixture over the potatoes, and fold it in with a wooden spoon or spatula until potatoes have soaked up the liquid.

Repeat with the remaining butter, and then again with the cream cheese, folding in each addition in until just combined to avoid over-mixing and gluey potatoes.

Season to taste with salt and pepper.