Po-Ta-Toes

Ahhh yes.  The humble tater.  Coveted not only by Hobbits, but by most people I know in one form or another.  When I was coming up with the Thanksgiving menu a few weeks ago, I stumbled upon this mashed potato recipe...never giving up an opportunity to use my unsuspecting family members as guinea pigs, I decided to test this recipe out.

O.M.G.  This has to be THE best mashed potato recipe I've ever tried.  You could leave out the egg and not bother with the oven baking, but the eggs make it kind of puff up so it's really light and almost fluffy.  The recipe is from the America's Test Kitchen Best Ever Recipes - America's Test Kitchen is by the same people who do the Cook's Illustrated magazine, which is one of my absolute favourite magazines ever.  I always thought the cover looked super boring, but I picked one up and flipped through it one day and I was hooked.  They have recipes, they test out kitchen gadgets...can it get any better than that for a foodie?!

So here's the mashed potato recipe...I think Hubs might love me just a bit more now after he tasted this...

Mashed Potato Casserole - from America's Test Kitchen's Best Ever Recipes

4 pounds russet potatoes, about 8 medium, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
1/2 cup half and half
1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth
12 tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) butter
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tsp dijon mustard
2 tsp salt
4 large eggs
1/4 cup finely chopped chives

Adjust an oven rack to the upper middle position and heat the oven to 375 degrees.  Bring the potatoes and water to cover by 1 inch to a boil in a large pot over high heat.  Reduce the heat to medium and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.

Heat the half and half, broth, butter, garlic, mustard and salt in a saucepan over medium low heat until smooth, about 5 minutes.  Keep warm.

Drain the potatoes and transfer them to a large bowl.  With an electric mixer on medium low speed, beat the potatoes, slowly adding the half and half mixture until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute.  Beat in the eggs 1 at a time until incorporated, fold in chives.

Transfer the  potato mixture to a greased 2 quart gratin dish.  Use a fork to make a peaked design on the potatoes.  Bake until the potatoes rise and brown, about 35 minutes.  Let rest 10 minutes and serve.

My adjustments - I cut down a bit on the butter as the recipe called for a lot...but I'm sure with the full amount, I'd die and go straight to heaven as a happy, happy girl.  I also added a touch more garlic as I'm a garlic freak.  The other cool thing with this is that you can make it the day ahead and then slap 'er in the oven when you're ready....just take the casserole out of the fridge an hour beforehand and increase baking time by 10 minutes. 

This is seriously good.  Not healthy by any means, but for a treat for special occasions - dooooo it.  Ya gotta live a little, right?