Whipped Potato Flight
Perfect potatoes with a holiday meal seems a necessity. Here is a recipe for
our classic whipped potatoes along with some variations to put on the table.
* 5 pounds Russet, or baking potatoes, cut into 1-inch chunks, about 1 gallon of cut up potatoes
* 1/2 cup milk or half-and-half, or more to taste
* 1/2 cup butter
* 1 Tablespoon salt, or to taste
* 1 teaspoon white pepper
Place potatoes in a 4-quart saucepan or Dutch oven; bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 30-35 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.
Drain potatoes thoroughly. For the smoothest potatoes, you can put the potatoes a ricer at this point. Transfer to a large bowl. Add remaining ingredients to the bowl. With an electric hand-held mixer, or firm whisk, whip potato mixture until light and creamy.
Mashed potato recipe serves 8 to 12.
For Roasted Eggplant Potatoes:
Score the skin of one large eggplant making four slits from top to bottom at inervals around the vegetable. Place the eggplant on a roasting pan or baking sheet in a 400 degree F oven for 40-50 minutes turning once during cooking. When the eggplant is done the skin should be firm/crisp and the inside soft and roasted. Allow the eggplant to cool to close to room temperature or until easily handleable.
Prepare Classic whipped potato recipe (above) and seperate into two bowls. On a clean cutting board, clean the roasted eggplant, using a spoon to carefully scrape the meat from the skin. It is important to not include the skin or outside of the eggplant as it is bitter. Place the roasted eggplant in a food processor and blend until smooth. Add the pureed eggplant to one of the bowls of classic whipped potatoes and stir in until combined. Cover both batches of potatoes and keep warm in a low oven or in a warm area of kitchen until service.
Roasted eggplant has a somewhat sweet and smoky quality and I enjoy it as addition to potatoes. It goes very nicely with poultry and works well to add a vegetarian aspect to your holiday table.
Roasted Sweet Pepper Potatoes:
Prepare the Classic Whipped Potato recipe (above).
In a mixing bowl, toss two large sweet peppers (red, yellow or orange) with a small amount (1/2 Tablespoon) of olive oil. Place on a roasting pan in 450 degree F oven and roast until the skin is fairly dark and it has come away from the meat of the pepper. Turn the peppers several times during cooking; the whole process should take no more than 25-30 minutes. Place the peppers back into the mixing bowl and cover with plastic, foil, or lid, and allow the peppers to rest for 10-15 minutes. On a clean cutting board, remove the skin, seeds, and stem from the sweet peppers and place in a food processor. Blend until smooth and stir the puree into one half of the classic potato recipe until combined. Keep both batches of potatoes warm until service.
The sweet pepper puree adds great flavor and a beautiful color to the potatoes. It is something unique to serve anytime.
Whipped Potatoes with Carrot Puree:
Prepare Classic Whipped Potato recipe (above).
Place a 4 quart sauce pot filled three quarters full with water on the stove top at high heat, cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and add four peeled and chopped large carrots to the pot and cook until very tender (20-25 minutes). Strain the water off and place carrots in food processor. Machine the carrots in the food processor until pureed and very smooth. In a bowl, combine the carrot puree with one half of the batch of Classic potatoes and stir until nicely blended. Keep both batches of potatoes warm until service.
These carrot flavored potatoes go very nicely with a roast beef. They turn out beautifully in color and go superbly with a meal that includes red wine.
Pinot Noir Whipped Potatoes:
Prepare the Classic Whipped Potato recipe (above).
Open one bottle of Oregon Pinot Noir. Fill one red wine glass 2/3 full and place the remainder in a 2 quart sauce pan on the stove at med heat. Reduce the wine on medium heat for 10 minutes and then turn down to med.-low. Reduce the wine by three quarters (30-40 minutes depending on your sauce pot). Add the Pinot reduction to slightly more than one half of the batch of classic whipped potatoes and stir until nicely blended. If your wine was not reduced enough and your potatoes are a little thin add more of the whipped potatoes until you have reached your desired consistency (a spoonful of potatoes should stick to your spoon if held upside down).
These wine scented potatoes come out a very nice rosy color and have a wonderful flavor. They go well with carrots and root vegetables and are an excellent way to thread the flavor of a wine you might be serving into your holiday meal. Most red wines will work for this recipe (maybe not the really expensive stuff).
