Mashed Red Potatoes

Mashed potatoes were another integral part of my diet growing up. Due to Mom's love of the dish, we ate it a lot. Good mashed potatoes are easy to make, and don't require too much effort. That's why I have trouble understanding why people would make instant mashed potatoes from dry flakes. I posted a mashed potato recipe earlier, as part of my Bangers and Mash, but I've refined the recipe and can attest this one tasted great. The key to getting the right texture is the addition of the butter, milk, and cream. I've also used red potatoes here to make use of the skins.

Ingredients

• 3 red potatoes
• 2 TBS butter
• 1 1/2 TBS cream
• 1 TBS skim milk
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions 

Boil water in a large pot. Cut the potatoes into halves or quarters. With red potatoes, you get a nice texture and color if you leave the skins on, but you can peel them if you want. Boil potatoes for about 20 minutes, or until they become soft enough to poke with a fork. Once cooked, drain the potatoes and transfer to a large bowl.

Add butter, cream, and milk. Smash together with a potato masher. Make sure the butter gets fully melted and folded into the potatoes. The heat from the potatoes should do this naturally. Mash to your desired consistency. I usually don't like them super smooth when using red potatoes.

Mashed potatoes are an incredibly versatile staple food. They go very well with steak, pork, stews, chicken, and more. At Piper's Pub in Pittsburgh, mashed reds are served with Chicken Vindaloo. Another good combination is with creamed peas. The possibilities are endless.

I ate these mashed potatoes as an accompaniment to IKEA's Swedish meatballs and lingonberries with a glass of Woodchuck Amber cider. If you've never tried them, the IKEA frozen meatballs are really quite good, and you can buy the whole meal right there in the store - meatballs, sauce mix, lingonberries, and even frozen mashed potatoes. Here, however, the potatoes are made fresh.