Mashed Potato’s With Creme Fraiche and Chives & OXO Tips With Holiday Giveaway!
If you are looking for smooth and fluffy mashed potatoes for the holiday’s then only one item will do; A food mill or ricer is the key to the fluffiest of comfort foods! OXO sent me a slew of wonderful products to try and to giveaway to one of my reader’s! Yes, a slew! So stay tuned to 30A EAT’s this weekend to enter! Though some folks like lumps in their potatoes and others smashed, a lot of things could still go wrong like too gluey, too cold, or too bland potatoes. Here are some ways to avoid lackluster spuds on Thanksgiving.
OXO Ricer at Work
A little help from my friends at Bon Appetit‘!
1. Use Waxy and Starch
You want a 50/50 mix of waxy potatoes, such as Yukon Gold, and starchy potatoes, such as Russet and Idaho. Starch absorbs butter and cream while giving the potatoes a fluffy, whipped texture. Waxy potatoes have good flavor but can get wet and gluey if they’re the only potato in the mash.
2. Wash Your Potatoes
It may sound obvious, but sometimes people just peel their potatoes without washing them first. POTATOES ARE DIRTY. Avoid getting specks of dirt in your spuds by thoroughly rinsing in cold water and scrubbing them first.
3. Start Off Cold
If you throw cubed potatoes into a boiling pot of water, the outside will overcook and the inside won’t cook enough. You want everything in the pot to come to temperature at the same time. Put your cubes in a pot, cover them with cold water, THEN turn on your stove.
4. Salt the Water
Like pasta, potatoes absorb both water and salt. Think of it as another opportunity to season.
5. Simmer Don’t Boil Your Potatoes
Potatoes can easily fall apart in a pot of aggressively bubbling water. Simmer them instead; that way they’ll stay intact and cook more evenly.
6. Say No To Soggy Potatoes
Watery mashed potatoes are just gross. Drain and dry your spuds after simmering by either putting them back into the hot pot on low heat and stirring for a few minutes or dumping them onto a sheet pan and popping them into the oven. When the edges of the potatoes turn white, they’re ready.
7. Use the Right Tool
If there’s one specialized tool you buy for your kitchen, make it an OXO food mill or ricer. There’s no other way to get that fluffy consistency, and OXO makes the best ricer by far I have found!
8. Use Warm Milk
Milk straight out of the fridge will cool down otherwise piping-hot potatoes. Warm the milk in a small saucepan before incorporating it into your mash.
9. Use Cold Butter
When you melt butter on the stove, its milk solids and fat separate. Adding cold butter to your potatoes will allow the butter to melt as a whole and distribute the fat and milk solids evenly.
Note: For Potatoes Made Ahead Of Time
There are no better mashed potatoes than freshly prepared ones. You should be making your potatoes when you’re making your gravy: in the last hour of prep time. But if you have to make them ahead of time, keep them in a counter-top crock pot. They’ll stay warm for hours without getting scorched. If you don’t have a crock pot, reheat them in the microwave for a minute at a time, stirring between each minute. To revive dry potatoes, mix in a little more milk and butter until they’re soft and creamy again.
Recipe:
I am sharing my family’s favorite mashed potatoes. I actually shared my entire Christmas dinner in the stunning Holiday issue of VIE People + Places out this month, and you can get all of my glorious recipes from cocktail to dessert, by clicking here!
Mashed Potatoes With Crème Fraiche and Chives:
6 pounds 50/50 Idaho Russet & Yukon Gold potatoes peeled and halved
1-cup whole milk
1-cup whipping cream
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
Kosher salt
1-cup crème fraîche
1/2 cup finely chopped chives
Freshly ground pepper, Salt to taste
In a large pot, cover the potatoes with cold water and bring to a boil. Cover and cook over moderate heat until the potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes; drain. Press the potatoes through a ricer into a large saucepan set over low heat.
Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine the milk and half-and-half with 10 tablespoons of the butter and 1 tablespoon of salt and cook over moderate heat until the butter is melted, about 3 minutes.
Pour the hot milk over the riced potatoes and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until blended, about 2 minutes. Stir in the crème fraîche, the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and the chives and cook until the potatoes are heated through, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, transfer the mashed potatoes to a bowl and serve.
Note: The mashed potatoes can be kept covered at room temperature for up to 3 hours. Reheat before serving.
Stay tuned for the big giveaway this weekend from 30A EATS and check out my friends from Virtual Potluck that are live right now! (30A EATS is now live with the giveaway, click the link above!)
1. Miss in the Kitchen- Flat Roasted Turkey and Cranberry Sauce
2. Food Hunter’s Guide- 1960′s Style Thanksgiving & OXO Giveaway
3. Thyme In Our Kitchen- How to Spatchcock a Turkey
4.Food Hunter’s Guide- Not Your Typical Green Bean Casserole
5. Cookistry: Turkey Taco’s
6. Cooking With Books: Spicy Sweet Potato Casserole
I have to say that for the last couple of hours i have been hooked by the impressive posts on this website. Keep up the wonderful work.
These look delish!
I’ve never used a potato ricer — hope I win and get the chance!
Digicats {at} Sbcglobal {dot} Net
Thanks for the great list of tips! I can’t wait to try these this Thanksgiving.
A 50/50 mix of waxy and starchy potatoes, huh? Who knew? Thanks for the tips.
Want. In my belly. Now. Please (thank you!!).
These are awesome tips. Perfect for Thanksgiving!
These look sooooo good, I absolutely love chives!
http://30aeats.com/recipes/mashed-potatos-with-creme-fraiche-and-chives-oxo-tips-with-holiday-giveaway/#comment-28126 left comment
I am going to give this recipe a try..have heard of a potato ricer but didn’t how useful it is
holy cannoli…I can’t believe I’ve lived this long in a giant Italian family and never had an Italian Crème Cake! Thanks so much for sharing the recipe over at VIE…and all the other marvelous recipes! Cheers!
My husband loves it when I make mashed potatoes using creme fraiche instead of regular sour cream or cream & butter!
This looks SO yummy
Thank you so much for the step by step tutorial on how to make these delicious potatoes! I never knew the potato ricer would produce fluffy potatoes!
Very helpful information. I may use this on Thanksgiving!
Great tips. I’ve never made mashed potatoes but I’m looking to try so I can make some nice family dinners.
These look fantastic!!
Perfect post for pre-Thanksgiving! My hubby would like if I made mashed potatoes every day!
These have got to be out of this world!!!!! Creme fraiche would be excellent! Thanks for the recipe
I have always had the regular mashed potatoes and was afraid to try something new with them for fear no one would like them. But I am going to try these!
cjbrick@ymail.com
These look so good! I’ve never tried Creme Fraiche in mashed potatoes before, will have to keep this in mind for Thanksgiving
3-in-1 Adjustable Potato Ricer is the way to go for these potatoes, love it!
These sound delicious. I’d love to try for Thanksgiving!
Oh the tasty creme fraiche and people need to use it
I have never used creme fraiche, but I think I will this year!
These sound great! I need a new mashed potato recipe.
Those look so good right now! I seriously need to eat something before I bite off the screen.
Ah, I need to stop boiling them taters,lol! Thanks for the great tips.
Awesome recipe. Love the ricer and your photos!
thanks for the Soggy Potatoes tip… what a clever idea. i hate soggy mash!
I’ve learned some good tips here: putting the potatoes back into the pot to dry them out and using warmed milk instead of adding the milk straight from the carton. I was always frustrated by how fast the mashed potatoes got cold. And having seen a family member use a potato ricer, what a difference it makes.
“Potato’s”? Really?
I love your “idea” list, especially:
- The potato selection
- Starting with cold water, I do but never knew why, maybe because my mom did!
- Baking the potatoes afterward, interesting
- and using cold butter, we use lots!
This recipe sounds amazing. I am going to try it for our family Thanksgiving!
These look delicious! Will have to try using cream fraiche in mine this year. maybe add in a little roasted garlic. yummm
I’ve done everything the same except the creme fraiche…I will have to give that a whirl.
Great tips! What wonderful potatoes. Can’t wait to win that ricer!
Love these spuds! Nice tips!
Then you will LOVE the giveaway! Will be posted soon!
These look delish! Love creme fraiche, and love chives in my potatoes.
I am a huge fan of OXO.
Love these mashed potato tips and congrats again on the huge Christmas feature!