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Roasted Carrots
Martha Rose Shulman
5167 ratings with an average rating of 5 out of 5 stars
5,167
About 1 hour
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Prepare a steamer: Arrange an insert or basket (or a large colander, if you have neither) in a large pot, and add enough water to come just below the base of the steamer. Bring water to a boil over medium-high heat.
Rinse potatoes well, then peel. Rinse again, then cut into 1-inch chunks. Spread evenly in the steamer, cover, reduce heat to medium and steam until the potatoes are very tender, 20 to 25 minutes. A fork should slide easily into a piece and break it without effort. Turn off the stove, carefully remove the steamer insert and drain the water from the pot. Pour the potatoes back into the pot and spread evenly.
Let the potatoes stand until their surfaces are dry, about 3 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the milk in a small saucepan over medium-high until steaming, then keep warm over low. Set the potatoes over low heat and mash thoroughly with a dinner fork. Add about one-quarter of the milk and mash until the milk is incorporated.
Scatter the butter evenly over the potatoes and mash in until all traces of butter disappear. Add half of the remaining milk and mash to incorporate, then add the rest of the milk and gently whip until smooth, circling the fork as if beating eggs. If you don’t want your mashed potatoes so thick, beat in more milk. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, taste, and season more if you’d like.
Serve immediately, keep warm over low heat for up to 1 hour, or transfer to airtight containers and refrigerate for up to 2 days. Mashed potatoes thicken as they cool, so they need cream to regain the right consistency. If kept warm, gently mash in heavy cream until smooth and loose again, adding more if you’d like. If cold, heat the cream in a large pot until steaming, then add the potatoes. Gently mash and whip, adding more cream as needed, until heated through and fluffy. Season to taste again before serving.
What's the best way to reheat these if you decide to make them the day before?
To those who are asking how to reheat the potatoes, you can put them in the oven. If you put little fork marks all over the top first, and little bits of butter, you'll get a nice crispy brown crust. That's how my mother made them.
Catering trick to reheat cold mashed potatoes. Place in an oven proof dish and spread out. Pour cream over potatoes cover with foil put in 300 degree oven until steaming. As you add to serving dish whip with the fork until cream is incorporated. Adding a little more butter doesn't hurt either.
The Instant Pot was born for this. Peel, chunk and pressure cook 4 - 5 minutes, depending on quantity. I use the steamer insert, which prevents them from sitting in water. Perfect mash every time.
When I was living in Paris as a college student with an elderly couple, “mamman” made mashed potatoes this way but folded in a handful of finely grated Gruyère at the end. They were the most delectable mashed potatoes I ever had. I still make them that way. Merci, mamman!
Hot cream will not reheat cold potatoes.
I have made mashed potatoes a day or two before Thanksgiving dinner and rewarded them in a crockpot. They have always turned out perfectly.
So here is the tip my grandma gave me many years ago. When the potatoes are riced and still hot mix in a raw egg yolk. The heat of the potatoes will cook the egg through.It totally elevates the taste and it gives it a nice hue.
This recipe doesn't seem very practical. If I used a dinner fork to mash all the potatoes needed for a Thanksgiving meal it would take forever. And I don't see how mashed potatoes cold from the frig can possibly be rewarmed merely by adding a little hot cream.
I think the best way would be to reheat them in a microwave at medium power, checking them every couple minutes, until they're as warm as you like. Alternatively, if you don't have a microwave, you could put them, tightly covered with foil, in a low (300 degree) oven for probably 20 or 30 minutes.
I’ve always had success holding the heat or reheating mashed potatoes by heating them over a pot of gently simmering water. Per Julia, cover the potato bowl or pot partly with a lid, but never all the way. Let them breathe, I guess. Anyway, it works :)
I always make mashed a day or two before the holiday to keep the kitchen less hectic. I turn them into the baking/serving dish and refrigerate. On day of, put pats of butter across the top, cover with foil and bring to temp in 350 oven after you pull the turkey and let it rest. Pull the foil off to let them brown the last 20 minutes. Note: I'm less stingy with the cream & butter.
Looks like we are all wondering the same thing! A microwave?? The step 5 that Ann refers to below is for the cream being cold, not the potatoes.
Bain marie. Put the potatoes in a metal bowl, set it into a pot of barely simmering water, such that it's suspended a bit off the bottom of the pot, and cover; basically, a home-made double boiler. Lift the cover and stir from the bottom up from time to time be sure potatoes are heated evenly. They'll stay hot for some time and suffer no consequences re taste or texture. Just be sure the water doesn't evaporate.
Isn't that covered in step 5? "If cold, heat the cream in a large pot until steaming, then add to the potatoes..."? The hot cream will reheat the potatoes.
When cooking mashed potatoes for a crowd I keep them in a crock pot - keeps them warm throughout the meal. If made the day before, I put them on the counter early until they reach room temperature. Then, I add them to my trusty crock pot on medium or low with a bit more warm cream and pats of butter. I also keep gravy hot in a thermal carafe - no need to reheat or leave my plate during the meal.
Whether boiled (and dried out by placing back in hot pot) or steamed, the secret to "ethereal" makes potatoes is in the ricing of them...a must have if you want your guests and diners to RAVE about your mashed potatoes!
I boiled rather than steamed the potatoes but did everything else per the recipe. They were the best mashed potatoes I've ever made. A surprisingly good side with meatloaf.
Made 15 lbs of potatoes for Thanksgiving and steaming rather than boiling was a game changer! Saved time and the potatoes tasted great.
Curious that the mashed potatoes are prepared with MILK but reconstituted with CREAM. Is this an error?
Re: question about oat milk - we do this all the time and it tastes great! We do use the butter.
Has anyone tried this recipe with oat milk? I need to avoid dairy for family members' sake; I can use ghee for butter, but I am hesitant to commit to using oat milk (vs. just water) without knowing how it will affect the taste.
A number of people have said that heating the cream and adding it to cold potatoes won't reheat them. That's entirely true. It's also *not* in the recipe. You heat the cream in the pot and then add the potatoes *to* the pot while mashing and whipping until it's heated through. "If cold, heat the cream in a large pot until steaming, then add the potatoes. Gently mash and whip, adding more cream as needed, until heated through and fluffy."
1/2 and 1/2 works well too!
My grand mother used an electric mixer with one mixer installed. They came out perfect every time.
A really great mash for when you have a lot of bold flavors at the table and just want something to absorb it all. Simple and creamy, with a lovely nuttiness and sweetness. I'll have to season at the end more often! This recipe really does bring out the flavor of the potatoes.
The potatoes were so soft after steaming that I managed to mash them with a couple of chopsticks which I have discovered are useful in the kitchen. Great for making scrambled eggs as well, leaving them fluffy and not overly cooked.
quite good -- maybe some scallions or some other seasonings -- Zeren said so
I make this with purple potatoes, garlic (5-10 cloves steamed with the potatoes), soy milk, and Miyoko's butter. At the end, I add the juice of 1-2 lemons, which turns the whole mash into pink, like a little chemistry experiment. My partner likes it like this. I mix a few tablespoons of chopped homemade kimchi into my half.
Peel first
Like the recipe says.
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