Ingredients
- 3 large or 4 medium PotatoesCut potatoes in half if using large ones
- 1 tsp Kosher Salt
- 3 Tbsp Butter
- 0.5 cup MilkOr half-n-half
- 1-2 each Bay LeafOptional
- enough to cover potatoes by 3/4 water
Directions
How do you like your mashed potatoes?
I like mine creamy, buttery, and a little bit chunky. Just like my mom makes it with a hand potato masher. I have tried many variants of the same old thing called “Mashed Potatoes”. And I am yet to try anything better than my Mom’s Creamy Mashed Potatoes!
When my parents got married back in 1977, my mom could not cook an egg! She had to learn how to cook really fast. Mom started collecting the recipes and writing them down in a notepad. Back then, there were not that many cookbooks published in Soviet Union so women relied mostly on the recipes they found in the periodicals with the titles like “The Woman Worker”, “The Woman Farmer” which were hugely popular. There were very few female magazines available at the time in USSR so those recipes were anxiously anticipated, cooked, discussed and judged at work, clipped or written down in the recipe notepads.
I do not know the origin of the Creamy Mashed Potatoes recipe that I found in my mom’s recipe notepad. I only know that it is old and it tastes delicious.
Steps
1 Done | Pour cold water in a pot, add salt. Cover the pot and boil water on medium heat. |
2 Done | Wash and peel potatoes. Cut the large ones in half or even in thirds, depending on the potatoes size. Place potatoes in boiling water, cover with lid, reduce heat to medium low and boil potatoes until they are soft. |
3 Done | Drain potatoes; leave 0.5 cup of water in the pot when draining. Set aside. Heat milk in a small pot on the stove or in the microwave. Add hot milk to hot potatoes. Using a hand potato masher mash potatoes for a couple of minutes until creamy consistency is achieved. Add butter and mix well. Optional but delicious: add chopped chives, or sour cream, or grated sharp cheese such as Cheddar (1-2 Tbsp) and mix well. Serve with some meat entree, such as Baked Pork Loin Chops or Beef In Red Wine. Easy and yummy! |