Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

From the Food Network:

Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes:
3 heads garlic, halved
3 tablespoon olive oil
2 pounds potatoes, peeled and diced
4 ounces (1 stick) butter, cubed
1/2 to 3/4 cup heavy cream
Salt and white pepper

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
Place the garlic on a pie pan and drizzle with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Place in the oven and roast for 35 to 40 minutes, or until tender and golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool. Squeeze or remove the garlic cloves from the head and place in a small bowl. Using a fork, mash the garlic until smooth. Place the potatoes in a pot of salted water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook the potatoes until fork tender, about 12 to 15 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and drain. Place the potatoes back in the pot and return to the heat. Stir the potatoes, constantly, for 2 to 3 minutes to dehydrate the potatoes. Remove the potatoes from the heat. Add the garlic and butter. Using a hand-held masher, mash the butter and garlic into the potatoes. Add enough cream until desired texture is achieved. The potatoes should still be sort of lumpy. Season the potatoes with salt and pepper.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Jim,
Looking at this recipe for garlic mashed potatoes. How many does this feed with only 2 lbs of potatoes?

Thanks.

4

I'd have no problem consuming 1/4 of the above recipe by myself, but does the last line not say "Yield: 6 to 8 servings"?

I assume Bruce asked because he thought the notion that this recipe would serve 6-8 preposterous. I would agree. One could say 'serves 4-6', maybe, though I wouldn't. I might say 4-5 but that would be it.

Sorry, I forgot all about this post. At a dinner for 5 we normally have leftovers and fry them the next day. Of course, I normally make this when I BBQ so the star of the table is the meat. You could always double the recipe and if you intend to fry the leftovers do not dice the potatos but quarter them. It's something about the amount of water that they absorb when diced that make them harder to fry. Oh, and I also put the garlic on the smoker to roast it.

fry them the next day?

Yes, sure. Make potato cakes. You can avoid frying problems by binding the potatoes better before frying. Beat an egg in a bowl to blend. (1 egg will handle 1-2 cups of leftover potaotes.) Fold the egg well into the cold mashed and add a little flour or grated cheese. Mix well, form into patties, then chill at least 30 min. Flour the patties lightly then fry in oil or in an oil-butter mix till browned on the bottoms (let them brown before attemting to mess with them); flip, brown, drain, serve. (You can also brown one side, fip, then place the whole pan in a 350 oven to finish.)

Side note: I think garlic roasts much better at a lower temp. At high temps caramelization can be excessive leading to bitter flavor notes at worst, somewhat hardened areas that don't mash well at best. I prefer roasting at 350 till very tender to avoid this.

I also don't bother to halve the garlic (or, as commonly called for, I don't remove the top third either); I rub off any loose papery skin, leaving the rest alone, and roast whole, drizzled with oil and sprinkled with salt and thyme, and foiled. When tender, usually 50-60 min, the garlic can be allowed to cool a bit and, while cooling and using a paring knife, the tip of the head can be quickly pierced in several places. Then the head can be squeezed from the root end (using a towel so as not to burn your hand) and the roasted garlic extracted. You don't have to do it this way but 'golden brown' is something I avoid with garlic unless I am toasting it very slowly over low heat. Browned garlic usually means sharper flavors leaning toward bitterness which, to me, is the opposite of what roasted garlic should taste like.

fry them the next day?

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Joe,

I frequently fry mashed potatoes the next day. I take them out of the refrig and shape them into potato cakes and fry in a bit of oil or clarified butter until browned and heated through. Really good as a side dish at breakfast (better than home fries).

Ray

Fried mashed spuds are awsome. I like them better than mashed taters. Butter, onions, cheese, more butter, salt and pepper and top with more butter. That's good eats. While we're at it, fried mac and cheese is pretty darn good also.