As you may know, Mrs. Marinara does the baking in our household. Other than that, it is only warming things up for the little Marinara. So when friends have babies, I have the pleasure of preparing a meal for them. Well, this latest meal was tricky because I am friends with the guy but have only met his wife in passing. On top of that, he is an Italian from Upstate NY, so my basic Italian meals might be considered rubbish. On top of that, people have built up my skills much further than they really deserve. So I have this pressure to deliver.
I decided to stay simple because simple works. I knew I wanted to grill steak (flat iron beauty from Belmont Butchery) and asparagus. For the starch, I was leaning towards a pesto farafelle when it occurred to me that pesto is out of season. Most people wouldn't care, but that stuff bothers me. So my buddy, The Sausage King of RVA, gave me his take on mashed potatoes.
His advice was to boil the potatoes until they fall off the knife when you poke them. In the meantime, heat up ungodly amounts of butter with some heavy cream. He had me dry the potatoes, then break them up using a potatoe ricer, and add the butter/ cream mixture in slow intervals, while stirring slowly. He said moving to fast would release the gluten and mess them up. He then told me to add salt, white pepper, and nutmeg.
So I followed the recipe, except that I had no nutmeg. Oh yeah, I also added some crumbled bacon (with just a tad of bacon grease). In reality, I used 2.5 pounds of potatoes and melted 3 sticks of butter into a pint of heavy cream. I only ended up using 1/2 of the mixture because I thought you can only make mashed potatoes so liquidy before they turn into soup.
Anyway, they rocked. They could have killed a small child, but they were so good. I would rather have 3 tablespoons of amazing food than a full serving of anything average.
I completed the meal by sending over a loaf of flour garden bread, 2 large Ghiradelli mix brownies, and a pint of Bev's ice cream (espresso oreo and dirty chocolate). I hope they enjoyed it, I sure did with all the leftovers!
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Oh My, My Mashed Potatoes
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3 comments:
FYI- I used red potatoes.
what's a potato ricer?
Potato ricer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A potato ricer is used to process food by forcing it through small holes, which are often not much larger than a grain of rice. Mashed potatoes are a food commonly made using this utensil. In technical terms, it works by a process of extrusion. A potato ricer can also be used to squeeze excess water from sliced or grated potatoes. This is useful to make crispy chips and hash browns.
At least three types exist. The simplest variety is little more than a grid on a handle. Food is processed against a flat surface or inside a container. Slightly more elaborate models resemble a very large garlic press. A rotary type, called a food mill also exists where the food is driven toward the grid by a large screw, similar to a meat grinder but without the rotary blade.
Potato ricers are used in the making of lefse (a Norwegian staple) and spätzle (German noodles), as well as for making homemade gnocchi (a type of Italian pasta).
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