Mashed Potatoes

I came to know about this dish after coming to US. And initially, I found it little funny, like a trivial job. I was like, what’s the big deal in boiling and mashing potatoes? We do that frequently to make any potato-based farsan or stuffed paratha. I tasted this first at Maggiano’s, we order it as a side with pasta-alfredo. And then, I realized ‘mashed potatoes’ are far more than just ‘mashing potatoes’. Later on, I found a recipe online and made myself along with Pasta and Salad. It was good, but not resembling to what I had ate at Maggiano’s. Then couple of days back, I was reading a suspense novel and something was mentioned about making mashed potatoes. I found out, my very basic mistake – so far I was boiling, peeling and mashing potatoes. Correct method is, peeling, cutting, boiling and mashing potatoes. Yesterday I tried this new way and yes, it indeed came out very delicious.

Serves 2
Preparation Time: 5 minute
Cooking Time: 15 minute

Ingredients
3 medium potatoes (About 2 cup after mashing)
2 tsp unsalted butter
3 tbsp milk
1 tsp olive oil
1 clove of garlic
½ tsp parsley (optional)
Salt and Pepper

Procedure
1. Peel potatoes and cut them in ¼ inch of pieces
2. In a large pot, bring water to boil, add potatoes and cook them covered until they are fork-tender
3. Once cooked, drain the water and mash thoroughly when they are hot
4. Add butter, milk, salt, pepper and parsley
5. Heat olive oil in skillet and add chopped garlic
6. Stir garlic until it changes color to brown and then turn off the heat
8. Add it to potato mixture
9. Mash thoroughly until it’s creamy and consistent mixture
10. Serve Hot

If you add couple of tbsp shredded cheddar cheese, it will taste even better. But we already had pasta as a main dish with cheese; hence I avoided it in mashed potato. You see, we are calorie conscious ;)