The mashed potatoes is a great classic of home cooking: everyone likes it, especially children, and is a perfect comfort food, perhaps because everyone remembers childhood.
Which potatoes to choose to make a good mashed potatoes
To prepare a good mashed potato is fundamental: they must be "old" (do not use the new ones that would give a sticky mash) and floury pasta. Once cooked, these potatoes are tender and coarse-grained, unlike those from salads, which are more "waxy".
Ingredients
Potatoes in white paste g 500
Butter g 40
Warm milk
Grated Parmesan cheese
fine salt, coarse salt, nutmeg
The recipe of mash and our advice
With the doses suggested in the tutorial above, a mashed dish is prepared to serve as a side dish for about 6 people.
Boil the potatoes, starting with cold water, for about 40 minutes from the rising of the boil: they will be cooked when you put a knife on it, you will extract it easily.
Peel them still hot and crush them immediately. Put them in a saucepan, add the hot milk, the butter, a pinch of salt and, to taste, nutmeg and a little grated parmesan. For change the consistency of mashed potatoes increase or decrease the milk dose. If you like it rich, substitute a part of milk with fresh cream. Stir over the heat until a soft, grainy, non-sticky cream is obtained.
Instruments
There are two types of potato masher, one "L" and one, more practical and fast, lever, with perforated disc. Do not use the vegetable mill because the potatoes will cool and you will get a sticky mash. The whisk is important for making mashed soft, incorporating air.
How to boil the potatoes
According to the classic method the potatoes are cooked in water for about 40 ': put them in the pot with cold water and boil them with the peel to prevent them from absorbing too much water; you do not need to salt it because, with the skin, they would not absorb it. You can also steam them: since they are not immersed in water, it is better to peel them and cut them into regular pieces, for a faster and more uniform cooking (about 20 minutes). In a pressure cooker: peel the potatoes and cut into small pieces; put them in the pot with 2 fingers of salt-free water and cook for 12 'from the whistle. And finally you can use the microwave oven, using the appropriate containers.
Store and recycle the puree
you can to preserve the mash that comes in the fridge for 3 days at most. When reusing it, transform it because it will be tastier: with egg yolks and grated parmesan, you will obtain some frisks to be fried; added to ground beef meat softens hamburgers and meatballs (100 g of mashed potatoes on 300 g of meat); enriched with ham and cheese is an excellent filling for ravioli and cannelloni; fired in a mold with eggs, ham and cheese becomes a cake, to be eaten whole or in glasses, for an aperitif.
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