Surprisingly Easy Mashed Potatoes

I have never in my life made mashed potatoes. I've fried 'em, baked 'em, put them in a salad, used them in stews, you name it. But somehow I never made it to mashing them. Then somebody sent me this YouTube video, and after I picked myself up off the floor from laughing, I made a decision.

If Snoop Dogg can do it, I can too.

I didn't use the ingredients in the above video, but I loved the idea of using the KitchenAid to mash them. Maybe that's why I never fixed them in the first place: sure, all those potato masher devices at Williams-Sonoma would burn a lot of calories, but they required a special purchase and extra drawer space and looked like a lot of work.

But I can dump anything into the KitchenAid.

So I pulled out four potatoes from the pantry. Yes, I will admit they were somewhat past their prime and starting to sprout eyes, but I didn't let that sway me. First things first: soften them to achieve the desired consistency. So I washed them, peeled them, roughly chopped them into 1 inch cubes, and boiled them in salted water like they were pasta for about 20 minutes, or until soft.

Then I drained the water, dumped the potato chunks into the mixer bowl, and started it on slow. Now what to put in for flavor? I went with the classic salt, pepper, half a stick of butter, Tony's, and rosemary. And a little buttermilk. Some people like chicken broth, sour cream, cheddar cheese, basil, minced onions, oregano, and my personal favorite blue cheese. Have fun with it. The more fun it is, the more fancy they will be. Once they tasted right, I sped up the mixer and whipped them to a fare thee well. Delicious.

I'll have to try a little 'yakyak next time.