OTHER THANKSGIVING-Y SIDES: Pumpkin-Leek Stuffing with Turkey Sausage; Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes; Farro and Cauliflower Salad with Currants; Portobello Mushrooms with Parmesan-Herb Stuffing; Green Beans with Spiced Nuts and Apple Cider Vinaigrette; Brussels Sprouts with Apples, Pistachios, and Creme Fraiche
At my Thanksgiving table,which is really my mom’s, we don’t serve mashed potatoes ordinarily, though they snuck onto the menu one year. We have baked sweet potatoes, and then we have cauliflower puree, which, though it may look like mashed potatoes, tastes like sweet, buttery cauliflower. Still, despite never having attended anyone else’s Thanksgiving in my life, I realize that mashed potatoes will find their way to most tables come next Thursday, so I’ve used this recipe flash to write about my favorite kind-a variation, that, by the way, is vegan.
These garlic-rosemary mashed potatoes are kind of revolutionary. They are mashed without milk and without butter. What they have instead may in fact be better: garlic confit flavored with wintry rosemary. The ingredients are so minimal and so cheap that I think the dish is an easy addition to any table and the flavoring an easy tweak to any mashed potatoes.
From my kitchen, albeit small, to yours,
Cara, THE QUARTER-LIFE COOK
**Recipe**
Garlic-Rosemary Mashed Potatoes
Serves 2-4
I will come clean: this recipe is not light on the olive oil. Mashed potatoes crave fat, and since we cut the butter and milk or cream here, we’ve got to replace it with something! If you’re making this dish for a crowd, you’ll have to at least quadruple it.
Ingredients
1 head garlic, cloves separated and peeled (you should have at least 15 cloves)
about 1/3 cup olive oil
4 small sprigs rosemary, plus more for garnish
24 ounces Yukon gold or other not-too-starchy potatoes (about 3 large), peeled
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Put the garlic and the rosemary sprigs into a small ovenproof dish with a cover (I use my adorable LeCreuset peppers). Pour olive oil to cover-this will vary depending on the size of your dish-cover, and bake for about 25 minutes, until the oil is sizzling and the garlic is soft but only just barely golden. Remove from the oven.
Meanwhile, cut the potatoes into large chunks. Place them in a medium saucepan and fill with water to cover the potatoes by 1-2 inches. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, until the potatoes are very tender, about 20 minutes after the water has boiled.
Scoop the potatoes, leaving the water in the pot, and put them into a large mixing bowl. Mash them with a wooden spoon, adding about 1/4 cup of water from the saucepan as you go. Add 10 cloves of the roasted garlic, the rosemary leaves (remove the stems), the remaining 1 teaspoon salt, and 4 tablespoons of the oil. Taste the potatoes and add more oil or garlic cloves if you’d like
Otherwise, transfer to a serving bowl, garnish with fresh rosemary and a grind of black pepper, and serve.
