mashed potatoes

Basic mashed potato recipe. This recipe make around 2 to 3 cups of mashed potatoes, depending on the size of the potatoes. It is difficult to imagine that there were no potatoes in Europe before the discovery of the Americas. Potatoes, along with corn and tomatoes etcetera, are a New World food. Instead of mashed potatoes people in Europe used to eat things such as mashed turnips, which isn't quite the same.

If you're cooking the potatoes to go with a meat dish and aren't concerned about calories, a good way to turn up the flavor is to drizzle some of the meat/chicken drippings into the potatoes, or broth. That enhances the taste quite a bit when it is mixed in, and at a family gathering will considerably decrease the amount of potatoes remaining in the serving dish at the end of the day. I never measure when making mashed potatoes, so the amounts on the ingredient list are suggestions.

• 3 - 4 medium to large russet potatoes

• 3 tbsp butter

• salt

• pepper

• 1/4 - 1/2 C milk

1. Rinse off the potatoes and peel them. Bring a pot of water to a boil.

2. Chop them into quarters.

3. Add them to the water and let them boil at minimum around 10 minutes. You check doneness by inserting a fork into the potato. If the fork goes in easily and you can wiggle the fork without resistance, then the potato is boiled.

4. Drain the water and put the potatoes in a bowl. Add the butter immediately. Margarine is fine. You want to add the butter immediately while the potatoes are hot for the butter to melt. Shake in the desired amount of salt and pepper. Remember that you can always add more seasoning, but you can't subtract, so if you are not sure start with a small amount of seasoning and add to taste.

5. Mash the potatoes together with the butter, salt, and pepper. You can use a potato masher, but if you don't have one a fork will do the job fine. You can also use a hand mixer.

6. Add the milk and stir together. Check taste and add more of milk, butter, or salt/pepper if desired to taste.

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