Chive Mashed Potatoes

This is a recipe taken from my Easy Mashed Potatoes with a few changes. I love mashed potatoes with other flavors mixed in.

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From the kitchen of A Food Lover’s Delight….

Chive Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients:

One 5 lb bag of potatoes
1 c heavy cream and more or less to achieve desired consistency
1/2 to 1 whole stick butter
3 T chopped fresh chives
salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Wash and peel potatoes.
2. Place peeled potatoes in a bowl covered with cold water and let soak for 15 mins to bring out some of the starch.
3. Drain and rinse potatoes.
4. Place drained potatoes in a pot large enough to hold them with some empty room at the top.
5. Fill the pot with water, enough to cover the potatoes by at least an inch.
6. Bring the potatoes to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are fork-tender, about 20 minutes or so.
7. Drain the potatoes and leave in the pot.
8. This is my secret step: Put the pot with the drained potatoes back on the stove over high heat. Stir the potatoes well and quickly over the heat, ensuring that most or all of the liquid has evaporated without browning or burning the potatoes. This will result in a drier, fluffier potato.
9. When the liquid inside the pot has evaporated, remove the potatoes and pot from the heat. Mash or rice the potatoes with the potato masher or ricer to get most of the lumps out.
10. Add the butter, the heavy cream, and the chives to the potatoes in the pot, and, using a wire whisk, combine the mixture until smooth and creamy.
11. Thin with more cream if necessary — depending on your preference. Do not overprocess the mashed potatoes or they might become gummy.
12. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serves 6 – 8 as a side dish .

Variations: To lighten the recipe, use milk or half-and-half instead of the cream, and use less butter. I’ve omitted the butter and cream and used only a bit of olive oil in the past, and it still makes a great mashed potato.