How do you make mashed potato more exciting?

Question

I have never really enjoyed mash as it's so plain and boring, what do you add to make it more interesting to eat?

Answer 1

I add roasted garlic and browned butter usually, but also do straight mashed potatoes with salted butter and heavy cream. I used to also cook the potatoes occasionally with carrots and onion and mash them all together, then top with minced parsley and cheddar cheese. Buttermilk is another good addition.

And if potatoes aren't your thing, try yams with either cumin and curry or maple syrup and cream. Carrots mash well too, and if you just want something visually appealing, try mashing up a batch of blue potatoes with sour cream and bacon bits.

The most interesting mashed potatoes I ever had was at Le Splendid and featured chopped ginger. I'm still trying to decide if I liked them.

Answer 2

After cooking and mashing the potatoes, add small pieces of raw broccoli and chopped up spinach (total about one third the potato volume). Put the lot into a lightly buttered caserole dish, top with grated cheese and bake (about 180 degrees) for 45 minutes with the caserole lid on, then a further 30 minutes with the lid off. This freezes well.
Note that the more spinach you put in, the more runny the final potatoes will be, I use about 2 broccoli to 1 spinach.

Answer 3

It's helpful to choose a good potato for mashed potatoes. New potatoes are good as are Desire' and King Edwards (all red) and some white ones are fine. Check out www.allrecipes.com, one of the best websites for cooks. Do a search on Mashed Potatoes and you'll get lots of recipes plus ratings by home cooks, PLUS all the comments from all the home cooks who've tried the recipes. You can see what others are doing and add your own suggestions.

Answer 4

Mix mashed carrots in to it (great if you are catering for a fussy child/adult who won't eat their veg, they can't pick it out if they want to eat their mashed potato). Grated cheese. Gravy tipped over the top. If your having Sausages and a sauce (tomato or brown), mix some of the sauce into the Mash.

Answer 5

Wasabi Mashed Potatoes

"These potatoes are slightly green, slightly spicy, and beautifully fragrant with roasted garlic. Good compliment to meat and fish cooked with ginger - soy marinades. The leftovers make great potato pancakes!"
Original recipe yield: 6 servings.

Prep Time:
15 Minutes
Cook Time:
45 Minutes
Ready In:
1 Hour
Servings:
6 INGREDIENTS:

* 1 medium head garlic
* 1 teaspoon olive oil
* 12 potatoes
* 1 cup butter, softened
* 4 teaspoons wasabi powder
* water as needed
* 1/2 cup milk
* salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Remove papery outer skin of garlic bulb. Rub with olive oil and place on a small baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until skin can be easily pierced with a fork.
3. While garlic is roasting, peel and quarter the potatoes. Place in a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and allow potatoes to simmer until very soft, about 20 minutes. Drain water and mash potatoes with butter until smooth and fluffy.
4. Squeeze softened garlic cloves out of skin into pot; in a small bowl, mix wasabi powder with just enough water to form a thick paste. Mash garlic and wasabi paste into potatoes, pour in milk and continue to mash until mixture is light and fluffy; season with salt and pepper to taste and serve hot.

Answer 6

Mix the mashed potato with corned beef & spring onion add a touch of chilli pepper and refry as patti's - enjoy

Answer 7

Mash in butter, then a little cream. Then add a raw egg, some nutmeg and cracked black pepper. Then, very quickly, use the masher as a whisk and really beat the egg into the potatoes. Creamy and gorgeous.

Answer 8

You could add cheese or failing that, cook and mash a sweet potatoe and add that to the contents. or add fresh cream (just a small amount instead of the milk). Hope that helps!

Answer 9

Add a bit of butter, some full fat milk or/and cream. I like to add a crushed garlic clove to the potatoes while boiling, and when mashing add a ground clove to it. Some chopped coriander is nice too.

Answer 10

You can put anything in from cheese or crispy bacon to horseradish, if you can think of it you can probably add it.

Also try doing the mash in the nude using different implements, with a fellow nudist of the opposite sex ( or the same ) and eat it off whatever's handy or footy or whatever.