Garlic Parmesan Mashed Potatoes

Last week I made a pot roast and it needed a few sides.  So I searched the internet to find a couple of sides to serve along with the roast.  One was the Roasted Cauliflower that I posted about last week.  Today I am posting about some exquisitely creamy, garlic Parmesan mashed potatoes.  So tasty and full of flavor.  They honestly take no more time than regular mashed potatoes so if you have a choice, I would always make these.

I shaved some slices of Parmesan onto the potatoes for this shot.  It is unnecessary, but added yet another punch of cheese flavor to the dish.

Garlic Parmesan Mashed Potatoes

• 2 pounds russet potatoes
• 1 tbs kosher salt
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 tbs butter
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated
  
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
• salt and pepper for seasoning

Peel and dice the potatoes into uniform sized chunks.  Try to get the potatoes to even sizes so that they all cook in the same amount of time. Place the potatoes into a large sauce pan.  Add the salt and cover the potatoes with water.  Bring to a boil and cook until the potatoes fall apart.  This time depends on the size of the potato chunks and your altitude so I am not about to estimate how long it will take.  You will know that the potatoes are done, when you can touch them with a fork and they fall apart.

In a small/medium saucepan add the cream, butter and garlic.  I like to finely grate the garlic into the pan.  I find that the garlic is more evenly distributed throughout the potatoes when when you grate it.  If you don’t have a grater, use a garlic press or finely dice the garlic.  Place the pan over medium low heat until the potatoes are ready.

When the potatoes fall apart, remove them from the heat and drain the water.  Mash the potatoes a bit with a masher and then add the cream.  Continue to mash until you get the consistency that you like for your potatoes.

Next add the Parmesan cheese and mix it into the potatoes.

Taste the potatoes and adjust the seasonings, they may not need anything as the Parmesan cheese tends to be a little salty. In theory every part of the meal should be seasoned to perfection.  But when you simmer gravy, the water evaporates and the flavor intensifies.  So I like to always warn people to remember that the potatoes will be served with a pat of salted butter or covered in gravy that is usually seasoned pretty heavily.  I tend to leave the potatoes needing a little salt but then again this all depends on how they are served.  You do not want everything to come together and taste like a salt lick.

Serve the potatoes with gravy or butter and enjoy!!