.roasted garlic mashed potatoes.

Roasted garlic mashed potatoes are my husband's absolute favorite food. If it's on the menu as a side, he'll order it. I make them from time to time. I go through garlic so fast that I have to mentally remember to buy an extra bulb when I'm at the grocery store. These will take a little extra time, but the results are well worth it!

If you're making these for your Valentine dinner, make them and hold in a low temp oven until you're ready to serve your main course. The potatoes can be peeled and chopped, then held in a bowl filled with water. Just keep the bowl in the fridge. This is a big time saver because peeling potatoes is a task. If you have teenagers or tweens in the house, enlist them to help you with this!


To make the roasted garlic, take a length of aluminum foil and fold in half. Cut off the top of your garlic bulb using a chef's knife. This makes it easier to get the pulp out once the garlic is roasted.

Drizzle lightly with olive oil.







Twist up the edges. This locks in the steam and flavor. Put in a 400* oven for 45 minutes to an hour.










Pull from the oven and unwrap. Let this cool down a little bit before you try squeezing otherwise you will have hot burning magma of roasted garlic on your hands and you'll be crying like a baby.









Now to extract the roasted garlic, just squeeze from the base of each clove pod. See how it squirts right out the top? You can make this roasted garlic up ahead of time and keep in a little airtight tupperware container in the fridge.








Peel and cut up enough yukon gold potatoes as you need. Here's Paige mid karate chop! She is such a great helper.

Once you've got the potatoes cut, fill the pot with enough water to cover all of the potatoes.

Put the pot on a high burner and boil until the potatoes are fork tender.











Drain the potatoes in a colander. While the potatoes drain, heat 3 Tbsp butter and 1/4 cup milk in the microwave.










Put the potatoes and all of that delicious roasted garlic in a mixing bowl and whip on high for 30 seconds. Don't over beat because it will over work the starch in the potatoes and they'll become very rubbery and glossy. If that *does* happen, add a little more milk and it should correct itself.

Season with salt and pepper and then mix again just until everything is smooth.

Transfer your potatoes to an oven safe bowl, cover with foil and put in the oven to hold (*if you're making this for the Valentine dinner).

Printable version:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_139fxpjxfdd