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a plain bowl of pale golden garlic mashed potatoes with soft spoon ridges and tiny mashed roasted-garlic flecks mixed through the potatoes, with no whole garlic bulbs, bacon, cheese, green garnish or gravy
Andre Lewis

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Roast a whole head of garlic until the cloves squeeze from their skins, then mash them into steamed Yukon Gold potatoes with butter and buttermilk. The garlic tastes mellow enough to spread through the bowl instead of leaving sharp raw pockets. Steaming keeps the potatoes from taking on as much surface water as a rolling boil, but they still need to be fully tender before you reach for the masher. Warm the buttermilk gently and fold it in at the end. Boiling it hard or beating the finished potatoes only makes this simple side less pleasant, with grainy dairy in the first case and sticky mash in the second.
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 55 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Servings: 6
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 2 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
  • 1 whole head garlic
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • 4 tbsp unsalted butter
  • 3/4 cup cultured buttermilk
  • 3/4 tsp fine salt
  • 1/4 tsp white pepper

Method
 

  1. Heat the oven to 400°F. Cut 1/4 inch from the top of the garlic head to expose the cloves, drizzle with oil, wrap loosely in foil and roast for 40 to 45 minutes until the cloves are soft and golden. Cool for 5 minutes and squeeze the cloves into a bowl.
  2. Meanwhile, place potato chunks in a steamer basket over 1 inch of simmering water. Cover and steam for 20 to 25 minutes until the largest piece breaks easily under a fork, checking the pan does not boil dry.
  3. Warm buttermilk gently in a small saucepan over low heat until just warm; keep it below a simmer. Transfer hot potatoes to a dry bowl.
  4. Mash potatoes with roasted garlic and butter by hand until no large chunks remain. Fold in warm buttermilk a little at a time with salt and white pepper until fluffy and spoonable.
  5. Transfer to a warm serving bowl and serve immediately, smoothing the surface with a spoon rather than beating the potatoes.