It is officially fall and we have one last recipe to share before Thanksgiving. Mom has this theory that the only reason you make a roast meal is to get the drippings to turn into gravy and enjoy with potatoes. As much as I love potatoes, I prefer the dressing but today we are focusing on my mom’s favourite whipped potatoes. This recipe is not so much a recipe as it is a method of making potatoes for your roast dinner, a delicious method worth the effort it takes to make it.
Last week we mentioned that we were a bit snobby when it came to our pumpkin pie, and I hate to admit this, but we are even more snobby about our potatoes. Every family most likely has their favourite way of making mashed or whipped potatoes, some might prefer for them to be more rustic and include the skin, others might like them drier and use less butter and milk. We like ours to be light and fluffy without a lump or skin in sight and plenty of butter, milk, salt, and pepper. For our roast meals we do not add any additional spices as we want the gravy to do the talking. Sometimes less is more and in this case, we truly want to taste the potatoes and the gravy.
As any of you who make the meal for Thanksgiving and Christmas know it’s a lot of work! Each year we make more and more of the meal ahead of time so we can enjoy the holiday. Our whipped potatoes are always made ahead of time either the day before or during the afternoon as they reheat like a dream. As you will read in the method below, we often add just a little bit more liquid than necessary, so the potatoes do not dry out while they are reheated. Another trick is to gently transfer the potatoes from the bowl to the casserole dish. You don’t want the mistake of knocking out all the air you so carefully put into it by handling it roughly.
Let us know if you try anyone of our Thanksgiving recipes, we will really enjoy hearing from you. Stay tuned for our Thanksgiving table setting, we are very excited about this one and have been thinking about it all year!
Ingredients
1000g of Russet or Yukon gold potatoes
¾ cup warm milk
¼ melted butter
The amount of milk and butter may vary but this gives you an idea regarding how much you may need.
Salt and pepper to taste.
Peel and cut the potato into even sized pieces. We typically cut the russet potatoes into 6 pieces and the Yukon gold into 4 pieces depending on their size. You don’t want the potatoes too large, the larger they are the longer they take to cook and the more water they will take on. Too small and your potatoes may disappear.
Place your potatoes into a pot and cover with cold water one inch above the potatoes. Add ½ tsp of salt to the water to flavour it.
Bring to a soft boil for approximately 20 minutes. They are done when a knife easily pierces the potatoes.
Drain the potatoes and return them to the pot. Place the pot back over the heat to evaporate any excess moisture. The potatoes should look as dry as those in the photo.
Around 15 years ago we started using a ricer when making our whipped potatoes. For years we would put whole chunks of the potato into the ricer until Mom discovered a tip. You should mash your potatoes first and then put them through the ricer making it a noticeably easier task.
If you do not have a ricer then make sure you take your time and thoroughly mash those potatoes to remove lumps.
The potatoes will be light and fluffy after going through the ricer and lump free.
Your whipped potatoes are only as good as the potatoes you are using. Sometimes they will have more flavour, other times they may not. This is a good time to taste them to determine if they may need more butter then milk or vice versa. We are constantly testing the potatoes throughout this process to adjust as needed.
Potatoes that have gone through the ricer may require less liquid them ones you have mashed. You can always add liquid, but you cannot take it away, start with less and slowly add as you go. Before adding the liquid to the potatoes make sure you warm the milk and melt the butter. Adding cold butter and milk will result in a gummy texture.
Add a little liquid at a time when beating the potatoes. They should be light and fluffy, if you add too much liquid, they will turn soupy. When we have Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, we almost always make the potatoes well in advance, either earlier that day or the day before so there is less to do right before the meal. When we plan on heating them up later, we add just a little bit more liquid then needed so when they are reheated, they do not dry out.
Taste the potatoes once more to make sure you have enough salt and pepper. We like to use black pepper but if you want the potatoes to remain white try using white pepper instead.
Leftover Ideas!
It is a rare occurrence for us to have leftover whipped potatoes after a roast chicken, turkey or beef meal but every once in awhile we are lucky enough to have some to make these leftover recipes.
Loaded Potato Casserole
875 g or 3 cups of whipped potatoes
¾ cup shredded cheddar cheese
½ cup sour cream
½ of a large onion diced and caramelized
5 slices of crispy bacon crumbled
Mix the ingredients together holding back ¼ cup of the shredded cheese. Like making the whipped potato you will have to taste as you go to determine if you need more sour cream, remember, always start with less, you can always add but you can’t remove.
Place the mixture into a casserole dish and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.
Bake in a 350°F oven until the cheese is melted and the potatoes are warmed through.
I love potato salad, but I have never had a potato salad made with whipped or mashed potatoes unless store bought until now. Mom has memories of my grandma using leftover whipped potatoes to make a potato salad, so she wanted to include this childhood favorite of hers.
Potato Salad
600 g whipped potatoes
½ cup shredded carrot
¼ cup each diced celery, onion, and dill pickles
¼ cup mayonnaise
½ tbsp mustard
½ tsp dried dill
2 hard boiled eggs
salt and pepper to taste.
Combine ingredients together. We enjoyed this salad with a child hood favorite of mine. Hotdogs wrapped in bread and toasted in the oven. Delicious!
Last but certainly not least as I think this is my families favourite way to use leftover whipped potatoes is fried whipped potatoes for breakfast. This leftover idea is prefect for small amounts as the others require a bit more to be leftover.
Fry the potatoes in butter and or bacon fat over medium heat. Flatten the potatoes and allow for the bottom to brown. Stir occasionally to mix the browned pieces in with the whipped potatoes allowing for other areas to brown. It is ready when you have heated the potatoes through and have browned the potatoes as desired.
Another option would be to turn them into patties and brown both sides but there is a method to our madness. We want as many brown bits as we can get so we stir ours instead.
Whipped Potatoes
Ingredients
Whipped Potatoes
- 1000 g Russet or Yukon gold potatoes
- ¾ cup warm milk
- ¼ cup melted salted butter
- salt and pepper to taste
Loaded Potato Casserole
- 875g 3 cups whipped potatoes
- ½ cup sour cream
- ½ large onion diced and caramelized
- 5 strips of crispy bacon crumbled
- ¾ cup shredded cheddar cheese
Potato Salad
- 600 g whipped potato
- ½ cup shredded carrot
- ¼ cup each diced celery, onion, and dill pickles
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- ½ tbsp mustard
- ½ tsp dried dill
- 2 hard boiled eggs
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Whipped Potatoes
- Peel and cut the potato into even sized pieces. We typically cut the russet potatoes into 6 pieces and the Yukon gold into 4 pieces depending on their size. You don’t want the potatoes too large, the larger they are the longer they take to cook and the more water they will take on. Too small and your potatoes may disappear.
- Place your potatoes into a pot and cover with cold water one inch above the potatoes. Add ½ tsp of salt to the water to flavour it.
- Bring to a soft boil for approximately 20 minutes. They are done when a knife easily pierces the potatoes.
- Drain the potatoes and return them to the pot. Place the pot back over the heat to evaporate any excess moisture.
- Around 15 years ago we started using a ricer when making our whipped potatoes. For years we would put whole chunks of the potato into the ricer until Mom discovered a tip. You should mash your potatoes first and then put them through the ricer making it a noticeably easier task. If you do not have a ricer then make sure you take your time and thoroughly mash those potatoes to remove lumps.
- Before adding the liquid to the potatoes make sure you warm the milk and melt the butter. Adding cold butter and milk will result in a gummy texture.
- Add a little liquid at a time when beating the potatoes. They should be light and fluffy, if you add too much liquid, they will turn soupy.
- Taste the potatoes once more to make sure you have enough salt and pepper. We like to use black pepper but if you want the potatoes to remain white try using white pepper instead.
Loaded Potato Casserole
- Mix the ingredients together holding back ¼ cup of the shredded cheese.
- Place the mixture into a casserole dish and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.
- Bake in a 350°F oven until the cheese is melted and the potatoes are warmed through.
Potato Salad
- Grate the carrot and dice celery, onion, dill pickles and one hardboiled egg.
- Slice second hardboiled egg for garnish, set aside.
- Combine all ingredients in a bowl.
- Add to serving dish, place the sliced hardboiled eggs on top and sprinkle with paprika if desired.
