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| Those are some tasty taters. |
A short and savoury post for a cold and
blustery windsday:
Sometimes in life, we take it upon
ourselves to make things bigger, badder and more complicated; thinking that more
stuff, more good, will make something exponentially better.
A really good example of this phenomenon
are treats that frequently appear on blogs with two-breath length names like “Brownies
with Peanut Butter, Fudge, Cheesecake, Toffee, Caramel, Browned Butter and
Pumpkin” and don’t get me wrong, I’m all
for excess and definitely all for delicious, but sometimes, it’s the simple
things that taste so darn good.
I was a little introspective today, (if you
know me really well and are reading this, you might chuckle, because I’m one of
those people who is introspective every day – a chronic “over-thinker” if you
will), and I started thinking about excess, about too much, about how that can
become the norm.
Somewhere along the lines, I think people
started thinking that delicious wasn’t good enough, that things needed to be wham-bang-over-the-top
to make them good. But it’s a natural progression, when you get used to
awesome, somehow awesome doesn’t seem so special anymore.
Those thoughts came to me while I was
pondering my dinner for tonight; I was trying to determine what I could have that
would be delicious and satisfying, but nothing was living up to my holiday
feast-laden expectations. I needed a hit, something better than turkey or prime
rib, because I’d already had the good stuff, and didn’t feel like going back to
normal food.
I decided to go cold turkey (Figuratively
of course. Does anyone have any cold turkey?! I could really use a gravy sodden
sandwich right now. Nevermind.) Tonight’s dinner: Shanghai bok choi (steamed
with some garlic and spicy peppers), plain basmati rice, and pecans with
quinoa. Light, healthy and not at all hedonistic.
Which brings me back to the potatoes: These
are not your totally loaded mashed taters. They don’t have bacon or piles of
cheese, no garlic and certainly no lobster. But they are beyond good. I’m
telling you, there’s something magical in their simplicity.
My
new key to mashed potatoes is
(…drumroll please): bay leaves.
Now I know, I’m not the only one to think
of this, and it’s certainly not new, but I’ll bet that most of you haven’t
tried putting bay leaves in the boiling water of your potatoes.
Mashed potatoes are one of the easiest
dishes to make. Ever. If you’re reading
this from a basement apartment with a hot-plate, a pot and a fork, you can make
mashed potatoes.
Sinfully Simple Mashed Potatoes:
- Yukon gold potatoes (about 1 large per person)
- Bay leaves (2 or 3)
- Salt!
- Butter
- Milk
- Green onions (if you must)
- A little bit of sour cream (again, if you must)
Basically making mashed potatoes is a
fairly straight-forward process, but for those of you just joining us, here’s
how it goes:
- Chop potatoes into chunks (bit bigger than bite sized for efficiency). Peel if you want (I don’t)
- Start potatoes in cold water with the bay leaves.
- Boil until they slide easily off of a fork
- Drain in a colander and leave for 3 minutes (take out the bay leaves)
- Mash with a potato masher (or fork if that’s all you have)
- Toss in a bit of butter (about a spoonful per person), the green onions, some salt (quite a bit!) and a splash of milk
- Mix together with a fork and serve hot
There are those out there that will claim
that using a potato ricer creates the creamiest texture and therefore best potatoes, and that’s all fine
and dandy if you want your potatoes to behave like porridge, but I like mine to
have a bit of meat to them. Sidenote: for the love of all things holy and
tasty, please don’t use a hand blender to whip your potatoes, it’s just wrong.
I know this seems like a really simple
thing to talk about on a food blog, but if you do it right, the basic things can really make
you happy (and impress the people you cook for, if you’re into that sort of
thing). This little addition of a savoury herb makes all of the difference in
the world. Try it! Let me know what you think.
All my love,
-BBC
Bay leaves, good idea!
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