mashed potatoes.

you've got it.it's not too surprising that when the thanksgiving menu had to be filled out that i gravitated toward all the crab-ladden items. the first being mac and cheese which is pretty similar to the mac and cheese i made before, so i won't bore you all with the same recipe but altered to feed 10-12 intead of just me. put it this way, it was still awesome in every way that mac and cheese should be awesome. the second dish i decided to bring was mashed potatoes. mashed potatoes are basically the queen of thanksgiving. they are as essential to the plate as the turkey, aka the king. a partner in crime, ethel to lucy, snoopy to charlie brown, R2D2 to C3PO, chocolate to peanut butter, paul to john.

you just can't have one without the other on thanksgiving.

i've made mashed potatoes only one time before. last thanksgiving. on the wednesday prior turkey day i remember finishing the whipping stage, forking a massive taste of buttery, salty lovliness and muttering aloud "why have i never made these before?" and after a bowl or two of samples, plenty of midnight tastes and mounds the next day, i realized exactly why. mashed potatoes made the right way are just way too much, too delicious, too perfect and way too easy to make. you could make them everyday and they would be amazing everyday but then again you would be pretty massive. and i think it might, maybe, possibly semi-deflate the perfection of mashed potatoes. maybe. but i could be wrong.

i used a martha recipe to make these, eliminating one ingredient she found essential. nutmeg. mashed potatoes are all about the simplicity. potatoes. butter. milk. salt and pepper. anything else is too fancy for thanksgiving. sure you could add some roasted garlic and chives, mounds of rich, creamy goat cheese and even gawd forbid martha's "vital" nutmeg, but in my opinion, for thanksgiving you should go traditional.

so you need about 5lbs of potatoes like these:
peel, cube and add to a pot of cold, well-salted water.
put the pot on the stove, cover and let come to a boil. this definitely takes a bit of time. use this time wisely. take a nap perhaps, make a drink, watch some mindless television. do not be productive, this is the day before the eat-a-thon (read: thanksgiving), you need to get into full sloth mode to be ready for tomorrow. you could also simmer about 2 cups of milk.

when the pot of potatoes begins to boil it will resemble this:
i think that layer on the top is all the starches in the potatoes doing their thang. potatoes should boil for a good 20 minutes or until fork tender. drain and add to a pot. with your mixer on low, add the warmed milk before you grab your two stars.
















while butter and salt pretty much can make most foods expedentially better, in the case of mashed potatoes they are really the glue to making mashed potatoes: MASHED POTATOES. and yes, i did add this entire stick of softened butter and about 2-3 teaspoons of salt and a few smidgeons of pepper.

as a side note, mashed potatoes are the ultimate girl food of all of you men out there looking to please your lady friends. pretty much most carb-style foods will get you in good with women, but mashed potatoes are still the queen of the girl food.