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A few days ago for dinner, I braised some amazing short ribs, and served these on a bed of sour cream and leek mashed potatoes. This combination was so good! So I decided to share my unique twist on traditional mashed potatoes, by adding roasted garlic, sour cream, and leeks!
Picking the Best Potatoes for Mashed Potatoes
From my experience, not all potatoes are created equal. Different potatoes have different levels of starch and flavors, which can affect the outcome of your mashed potatoes. My top 3 favorite potatoes for making mashed potatoes are:
- Russet Potatoes
- Yukon Gold Potatoes
- Idaho Potatoes
The three potatoes listed above are high in starch and low in moisture. When boiled and broken down, they absorb other ingredients such as butter and salt more easily. As you’re shopping for potatoes to make this recipe, feel free to combine a few of these together as well.
Best Tools for Mashing Potatoes
You can pick the best ingredients, boil your potatoes perfectly, and potentially ruin a savory comfort dish as this by using the wrong tool to mash your potatoes. If you take nothing else from this article, please do not, under any circumstance use a food processor and a stand mixer to mash your potatoes. Using power tools such as these ruins the fluffiness of the potatoes, causing them to have a gluey texture. The three tools I recommend using to mash potatoes are:
- Potato Masher – (Low budget, but effective)
- Potato Ricer – (Creates the smoothest mash potatoes, usually a chef’s preference)
- Food Mill – (Another great alternative, fits perfectly over cooking pots)
Below are a few great options of these tools if you wish to order some for your kitchen:
Tips for Cooking Sour Cream and Leek Mashed Potatoes
Besides selecting the correct type of potato and using the right tools to make mashed potatoes, there are a few other tips I want to share in order to maximize flavor in making this dish:
- Do not cook with soft potatoes – These potatoes are no good and should not be cooked with. Toss these.
- Cut potatoes into the same size – After washing and drying your potatoes, you want to take care to cut your potatoes into the same size pieces so they cook at the same rate while boiling. In the recipe below, potatoes were cut into 1 inch cubes. However, if you like a stronger potato taste, you can make these cuts larger, just be aware this will take them longer to cook.
- Wash and clean your leeks – Since leeks are grown in sandy soil, take care to wash them well. The top green part of the leek is not needed for this recipe, but can be preserved to make a vegetable soup stock. The bottom white half of the leek should be kept and used for this recipe.
- Boil your potatoes in chicken broth or stock – Don’t use boring tasteless water. Elevate the flavor of your potatoes during the cooking process by allowing them to boil in chicken stock or broth. I also add a few dashes of salt to my water as well.
- Boil then simmer – When your potatoes come to a boil, lower the temperature so they can continue to simmer. Allowing potatoes to boil on high the entire time will cause them to break up.
- Mix with warm cream, not cold cream – After your potatoes have finished boiling, run them through a food mill, potato masher, or potato ricer, pour a warm cream over your potatoes instead of cold cream / milk.
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Sour Cream and Leek Mashed Potato Recipe:
Garlic & Leek Mashed Potato Recipe
Equipment
- 1 Colander
Ingredients
- 2-3 Pounds Russet potatoes, peeled and quartered
- 4 cups Chicken Broth
- 4 tbsp Butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup Milk
- 3 tbsp Sour Cream
- 1 tbsp Roasted Garlic (optional)
- 1 Leek, cleaned, sliced
- Salt and Pepper to Taste
Instructions
- Clean, peel and quarter potatoes. Place potatoes in a pot and pour in 4 cups of chicken broth (or enough chicken broth to cover the potatoes). Sprinkle in salt. Bring to boil. Upon boil, reduce heat and allow potatoes to cook until tender.
- While potatoes are cooking, wash and chop leeks. Only the white to light green portion (bottom portion) of the leek should be used for this recipe. In a separate sauce pan, melt 1 tbsp of butter, sauté leeks in butter until soft. Optionally you can add 1 tbsp of minced garlic to the sauce pan (I used roasted garlic). Slowly stir milk into the sauce pan, add salt and pepper to taste. Turn off heat upon simmer.
- Once potatoes are tender, strain cooked potatoes through a colander. Place strained potatoes into a mixing bowl or back in the original pot. Use a potato masher or run potatoes through a potato ricer into a mixing bowl or pot. Add 3 tbsp of room temperature butter before adding your warm cream mixture to ensure all fat flavors are evenly distributed throughout the potatoes. Mix.
- After mixing, add 2 tbsp of sour cream and gradually stir in your warm garlic leek milk mixture. Continue to add warm milk mixture until desired consistency is reached. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm and enjoy!
Nutrition
I’ve never made leek mashed potatoes before so; I need to give this recipe a try. You are right to say Russet Potatoes, Yukon Gold Potatoes and Idaho Potatoes are the best potatoes to use when making mashed potatoes!!
I’m a huge fan of regular mashed potatoes, but these sound next level. The combination of the sour cream and leek make these mashed potatoes to flavorful.
Nnniiiccceeee….I just fell in love with your recipe simply because it had mashed potatoes to it. I hope to replicate this dish, over the holiday season.
These are the most flavorful mashed potatoes I’ve ever had. I’ll definitely be making them again.
I’m allergic to Leek but mashed potatoes with sour cream are my thing!
ile I’m a devoted enthusiast of classic mashed potatoes, these ones take it to a whole new level. The addition of sour cream and leeks adds an incredible depth of flavor to this dish.
Am I the only one who prefers to use a fork to mash potatoes? I actually like the sound of this recipe. I will definitely try it with a steak dinner.
I didn’t know about so many types of mashing tools. Good to know these options. The recipe is great though.
This sounds like a really nice way to jazz up mashed potatoes. I normally use a simple potato masher. Adding stock is a great idea as it can add so much more flavour.