When junk mail is good mail:)

One of my clutter minimization/dealing with my brain injury tactics is going through the mail when it comes in and putting it all in its place.  Let's face it, it's easier to do this on a daily/every other day basis then once a month when its a massive pile and you can't find the new insurance cards.
Two days ago I got two pieces of mail that were semi-related.  First a bill for a cookbook I never even opened and sent right back from America's Test Kitchen, apparently a "second notice."  I was disgruntled to say the least.  (It didn't help when I called once and was told I could pay online but nobody could talk to me, then I tried later and they were closed...)  The semi-related piece was a sample of Cook's Country Magazine.  I was on the way to the recycling bin with all the junk mail when I read the cover "Whipped Potatoes--Throw away your masher."  Pfft.  Yeah right.  I won't lie, I opened it to think I could prove them wrong.
So then I read the article and recipe.  Oh fine, it made sense.  As I purused the rest of the free edition I saw things like "Best ever tuna salad," "Easy pulled pork," "Crispy Baked French Fries," and "Old Fashioned Pecan Pie" (one of my father-in-law's favorites).   Sure enough, I read the whole darn thing.  Last night's menu called for "steak, potatoes, broccoli."  What a better time to try a new potato recipe.

I need to mention, as much as I love to cook and spend countless hours in the kitchen, new recipes can throw me for a loop.  I don't have the working memory to remember the next few steps, so I'm constantly back to the book to read and re-read.  It's crazy tiring.  This time though, totally worth it.

Here it is:


Whipped Potatoes
Serves 8 to 10

If your steamer basket has short legs (under 1 3/4 inches), the potatoes will sit in water as they cook and get wet. To prevent this, use balls of aluminum foil as steamer basket stilts. A stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment yields the smoothest potatoes, but a hand mixer may be used as well.

INGREDIENTS

• 4pounds russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 1/2cups whole milk
• 8tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 2teaspoons salt
• 1/2teaspoon pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

• 1. COOK POTATOES Place cut potatoes in colander. Rinse under cold water until water runs clear, about 1 minute. Drain potatoes. Fill Dutch oven with 1 inch water. Bring water to boil. Place steamer basket in Dutch oven and fill with potatoes. Reduce heat to medium and cook, covered, until potatoes are tender, 20 to 25 minutes.
• 2. WARM DAIRY Heat milk, butter, salt, and pepper in small saucepan over medium-low heat, whisking until smooth, about 3 minutes; cover and keep warm.
• 3. WHIP POTATOES Pour contents of Dutch oven into colander and return potatoes to dry pot. Stir over low heat until potatoes are thoroughly dried, about 1 minute. In bowl of stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, break potatoes into small pieces on low speed, about 30 seconds. Add milk mixture in steady stream until incorporated. Increase speed to high and whip until potatoes are light and fluffy and no lumps remain, about 2 minutes. Serve.

SPACKLED SPUDS

Don't try this recipe in your food processor—its sharp blades cut open the starch granules and turn the potatoes to glue. The beating motion of the mixer makes smooth, fluffy potatoes every time.

• 
  DON'T DO IT
  A food processor's blade makes gluey mashed potatoes.
• 
  WHIP SMART
  Use the mixer for light, fluffy whipped potatoes.

These are amazing!  Light, fluffy, creamy, smooth.  Honestly, they are even good cold.  I may have had a fingerfull while heating some leftovers up for br...uh....lunch?

I was kind of in a hurry putting these together and could have let them go another couple minutes steaming...we had a few lumps, but that was user error.  (It was 11:15, cut me some slack:)

I served these with rib-eyes, and peas.  Something else I learned, by accident, that was confirmed by smart people:)  I cooked our steaks from frozen last night at 425 convection on a williams sonoma grill pan in the oven.  They were AMAZING.  This morning in Cooks Country I was reading about freezing the steaks for a half hour to give them a crust when grilling.  Hmm, would you look at that:)  I take two steaks out of the freezer, throw them in a still warming oven, flip once and serve...and they wrote an article and spent weeks testing the theory.  Luckily, the homework is done for you, go get a steak out of the freezer and call it dinner:)