Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes
First of all, I have to say that full credit for these awesome potatoes goes to the Pioneer Woman at Pioneer Woman Cooks! She posts a wonderful photo-illustrated tutorial on mashed potatoes. Why am I reposting it then? Because the wonderful photos take soooooo looonnnngggg to load and because I incorporated my KitchenAid Stand Mixer into the routine to save my feeble joints.
Two to Three Days Prior:
Peel and quarter and boil until fork-tender:
5 lbs of potatoes ( I mix baby reds and Yukon Golds)
Microwave to soften, but don’t melt:
4 to 8 oz of cream cheese
1/2 C of butter
Attach the Food Grinder Attachment to your wonderful KitchenAid Stand Mixer. and use the small-hole disc to grind the potatoes. Collect them in the KitchenAid bowl.
(If you don't have a Food Grinder Attachment order one now and in the meantime, mash them by hand, heeding Pioneer Woman's advice about mashing them over heat to let the steam out.)
When about half the potatoes are all ground up, put the butter and cream cheese in, along with:
1/2 +/- C half-n-half
Lowry’s Seasoning Salt to taste
Continue grinding potatoes into the bowl.
When everything is in there, take the grinder off, and put the mixing blade onto your KitchenAid Stand Mixer. Mix everything up and then put it all into a nice casserole dish.
Before tucking it into the fridge, however, cut up and dot potatoes with:
a cube of butter into small patties
Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
Day of:
Take them out of the fridge several hours before you want to reheat them, then remove the plastic and reheat for about 40 minutes in a 350 oven to bring them from room temperature to table ready.
I used the pink bowl visible in this shot (my husband made the bowl for me), but it works just as well in a shallow baking dish. I prefer dishes with a smaller footprint as my fridges get a bit overfull.
