MASHED POTATO

Floury potatoes butter warm milk salt and pepper METHOD:

Choose smooth, firm and blemish-free potatoes, rinse them, peel them and cut them up into even-sized pieces. Put the pieces into a large pot with cold water (to just cover the potatoes) and add a good dash of salt. Simmer for 20-30 minutes until tender and drain.

For a more robust flavour, bake the potatoes whole, in their skins, at 180°C until soft and scoop out the flesh.

Mash the potatoes with a handheld masher, adding dollops of melted butter (around 50g) and warm milk (½ cup to ¾ cup) as you go. Season with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper and serve immediately.

Be careful not to over-work the potatoes with the masher or blend in a food processor as they’ll become gluey. Also, always add the butter first, then the milk, and make sure both are warm. Adding cold liquids to warm potatoes cools them down too quickly, causing them to become starchy. For fluffy mash, put your cooked potatoes through a ricer before adding the butter and milk. For creamy mash, substitute the milk for cream.

The best thing about mash is that it’s really versatile and welcomes many additions. Try these fantastic flavour combinations: roasted garlic and grated parmesan, wasabi paste (just a little), caramelised onion and horseradish, crispy bacon bits and onion, spinach and even shredded beetroot for perfectly pink mash. AS cooler weather approaches, simple comfort food like mashed potatoes pops up more and more on the dinner table.

Potatoes are natural carbohydrates; one serving of mash provides a good dose of energy and making perfect mash is really easy.

For perfect mashed potatoes, use floury potatoes: look for the blue PSA classification code on the bag which tells you the potatoes are floury, and hence suitable for mashing. This recipe does not specify quantities, as these will vary according to how many people you are serving: one large potato per person should do it, but mash fans will eat much more! INGREDIENTS: