Mashed Potatoes

Contrary to Adam's belief, I do not have a Mashed Beer Potatoes recipe. I do however have a mashed potatoes recipe and I once suggested substituting the water for beer. Yes, it might work, but I've never tried it because cream and beer sounds awful together.

I don't have measurements for these ingredients because that isn't my style, but you can use a lot more or less of any of these without screwing up the final product. Here is an approximation of what you need to start:

3-5 Pounds of Red Potatoes
2 sticks of butter
1 qt of heavy cream
1 large (16 0z) container of sour cream
(I usually use far too much of all three of these and end up with a lot leftover. I advise you to use too much the first time and determine how much you actually need to get the flavor you want the next time around.)
1 Wedge of Parmesan or Asiago cheese
1 Bunch of Chives
Salt & Pepper

Preparation:

1. Cut the potatoes into fourths if they are small to average sized. If they are larger, cut them into chunks about the size of the face of a watch.
2. Chop the chives into little flakes
3. Use a fine grater and grate the cheese. Again, I usually grate way more than I need, but then I use it all anyway to make the MP's extra cheesy.
4. Cut the butter into chunks. About 8 chunks per stick.

In a large pot:
1. Boil enough water to cover all of the potatoes
2. Once the water is boiling, carefully drop in the potatoes. I usually place them on a plate, and with a large spoon, slide them off the plate into the water to avoid splashing.
3. It's better to over boil the potatoes then to under boil them. You'll know they are done when the skins fall off the potatoes. If the skin stays attached at all, let them boil longer.

While the potatoes are boiling...

In a medium sized pot:
1. Combine about 3/4 of the quart of heavy cream, half the sour cream and one an a half stick of butter.
2. Heat the three ingredients at a low-medium heat
3. Wisk the mixture about once a minute to keep the ingredients from separating. As they melt, keep wisking so that they will blend together.

Once the potatoes are done:
1. Drop the potatoes into a strainer, but DO NOT run any water on them. You want the starch from the potatoes to stay on them. This helps everything stick together better. If you rinse the starch off, you end up with mushy and kind of runny mashed potatoes.
2. Put the strained potatoes back into the pot, or a large mixing bowl.
3. Add in the chives, salt and pepper to taste and a handful of cheese.
4. Slowly add some of the cream mixture. You just want to add a little at a time.
5. With a hand masher (or in a mixing bowl) mash the potatoes, cream mixture, chives and salt& pepper together.
6. Keep adding more of the cream mixture and more cheese a little at a time. Mash it until the cream mixture and cheese are all mixed in, and then add more of each and mix again. Keep doing this until you have very creamy, cheesy mashed potatoes. My rule of thumb is: If I think they are too creamy or too cheesy, I add more cream and more cheese.

You'll end up with a lot of mashed potatoes. If you refrigerate them, they will get hard over night. Just add more of the leftover cream mixture and microwave them and it will be like new.