Secret Recipe Club: Cheesy Mashed Potatoes

For this month's Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned Susan's blog, The Wimpy Vegetarian.  Susan is the leader of the subgroup I'm in, so I must admit I was rather nervous!  Thankfully, Susan is very nice.  She's also very creative in the kitchen and has all kinds of fantastic looking recipes on her blog!  She has formal culinary school training, which I think is pretty awesome.  She also gets to live in nice, warm California, says the lady trapped in the dead of an Alaskan winter.  Can I come visit you, Susan?

 

Anyway, like I said, Susan has lots of great recipes.  I was particularly drawn to Figgy Cardamom Snickerdoodles (how amazing do those look?), Lemony Three Bean Salad, and Warm Brussels Sprouts Salad with Caramelized Onions.  As tasty as those looked, I ended up choosing Cheesy Mashed Potatoes because I'd only ever used russet potatoes for mashed potatoes and haven't really ever added cheese to them.

 

The mashed potatoes turned out really well and seemed rather fancy, especially considering how easy they were to make.  I couldn't find the the Frieda's Butter Babies potatoes that the recipe called for, but thought they looked rather like Yukon Gold, so went with those.  The mashed potatoes were so soft and tender, and had a rather sweet quality to them because of the Yukon Golds.  We liked them for sure and I will make them again, but think I'll use either good ol' russets, or try baby red potatoes instead because we prefer the sweetness of Yukon Gold potatoes on their own.  I served the potatoes with baked salmon and roasted green beans, it was a great meal.

 

Thank you, Susan!
  

 

Cheesy Mashed Potatoes

 

2 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes

2 1/2 Tbsp butter

1/3 C half and half

1 tsp salt, or to taste

1/2 tsp black pepper

2 tsp dried parsley or 2 Tbsp fresh minced parsley

1 C smoothly melting cheese (I used cheddar)

 

Wash potatoes, then cook until soft using whatever method you like.  I used my pressure cooker.  Place potatoes in a large bowl and mash with a potato masher.  Melt butter in the microwave, then add milk and heat 30 more seconds, until warm.  Add to potatoes along with seasonings, and continue to mash.  Stir in cheese.  Cover with foil if you aren't going to serve within a minute or two.

 

Yield:  About 6 servings

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