If you are looking for a variety of side dishes for your holiday table, take a look at our Christmas recipe collection.
Creamy Potato Mash
Who doesn’t love a side of mashed potatoes to compliment their roast during the holidays?!! Creamy, buttery and all around delicious. There is only one problem. Best mashed potatoes need to be made right before serving to get the light texture right. And there isn’t always time. To make your holiday cooking stress free and more enjoyable I bring to you my best mashed potato casserole. Make it a day head and simply reheat before serving. Before we get into how to make it, it’s worth noting that mashed potatoes are still vital to this dish, and we want them to be as fluffy and flavourful as possible before we bring the casserole together. The same principles that make classic mashed potatoes so enjoyable are true when we add them to a casserole. And that is BUTTER and SALT. Without these two simple yet vital ingredients, mashed potatoes will always feel underwhelming. Because we are baking the mashed potatoes, they need to be even looser than mashed potatoes served on their own. Moisture will be pulled out when the casserole is baked, so it’s important to start with extra. The mashed potato mixture will feel quite loose, but that’s by design. I’ve written the recipe with plenty of milk, butter and sour cream to make it right for baking.
Loaded Mashed Potatoes
As great as mashed potatoes are on their own, I couldn’t resist putting a tiny twist on the standard recipe, which reminded me of the food I grew up eating. Potatoes and mushrooms are a classic combination in Eastern European cuisine. Inspired by that timeless pairing I added a middle layer of sautéed mushrooms and caramelised onions into my mashed spuds. It’s a combination I’ve used when frying potatoes with mushrooms and onions as well. The idea is to find ingredients that will match with, and bring something unique to, the rich and creamy mashed potatoes. I find that the sweetness of the onions and savoury flavour of mushrooms does that perfectly.
Serving suggestions
It’s easy to argue that potato dishes like this could be served at almost any meal throughout the year. And who would complain about that? But since it does involve extra effort to prepare and has such remarkable flavour, it’s most at home for special dinners like Thanksgiving or Christmas. Because the flavours of this mashed potato recipe avoid any extreme, it will a great side dish choice for almost any main dish. Turkey, prime rib, ham, even duck or salmon. It’ll all work!
Storage and leftovers
If you plan on making this mashed potato casserole ahead and want to serve it the following day. Here is what you need to do. First of all, don’t fry the sage leaves until the day of serving. Cover your casserole with aluminum foil and reheat in the preheated to 180C/350F oven to 25 minutes, then take the foil off and heat for additional 5-7 minutes. (I used a fairly shallow casserole dish, so if yours is deeper, add additional 10 minutes to the reheating time.) Leftovers can be kept for up to 5 days. Use and airtight container and store in the fridge. Reheat as above, using a baking dish and an oven. Or use a microwave for simplicity, although it will compromise the golden top.
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