Herb Mashed Potatoes (Gluten Free)

The other day as I was putting together a meal for a friend, I decided to research some mashed potato recipes and try to come up with a good one.  I stumbled upon Tyler Florence’s recipe on Foodnetwork.  I liked his basic plan and just decided to tweak a few things, one being to make it a little healthier (he uses 2 CUPS of heavy cream!).  Homemade mashed potatoes are so easy and can be made pretty quickly.  I subbed red new potatoes,  2% milk for the cream, used 2 TBSP of butter, as opposed to 3, and added dried thyme.  Mmmmm good.  Joab and Daniel went crazy over them and were disappointed when I packed up most of them to give away.

Herb Mashed Potatoes (Gluten Free)

6-8 servings

4 pounds golden creamer potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters (I used new potatoes)

1 bay leaf

salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 cups milk (I used 2%)

2 TBSP unsalted butter

2 teaspoons dried thyme (you could use another seasoning if you prefer. . . rosemary would be great too!)

DIRECTIONS:

Cut up the potatoes into large chunks (I just quartered mine and I like to leave the skin on). Put the potatoes into a large pot, add the bay leaf, 2 tablespoons salt, and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook until the potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. Drain them well and remove the bay leaf.

Pour the potatoes into a large bowl.  Add the milk, butter, and thyme.  Use a hand mixer or potato masher to mash the potatoes and combine everything.  Mix to your desired consistency.  Some people like their mashed potatoes perfectly smooth.  That is fine but I like mine with chunks of potatoes here and there.  I leave mine kinda chunky.  Make it how you like it.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Enjoy!