For our holiday dinner I served mashed potatoes to accompany the brisket. Instead of using my Kitchen Aid Mixer as I so often have, and keeping them warm by placing the covered bowl over simmering water, I decided to simplify things and use my mother’s old potato masher to make her mashed potatoes.
The Jewish holidays always make me think of my mother. Our home was where the holiday dinners took place, and my mom did all the cooking and baking from scratch herself.
My sister and I would set the table, and my brothers were nowhere to be found, but you could be sure to find my mother in the kitchen up to her ears in chicken soup, chopped liver, brisket, mashed potatoes, and sponge cakes! And loving every minute of it.
The morning of our dinner this past Wednesday the last thing on my list to make was the mashed potatoes. I decided to use mom’s old fashioned potato masher which I inherited after she passed away 32 years ago, at much too young an age.
My mother was not the proud owner of jewels and furs, but she most certainly did have her favorite kitchen tools, cake pans, roasting pans, and aprons. These are the items I am so grateful to have now. In many ways I feel closest to her when I am alone in the kitchen using her broken flour sifter, or her dented potato masher remembering that she held those very same tools making countless sponge cakes and mashed potatoes throughout her life.
Mom’s Mashed Potatoes
Bring 5 pounds of Russet potatoes, peeled and quartered, and covered with salted water in a large stockpot to a boil. Sometimes she would add a whole peeled onion to the pot as well.
Boil for about 30-40 minutes until a sharp knife can easily pierce a potato. Drain and return the pot to the hot burner to dry them a bit.
Mash the potatoes until fluffy, with very few lumps. If you’ve cooked the potatoes long enough this should be fairly easy. Add some butter (or pareve margarine if you keep kosher), kosher salt, freshly cracked pepper, and enough warmed milk mixed with some half and half if you want, (non-dairy cream, if you’re kosher). Add one or two lightly beaten eggs to the potatoes. Mix well, and put the potatoes into a large greased ovenproof dish. Dot with butter and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 45 minutes to an hour. If you prepare them early in the day refrigerate them until ready to bake.
Of course you can use a potato ricer, or mixer with the whisk attachment for the above recipe, but I have to say that old wooden handled, dented potato masher still makes a delicious bowl of mashed potatoes!