Easy Creamy Mashed Potatoes

Late May, and Carrie is home for the summer — home from Emory, home before UGA, home in the kitchen where she learned to cook and where she now cooks with the ease of a woman who has been cooking for eight years and who considers the cooking not a skill but a language, and the language is Lowcountry, and the Lowcountry is the home.

She will move to Athens in August for the master's program. Athens is three and a half hours from Charleston, which is closer than Atlanta and infinitely closer than Fukuoka, and the closer is the comfort, and the comfort is the drive.

I have been writing for RecipeSpinoff with the particular pleasure of a contributor who has found her community, and the community has found her, and the finding is the belonging, and the belonging is the writing. The blog posts have become a conversation — each post a recipe and a story, each story a piece of the life that the food accompanies, the life of a fifty-five-year-old retired librarian who writes about Lowcountry cooking and who considers the writing the cooking and the cooking the life.

The Librarian's Table is being printed. Catherine sent a photograph of the bound proofs. The book is beautiful — the cover a photograph of the desk Robert built with a bowl of she-crab soup and a stack of books, the image both literal and symbolic, the literal being the desk and the symbolic being the life.

I made fried chicken — Carrie's welcome-home dish, the feast of return, the cast-iron skillet producing the food that says: you are home, the kitchen is warm, the woman at the stove is the woman who has always been at the stove, and the always is the welcome.

The fried chicken is the ceremony, but the mashed potatoes are the declaration — the bowl set on the table that says the meal is whole, the return is real, and the cook has been thinking about this dinner since the flight landed. I have made this recipe dozens of times, but I make it with particular care when Carrie comes home, because she eats them the way she ate them at seven years old, with the kind of attention that is its own form of gratitude, and the gratitude is the welcome, and the welcome is the point.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

3 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
3/4 cup whole milk, warmed
1/4 cup sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more for boiling water
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons fresh chives or flat-leaf parsley, chopped (optional, for garnish)

Instructions

Boil the potatoes. Place the peeled, chunked potatoes in a large pot and cover with cold water by at least one inch. Add a generous pinch of salt. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a steady simmer and cook until the potatoes are completely tender and a fork slides through without resistance, about 15 to 18 minutes.
Drain and dry. Drain the potatoes thoroughly in a colander, then return them to the warm pot. Set the pot over low heat for 1 to 2 minutes, shaking gently, to evaporate any remaining moisture. This step keeps the mashed potatoes fluffy rather than watery.
Mash with butter. Remove the pot from heat. Add the butter pieces and mash with a potato masher or pass through a ricer for a smoother texture. Work quickly while the potatoes are still hot so the butter melts fully into the flesh.
Add the dairy. Pour in the warmed milk and add the sour cream. Stir and fold until the mixture is smooth, creamy, and cohesive. Do not overmix, as this can make the potatoes gluey.
Season and taste. Add the kosher salt and black pepper. Taste and adjust — potatoes are forgiving and often want more salt than you expect. Add an extra splash of warm milk if you prefer a looser consistency.
Serve immediately. Transfer to a warm serving bowl. Top with an extra pat of butter and a scattering of fresh chives or parsley if desired. Serve alongside fried chicken or any dish that deserves a proper welcome-home table.

Nutrition (per serving)

Easy Creamy Mashed Potatoes — The Other Side of the Welcome-Home Plate