Horseradish Mashed Potatoes with Caramelized Onions

The second week of January. Minus eight degrees on Tuesday. Minus eleven Tuesday night. The pipes under the kitchen sink made a sound at 2 AM that I did not recognize and that Eduardo, emerging from bed in a t-shirt and pants, handled by opening the cabinet and running a slow drip of hot water. The pipes held. Eduardo went back to bed. I made coffee at 3 AM because I could not sleep. I wrote in the notebook for an hour.

I made asopao this week. Two big pots. One for Eduardo and me; one for Jenny and Miguel Jr. at their house because their oldest two were sick with a mild bug and Jenny sounded wrecked on the phone Tuesday. I dropped off a pot and a loaf of bread at her door. She waved from the porch without coming close. Two days later I got a voice note from Lucas, recovered, saying, "Abuela, the soup made me better." I listened to it six times. I saved it. I made it my ringtone.

Sofía came Friday. She is in her last semester of nursing school. She will graduate in May 2028 per the full-program track, but she passed her LPN boards this month, which lets her work as a licensed practical nurse while she finishes her RN. She told me she got her first per-diem shift — at Hartford Hospital, pediatric floor, Saturday shift. She was wearing her scrubs when she came over. She stood in my kitchen in scrubs and I looked at her and I thought: she is a nurse now. She is officially a nurse in some form. She is the first Delgado-Ortiz woman to be licensed in a medical profession.

I fed her asopao. I took a photo of her in her scrubs at my kitchen counter. I framed it Monday. It is on the refrigerator next to the Mami-on-Memorial-Day photo. The refrigerator is becoming a wall of the matriarchy.

Mami on Sunday was sharp. She ate a full bowl of asopao. She said, "Carmen, tell me again about Sofía being a nurse." I told her. She said, "My granddaughter is a nurse at the hospital I could not even enter without an escort." She laughed. She meant Hartford Hospital in the early 2020s when she was a visitor and had to be buzzed through three security doors. "A nurse at that hospital. A Delgado. Wepa." She said "wepa." My mother does not usually say wepa. She said it. I wrote it in the notebook. "Mami said wepa, January 14, 2024." This is the archive. This is the kind of thing that goes in the archive. Wepa.

The asopao carried that week — it carried Lucas back to health, it carried Sofía through her first shift in scrubs, it carried Mami’s “wepa” all the way into the notebook. But every pot of asopao I make wants something solid beside it, something that stays on the plate, and when the cold is that serious — minus eleven, pipes running slow drip at 2 AM — I want mashed potatoes with horseradish and a pile of sweet caramelized onions on top. This is the dish I make for the table when the soup is the main event and the week has been long and the people around you have earned something sturdy.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 50 min | Total Time: 1 hr 5 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

2 1/2 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks
2 large yellow onions, halved and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/2 cup whole milk or heavy cream, warmed
1/3 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons prepared horseradish (or to taste)
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for boiling
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons fresh chives, thinly sliced, for garnish

Instructions

Start the onions. Heat olive oil in a wide skillet over medium-low heat. Add sliced onions and a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 35–40 minutes until deeply golden and jammy. Add the brown sugar and balsamic vinegar in the last 5 minutes, stir to combine, then remove from heat. Set aside.
Boil the potatoes. While onions cook, place potato chunks in a large pot and cover with cold, well-salted water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a steady boil and cook 18–20 minutes until a fork slides in with no resistance. Drain thoroughly and return potatoes to the pot over low heat for 1 minute to steam off excess moisture.
Mash and enrich. Remove pot from heat. Add butter pieces and let melt into the hot potatoes for 30 seconds, then mash to your preferred texture using a potato masher or ricer. Fold in warmed milk or cream, sour cream, and horseradish until fully combined and smooth. Season with salt and black pepper, tasting as you go — the horseradish should be present but not sharp.
Plate and finish. Spoon mashed potatoes into a large serving bowl or individual bowls. Pile caramelized onions generously on top. Scatter chives over everything and finish with a crack of black pepper. Serve immediately alongside a bowl of soup or as a hearty side on its own.

Nutrition (per serving)

Horseradish Mashed Potatoes with Caramelized Onions — What You Make When the Cold Goes Down to Minus Eleven