Running With Perseverance

My mom does all the heavy lifting for our Thanksgiving dinner, but I always am responsible for the mashed potatoes and the pies. This year I decided to try a new way of cooking the potatoes and a new mashed potato recipe.

The new way of cooking the potatoes was inspired by The Splendid Table, a radio show about food that airs on my public radio station on Saturday afternoons. In a pre-Thanksgiving show, one of the guests extolled the virtues of steaming potatoes instead of boiling them. I was intrigued, and knew I have the right equipment–this giant pot with a steamer insert:

I looked for more specific directions on the internet, and found some guidance in this Steamy Kitchen recipe. It is a simple as it sounds: wash, peel and quarter the potatoes and steam until tender.

The new recipe came from Chobani. I usually use milk, butter, and sour cream in my mashed potatoes, and I’ve used plain Chobani instead of sour cream in other recipes, so I figured it would be an easy swap. The Chobani recipe calls for these ingredients:

• 1/2 cup Chobani Non-Fat Plain Greek Yogurt
• 1 ¼ lbs Russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
• ¼ c low-sodium vegetable broth, warmed
• 2 Tbsp melted unsalted butter
• 1 ½ Tbsp chopped fresh chives
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper

I used about 3 lbs of Yukon Gold potatoes, washed, peeled and quartered (much bigger than 1-inch pieces). Using my steamer pot, I steamed them until they were tender–about 25 minutes. One nice thing about the pot is that I didn’t have to pour out a vat of boiling water–I just lifted the steamer insert, let it drain into the pot, and dumped the potatoes into a big bowl. I used my masher to mash the potatoes by hand. (I do not have a ricer–that would make them even fluffier).

Since I was using twice the amount of potatoes, I used about 1 cup of plain Chobani. I had some chicken bullion in my pantry, and used that and water reserved from the potato pot instead of the broth. My son would not touch the potatoes if he spotted anything green in them, so I skipped the chives. I added salt and pepper to taste.

They were a big hit, and I will be making them again for Christmas dinner.

Do you like mashed potatoes?