Garlic Mashed Potatoes with Bacon

A Node Your Dinner production

Ingredients

  • 1 pound russet potatoes, cut into big chunks (peeling is up to you; we just scrubbed them and cut out the eyes and other scary green bits)
  • a big pot of salted water
  • a whole bunch of garlic (say 6 really big cloves or 10 really little ones), minced
  • 4 strips bacon (1/4 pound)
  • 1 onion, chopped (a very generous cup)
  • salt
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • a little butter (optional, depending on how greasy your bacon is)

Directions

  1. As you prepare the potatoes, start your big pot of salted water heating on the stove. Go ahead and put the spuds in as you get them ready; they'll cook pretty evenly as long as they all get in before the water boils.

  2. Add a handful of the onions and about a third of the garlic to the potatoes as they cook.

  3. While the potatoes, onions, and garlic are boiling (about ten minutes or until you can easily pierce the potatoes with a knife), start cooking the bacon in a frying pan over high heat. Add the onions and garlic as the bacon starts to get crisp; eventualy it should get crisp enough to crumble into little bits as you stir it with a spatula. Drain off excess grease as you go along and reserve it to mash with the potatoes later.

  4. When the potatoes are done, drain them and mash them, with a little of the excess bacon grease (there should be plenty). Add more bacon grease as necessary to get the potatoes relatively smooth.

  5. When the potatoes are mashed and the bacon is crisp and crumbled, mix in the bacon, onions, and garlic. Season to taste with salt and pepper (the salt will do wonders for bringing out the flavor of the garlic).

Notes

I made this for dinner last night (14 April 2003), after originally wanting Mitzi's wasabi mashed potatoes but realizing that we didn't have enough spinach or cream to complete that recipe. I realized that what I really wanted was mashed potatoes with the crunch of onions and bacon in it, so I set to work on just that. I checked my current kitchen bible, Moosewood Restaurant New Classics, for hints on garlic mashed potatoes, but the only recipe they had that seemed appropriate had "Low Fat" in the title and called for the use of buttermilk (ugh) so I went my own way. The result was quite tasty, especially when I added a little extra salt (as mentioned before, this really brought out the garlic's flavor). Jongleur contributed a delicious mixed green salad as a side dish, and a good dinner was had by all (um, both).

Next time I make this recipe (or an approximation thereof), I plan to try roasting the garlic beforehand (probably as per LordOmar's directions above), to see if that enhances its flavor. Other possibilities include just plain using more garlic or perhaps using a garlic press to add raw garlic to the mix when I'm mashing the potatoes (although that could get overwhelming very quickly). I might also add a little grated Parmesan or Cheddar cheese to the mix (I think a little cheesy sharpness could go a long way in the flavor-enhancing department).


sneff says re garlic mashed potatoes: I bet this would taste great with green garlic

you said "re green garlic: ooh. does sound lovely. my favorite mashed potatoes recipe is chock full of shallots, from Moosewood Restaurant New Classics. Good stuff. Mitzi's wasabi mashed potatoes are pretty gorgeous, too." to sneff