Fluffy Mashed Potatoes

It can sometimes be hard to know how many mashed potatoes to make for a large gathering, so my rule of thumb is one large potato per person. It helps take the guesswork out of how many potatoes to peel and lets face it, none of us wants to peel more potatoes than we have to! Here's my fail-proof recipe for light and fluffy mashed potatoes. See my tip below if you don't want to peel the potatoes at all!

1          potato per person          

1tsp     butter per potato

1tsp     sour cream or buttermilk per potato

just enough milk to loosen the mixture

salt and pepper to taste

Peel the potatoes and cut each potato into small pieces. Put the potatoes in an large sized pot and fill half way with water and a pinch of salt. You can do this even the night before you are going to cook them and then just set aside.

Bring to a boil and let the potatoes cook until they are really soft and you can poke a fork through them easily.

Drain the water from the cooked potatoes and put them back in the pot.

Stir in the butter, sour cream and bit of salt. 

Now mash them with a potato masher or whip them in a mixer until they are smooth and fluffy.

Serve them right away. 

Tip- If Im feeling lazy or am short on time rather than peeling the potatoes I use yellow skinned potatoes instead. I just give them a good scrub and dice them up quite small. The skins give the potatoes a nice rustic look. 

I will often stir in chopped fresh parsley, chopped green onion or roasted garlic. These additions will elevate your potatoes to a whole new level!