Cheesey Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

If you follow me on instagram you may have already seen the giant pile of mashed potatoes I made for Thanksgiving. We always have several kinds of potatoes, but my cousin Marco insists it's not Thanksgiving without mashed potatoes - so it we had mashed potatoes & it was officially Thanksgiving.  This year I added two of my favorite things to our potatoes - cheese & garlic - & mashed them with a supped up version of the potato masher that my cousin-in-law, Mariah, said would've made Grandma O'Hara proud.

Keep reading for my recipe. How do you make your mashed potatoes? Do you use a food processor or go for the full arm work out with a traditional masher?

PS: remember if you have a ton of leftover mashed potatoes you can reinvent them with this recipe!

Ingredients:

• 5-6 lbs of potatoes (I used russet & yukon gold)
• 1 cup marscapone cheese (cold)
• 1 stick butter (cold)
• 1 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
• 2 heads of garlic (roasted - see notes in directions)
• 2 cups milk (hot)
• salt & pepper

Make the roasted garlic!

1. Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees.
2. Break apart the cloves of 2 heads of garlic - but don't peel the skin off. 
3. Wrap garlic cloves together in foil.
4. Place garlic foil pack in the oven & roast for 30-45 minutes or until the cloves are soft & squishy.
5. Remove from oven & let cool.
6. When cool enough to handle squeeze the garlicky goo from each clove & set aside in a bowl.

Make the potatoes!

1. Peel all potatoes (or find a loving husband who will do this for you).
2. Cut all potatoes into equal sized pieces. If you cut them smaller they will cook faster - but just make sure they're all the same size (see same aforementioned note about  husband).
3. If you're not going to cook the potatoes right away store them in a bowl filled with water so that they don't brown.
4. Using the biggest pot you have pile all the potatoes into it.
5. Cover the potatoes with water.
6. Add about 2 tablespoons of salt to the water (this is for 6 lbs of potatoes people!)
7. Cover the pot & cook bring to a boil.
8. In the mean time heat 2 cups of milk over low heat until hot but not boiling.
9. Reduce heat once boiling & remove lid.
10. Continue to cook the potatoes until they are falling apart - they'll be easier to mash this way - about 25 minutes or so.
11. Drain potatoes into a colander.
12. Throw hot potatoes back into the pot you were cooking them in.
13. Add cold butter, marscapone, garlic & parmesan to the potatoes.
14. Add the hot milk to the mixture 1/2 cup at a time.
15. Mash the potatoes with a  good old fashioned masher, or a supped up one like I did.
16. Keep adding milk until you've reached the cream consistency you like - if you like them lumpier - mash less with less milk. If you like creamy potatoes, keep mashing & add more milk!
17. Season with salt & pepper to taste.
18. Serve hot.