Description
Try something new with your mashed potatoes this holiday season!
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 head of garlic
- ½ tsp ground New Mexico red chile, mild or medium heat
- 8 tbsp butter, divided, room temperature
- 2 tbsp flour
- 2 cups half and half, divided
- ½ lb high quality cheddar cheese, grated, divided in half
- 4 oz Hatch green chiles
- 5 lbs russet potatoes
- 1 cup hall
- Salt
- Pepper
Instructions
- Slice off the tip of a head of garlic. Drizzle olive oil over the exposed cloves. Wrap in tin foil and roast in 250 degree oven for 55 min. Remove from oven and let cool.
- Meanwhile, peel the potatoes and chop them into ½-inch chunks.
- Boil them in a 9-quart pot of salted water until very tender – 20 30 min.
- While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the cheddar sauce, which is based on Julia Child’s Sauce Mornay. In a saucepan, heat 2 cups of half and half.
- In another saucepan, place 2 tbsp butter, ½ tsp ground red chile, and 2 tbsp flour in a sauce pan. Stir over medium heat for 3 minutes.
- To this roux, add ONE cup of hot half and half. Whisk to combine.
- Add ¼ lb grated cheddar and Hatch chiles. Stir over low heat.
- Squeeze the roasted garlic into the mixture. Stir to combine. Set aside.
- The potatoes should be ready now! Test them with a fork to be sure they are tender all the way through. Drain them well in a colander and return to pot. Over low heat, let the potatoes dry out for 2 or 3 minutes, shaking them occasionally.
- Use a ricer to mash the potatoes into a clean pot.
- Stir 6 tbsp room temperature butter into the riced potatoes.
- Stir in the remaining cup of hot half and half. Add a few cracks of black pepper.
- Stir in the cheese sauce.
- Place in an oven proof dish. Sprinkle remaining ¼ lb of grated cheddar. Cover tightly with foil.
- 30 min before serving, warm in 250 degree oven. Removed when cheese is melted and potatoes are thoroughly warm.