A.K.A. “Those good potatoes!” and “Birthday Potatoes” at our house! I LOVE good steakhouse potatoes, and these are just as good as any out there! If you’ve read any of my blogs, you already know how much I dislike eating out. I’d just rather make it better at home and skip the disappointing experience.
So, believe me when I say, you won’t be disappointed when you take your first bite of these wonderfully creamy-rich mashed potatoes! Birthdays wouldn’t be the same without them!
I swear, you could just stick a candle in these and skip the cake! (Well, almost!) But seriously, these are some dang good mashed potatoes reserved for special occasions only! They start with caramelized onions slow-sautéed in butter until sweet and richly deep brown.
Have your attention yet? The best is yet to come! 😉 To the sweet onions slow-cooked to perfection, I add red wine, horseradish, worcestershire sauce, cream and bacon! To make it even better tasting, I skip most of the salt and replace it with beef base/bouillon and bring just to a simmer creating a DECADENT sauce!
And did I forget to mention adding sweet and creamy roasted elephant garlic? YES way! 😉 😀 So mellow and buttery tasting that it melts in your mouth!
The creamiest potatoes I’ve made seem to come from using a variety of red and yellow potatoes that are boiled and then pressed through a hand-ricer.
Ricing them literally takes only minutes to do compared to mashing, and there’s very little mixing afterwards so that they don’t get all sticky.
Once they’re riced, just stir in the sauce mixture, mashed garlic, and a little more butter until combined with coarse ground black pepper to suit your personal taste and you’re there!
If wanting to serve these for company, I like to make them the day before, place them into individual serving-sized dishes or ramekins, and then just heat them in the oven before serving. You can garnish the top with more bacon and even some green onions if you’d like!
For St. Paddy’s Day, ( just for a little mischievous Leprechaun fun!) you can even add some green food coloring, or add some sautéed cabbage to these and they’d be a delicious “colcannon” dish, wonderful served with some tender and juicy slices of corned beef!
No matter what the occasion, or none at all!, you’ll love these potatoes and so will your family and guests! *Just plan ahead to be able to add the roasted garlic and caramelized onions is all.
But no biggie, as there’s no tending to the garlic, and you can prep or make anything else you’re serving during that time! Fun and easy!
I do hope these incredibly delicious potatoes grace your table soon, and perhaps, even make a surprise appearance for a St. Paddy’s Day celebration! 😉 Enjoy all! And join me with a glass of green beer! 😉 Slainte! 😀
STEAKHOUSE POTATOES with ROASTED ELEPHANT GARLIC, CARAMELIZED ONIONS & BACON
5-6 servings
1 1/2 lbs. mixed red and yellow-skinned potatoes, peeled and cut into thirds
1 Tbl. kosher salt (for water in pot)
1/2 stick butter
1 medium-siced onion, halved and sliced
1 Tbl. red wine
1 tsp. Superior Touch Better Than Bouillon Beef Base
1/2 tsp. jarred hot horseradish
1/2 tsp. worcestershire sauce
3 quality slices bacon, cooked and broken into small pieces
1/3 cup cream
4 more Tbl. soft butter, cut up
2 large cloves roasted elephant garlic, or about 4 Tbl., mashed (see directions below)
coarse ground black pepper to taste
salt if needed
DIRECTIONS:
In frying pan, melt butter (1/2 stick), and add onions. Sauté over Low heat for 25-30 minutes until caramelized. Stir occasionally. Add red wine, beef base, horseradish, worcestershire and bacon and heat to just a simmer. Add cream and return to just a simmer, stirring, to dissolve beef base. Remove from heat.
While sautéing, bring a small pot of cold water with potatoes and 1 Tbl. kosher salt to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, reduce heat to a more gentle boil. Boil for about 20 minutes until tender through. *Test with a knife. When a knife slides through potatoes like butter, they’re done. If there’s any resistance, they aren’t quite done yet.
When potatoes are done, press through a ricer into a large bowl. Add cut up butter, mashed roasted elephant garlic, coarse ground black pepper (start with 1/4 – 1/2 tsp.), and sautéed sauce mixture. Stir and fold in just until mixed well.
Garnish top with more bacon pieces and snipped green onions or chives if desired.
Note: If you ever accidentally overheat heat cream and butter mixture and it separates, don’t worry about it. It will mix into the potatoes just fine. Been there done that before.
To Roast Elephant Garlic:
Remove excess outer “papers”, (dried skins.) Turn head on it’s side and slice in half crossways. *If garlic isn’t super fresh and the cloves fall apart, don’t worry. Separate them all and just trim off stem ends and continue with directions. The whole head in half is mostly for show is all, and in no way affects this recipe.
Place a large square of foil into a pie plate and place halves cut side-up, (or just toss in separated cloves. Drizzle with 2 Tbl. olive oil, sprinkle with 1/2 tsp. Kosher salt and 1/8 tsp. coarse ground black pepper, close up foil and bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. When done and cool enough to handle, pinch/squeeze out cloves into a small bowl.
