Miso mashed potatoes, or how I keep on learning in the kitchen

The main reason I love what I do so much, is that I never stop learning in the kitchen. Take that good ol’ mashed potatoes. Once you know how to make them right, you’re done. Right? Nope!

Think Miso Mashed Potatoes

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Yes, let get that go through your head. Miso Mashed Potatoes.

As a teenager, I wasn’t into potatoes. Of course I loved the fried potato stalks, but the boiled version … Nah, not so much. Or rather; not at all. And it drove my mum crazy, as boiled potatoes, boiled vegetables and some piece of meat are the Dutch Holy Trinity of dinner.

Oddly, mashed potatoes wasn’t really on our family’s radar.

Then I left for university and had to cook my own food. My grandma taught me to sauté potatoes in a skillet and those crispy potatoes saved me during my first years of cooking.

One day, I decided I wanted to become a good cook, and learned that one potato is not the other. I learned to love some potatoes over others. I learned different ways to prepare potatoes. And learned to love mashed potatoes. About 10 years ago I wrote an entire blog post what I had learned about mashed potatoes up til that point (in Dutch). I ended my blog  post with “this is how I make mashed potatoes, until I learn something new”.

So, here I am.

I’ve learned another few things about mashed potatoes.

First, you Americans like it different then I do. All food writers in Europe advice against using an electric device to mash ’em up. To our taste, the mashed potato becomes a bit too gluey. Instead, we use a giant garlic press but then for potatoes: a potato ricer. It makes the mash so fluffy, it convinced many students in my cooking classes to buy one.

Last week, I had all the ingredients to go traditional: sweet peas and carrots, a nice piece of fish, and potatoes. But I wanted a twist. Something new to this classic. So I checked my fridge and my eye fell on the little jar that had fallen off its shelf on a lower one: miso paste.

Bingo!

Miso Mashed Potatoes!

 

Miso Mashed Potatoes

The recipe is simple: make the mashed potatoes the way you like ’em. Add some miso paste. Done.

For 2 I used:
21 oz golden potatoes
salt
2-3 T butter
1/4 cup milk
about 1 T white miso

Tip: There are different types of miso paste. If you never worked with it, go for white miso, that’s the mildest one out there.

I did:
Boil the potatoes. Scrub them, no need to peel. Add 1 inch of cold water, bring to boil. Add a generous pinch of salt and boil the potatoes until they’re done. A knife shouldn’t feel any resistance when piercing it. Depending on the size of the potatoes, it’ll take 20 to 30 minutes. In the mean time, let the butter come to room temperature.

Mash the potatoes. Put the potatoes one by one in the ricer. Just leave the skin on and press the potato ricer. The skin will leave behind, easy to remove before you add the next potato.

Finish the miso mashed potatoes. Stir in the butter, milk and miso paste to your taste. Be careful with adding extra salt, as miso is salty. Some freshly ground pepper. Done.

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Join the cooking!