Any self-respecting housewife has many ways of serving mashed potatoes. The main side dish is combined with any meat, fish and vegetable dishes. Delicate, tasty and mashed potatoes can also act as an independent product. The main thing is to cook it correctly.
Options for making perfect mashed potatoes
To create a tasty and healthy dish you need the right approach. First of all, you should pay attention to the basis of mashed potatoes - potatoes. The tubers should be taken as whole and smooth as possible. Firstly, it will simplify cleaning, and secondly, this appearance indicates the health of the vegetable. Attention! Potatoes should not have green areas containing hazardous organic compounds - saponins. Such places need to be cut, and best of all - throw away the affected tubers.
There are two ways to cook potatoes. If you want to get a diet dish, you need to rinse the peeled tubers in cold water before cooking. If health issues do not bother, cut each potato into 4 parts and cook. It is more advisable to salt after boiling a dish.
To bring cooked tubers to a puree state, it is not recommended to use a blender or mixer. Such mashed potatoes will become viscous and tasteless. It is best to use a regular sieve or crush.
All kinds of additives are made mashed. For a nutritious dish, you can add milk or cream, preheated. A piece of butter will also be useful. Some housewives add raw yolk or grated cheese. To give spiciness and piquancy, it is recommended to experiment with wasabi, ketchup or mustard.
Mashed potatoes in the cuisines of the world
The dish is popular in national cuisines of different nations of the world. In addition to the traditional homeland of potatoes - Belarus, mashed potatoes are highly respected in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and North and South America. Puree often acts as an independent meal. Potato seasoned with fried onion or sour cream is an excellent option for lunch or dinner. In addition, mashed potatoes can be the basis for all kinds of soups, snacks, pies and even desserts. Gnocchi, potato pancakes, sorcerers and gulbishniki - all these original delicious dishes are prepared very simply and quickly.
Irish Champ - Perfectly Serve Mashed Potatoes
An excellent side dish for hearty meat goulash. Rinse and boil eight potatoes in a peel. Grind 100 g of green onion and warm in 350 ml of milk. Peel and mash the hot tubers, gradually adding warm milk mixture.
When crushing, season the dish with oil, salt and pepper. Spread the finished mashed potatoes on plates with a slide, in the center of which make a hole and put in a large piece of butter. The champ is ready to eat.
Canadian and Hawaiian mashed potatoes
How can I serve mashed potatoes to make the dish look unusual? This was taken care of by Hawaiian culinary specialists. Traditional Big Island puree is prepared with coconut and dry champagne. From 1 kg of boiled potatoes make a homogeneous substance with the addition of 70 g of butter. Continuing to mix, gradually pour 250 ml of brut champagne and 250 ml of coconut milk. At the end, add 100 g of coconut, salt to taste.
Canadians are no less creative in mashed potatoes. In zealous Canadian housewives, even potato peels are used. In it and lay mashed baked tubers.
Carefully remove the pulp of the potatoes cooked in the oven without damaging the skins. Combining it with 50 g of cottage cheese, ¼ cup of sour cream and 1-2 spinach leaves and 1 cup of opened chickpea. Season mashed potatoes with salt and shallots, fried in butter. Sprinkle the peel with olive oil and bake until crisp. In the resulting "bowls" put mashed potatoes, sprinkle with grated cheese and bake again until golden brown.
Belarusian puree: an eternal tradition
The national dish of Belarusian cuisine is gulbishnik. Preparing a dish based on mashed potatoes. How to serve food? Yes with anything! It can go on its own and as a side dish for meat and fish dishes.
Boil 1 kg of potatoes, prepare mashed potatoes with 200 g of cottage cheese, combined with 100 g of sour cream. Add dill, 30 g flour and finely chopped onions to the finished mixture. Season with salt to taste. Put the mixture in a greased form, pour sour cream on top and bake for 20 minutes at 210 ° C. Gulbishnik is ready.
Italian Potato Crochet Appetizer
Plain street food can adequately serve as a gourmet snack at any banquet. Crochet hails from Northern Italy, but the simplicity of preparation and the original taste made the dish popular in many European countries. Cooking food is very affordable.
Mashed potatoes are prepared with the addition of cornmeal, ground fresh parsley, pepper and salt. For a fresh taste, you can add mint. Small balls are formed from the mashed potato and fried in olive oil until golden brown. Serve on your own or on a baguette cut along.
Mashed potatoes as the basis of original dishes: Greek tuber pie
In addition to potatoes, rice and soft dough are included in the dish. 1 egg mixed with 3 tbsp. l vegetable oil, introduce flour and knead. Roll the finished elastic dough into a ball and leave for 15-20 minutes. Mashed potatoes with two glasses of warm milk. Add ¼ cup vegetable oil, 1 cup boiled rice, half a teaspoon of nutmeg and as much dried mint. Salt, pepper to taste.
In a round shape, greased with vegetable oil, lay out the dough, making sure that the edges hang slightly on the sides. Put the potato and rice filling. Wrap the edges of the dough inward. Grease a pie with a beaten egg, bake at 180 ° C for 30-40 minutes.
Beautiful daily meal
A potato dish is almost every person’s daily meal. It is known that the beautiful appearance of the product can increase appetite. Nice presentation is important not only for the feast. As a result, every housewife is extremely interested in how to festively serve mashed potatoes for a regular dinner.
There are many ideas for the original design of the dish. For example, it will be very interesting to serve the product in portioned pots. Flavored with butter and sprinkled with herbs, the dish makes you want to immediately start a meal.
Another option for an unusual serving of mashed potatoes is baked roses. To do this, crush the crushed tubers with the addition of egg yolk, grated cheese and butter onto a baking tray in the form of buds. Registration is made using a confectionery syringe or envelope. Bake roses at 200 ° C for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. How can I serve mashed potatoes? For the original side dish, goulash, sauce, meat or fish dishes are suitable.
You can deposit the mass through the nozzle of the confectionery syringe, as shown in the following photo. How to serve mashed potatoes? In this case, any fish appetizer (for example, salted herring) is suitable.
Ideas for decorating children's dishes
Mashed potatoes are especially useful for children. After all, it is enriched with nutrients, as well as vitamins A, E, C, B1, B2, PP. Due to the high content of starch, protein and fiber, as well as the ingredients that make up it (milk, butter, eggs, etc.), 106 kilocalories can fit in 100 g of mashed potatoes. The product also contains minerals such as potassium, calcium, manganese, phosphorus, iron, sodium. The dish has dietary properties and is useful for cardiovascular diseases and liver diseases. Due to its enveloping properties, it is recommended to eat it before taking particularly aggressive medications (antibiotics or painkillers). Another good quality dish is strengthening memory.
Of course, such advantages are not a weighty argument for capricious kids. Children, as you know, love everything colorful and unusual. It is important not only what to serve mashed potatoes with tomboys, but the appetizing serving.
Fantasy recommended. Ordinary crushed tubers turn into a magical meal if they are designed as the cartoon hero Smesharik, whose arms and legs consist of striped sausages. Similarly, you can serve mashed potatoes in the form of a sun or a cat's face. It will be extremely interesting for the kid to eat such a dish, and still unloved greens of parsley and dill (of which cats have a mustache laid out) are perceived with enthusiasm.
Another original serving of mashed potatoes is voluminous snowmen. Three balls of crushed tubers are joined with a toothpick. Instead of eyes, you can stick black peppercorns, and instead of a nose, a slice of carrot. Such a dish will be an interesting decoration of a children's holiday table.