Garlic Mashed Potatoes

When I was a little girl, my ‘second mother’ (Barb) who rented the third floor apartment of our house, watched Julia Child’s cooking shows religiously. She would tape them and then watch them when she had time to sit down and take notes. She filled many pads of paper with Julia Child’s recipes. Sitting on Barb’s couch watching Julia Child is a memory I don’t think I’ll ever forget. Julia Child’s operatic voice singing out from the TV, Barb imitating her voice when we stood in her kitchen cooking together–these are some of my happiest childhood memories. Barb died when I was 15, but every time I think of Julia Child, or read her recipes, I can hear Barb’s voice imitating her and laughing at the silliness of it all.

Before I became vegan, I delighted in Julia Child’s recipe for braised garlic–basically, garlic cooked over very low heat, swimming in butter. The garlic in this recipe is a variation on that. Though “now add 3 tablespoons of olive oil!” does not quite have the same charm as “now add a pound of butter!” in that familiar operatic voice, I still delight in pretending to be her while cooking–now, just a vegan Julia Child! 

These mashed potatoes are light, fluffy and full of rich garlicky flavor. The braised garlic really does the trick and infuses these potatoes with lots of flavor.

The Recipe

Serves 2-3

1 lb of potatoes (your favorite variety–I used red because it’s what I had)

6-8 cloves of garlic, peeled

1/3-1/2 cup rice milk

3 Tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Notes before beginning: I like mashed potatoes with the skins, so I left them on. If you prefer to peel them, by all means–go ahead. These potatoes can be made with a number of tools. I used our electric stand mixer, which works wonders. You can also use an electric hand mixer, or a good old-fashioned potato masher, which I also love.

Chop the potatoes into chunks.

Boil a large pot of water and add the potatoes. Boil the potatoes for 25-30 minutes, or until they are tender and easily pierced with a fork. While the potatoes are cooking, add the olive oil to a small saucepan. On the very lowest heat possible, add the whole garlic cloves and cover the pot.

Cook the garlic on low heat like this for 15 minutes or so, swirling the pot around occasionally to cook the garlic evenly. You want it to be a light golden color (mine got a little darker than I had been going for–too high of heat to start out). The cloves should be golden and very tender when cooked. Turn off the heat.

In a large mixing bowl (if using a stand mixer, use the stand mixer bowl), add the garlic and oil mixture and mix the garlic into the olive oil. It should mash easily. Add 1/4 cup of rice milk to the mixture and combine. When the potatoes are finished cooking, drain the water out of them and add the potatoes to the olive oil/garlic/milk mixture. Mix well, until the potatoes are creamy and fluffy. You can add more milk if you like (I ended up using the whole 1/2 cup in the end). Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve alone or with mushroom gravy on top. And of course…

Bon appetit!