This easy to follow luxurious Garlic Mashed Potato Recipe makes a perfect side dish to almost any meat or poultry main course. The mellow, toasty flavor of the roasted garlic creates a beautifully subtle flavor. And if you're not a lover of garlic, simply omit this one ingredient for a perfect homemade mashed potato recipe.

You can even prepare this dish several hours before eating! If you plan to do this, use only half of the cream, pile the garlic mash into a heat proof bowl and cover with foil until required. About 1/2 an hour before dinner, stand the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water and stir occasionally. At the last minute, beat in the remaining HEATED cream......and serve!

Garlic Mashed Potato Recipe

INGREDIENTS
SERVES 8

1 large head garlic (8 to 10 cloves)
1 teaspoon olive oil
4lbs Maris Piper (red) potatoes, peeled and quartered
3oz (120g) unsalted butter
1/2 cup (125ml) single cream

TIP

I like to roast several heads of garlic at the same time, use one for the garlic mashed potato recipe and then keep the others for alternative uses. They are excellent in a pured soup, rubbed on crusty bread, mixed with green vegetables or a salad dressing, or mashed with mayonnaise.

METHOD

• Preheat the oven to 220C/425F, gas mark 7.
  

• Cut the top 1/4 inch off the head of garlic. Rub the olive oil, salt and freshly milled black pepper all over the surface. Cover the exposed top with a small piece of kitchen foil. Place on a baking tray and roast for 25 to 30 minutes until just tender. Remove from the oven. Once cool, Peel the skin off (don't worry about any browned parts of the clove as they will add color and flavor).
  

• Put the potatoes into a large saucepan and cover with cold water. Season with 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Over a high heat, bring the pan to the boil, cover and simmer steadily for approximately 20 to 25 minutes until tender in the centre.
  

• Carefully drain off the water, and then while holding the lid firmly in place, shake the pan vigorously to start breaking up the potatoes.
  

• Cut the butter into chunks and add it along with the cream, the garlic cloves and a generous seasoning of salt and freshly milled black pepper. Place the lid back on the pan and leave for a few minutes for the butter to melt.
  

• Now cream the potatoes. If you like your mash very smooth and light, use a hand held electric whisk on slow speed. If like me however, you prefer it with some texture, then mash it using a potato masher to the desired consistency. It's now ready to serve.

ENJOY!

TIP
Even though this garlic mashed potato recipe is enough for 8, I always make up the full amount even when serving less people. The reason being is that it is excellent fried a day or 2 later for a dish that here in the UK, we call Bubble and Squeak! Simply fry 1/2 a finely diced onion in 2 tablespoons of oil until softened and then add the garlic mashed potato and some leftover chopped green vegetables such as cabbage, broccoli, green beans, or peas. Season with salt and freshly milled black pepper. Turn occasionally adding a little more oil if it starts to stick to the pan. Continue to fry over a medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes until it all starts to crisp and brown.

So there you have it, a truly luxurious garlic mashed potato recipe - a perfect side dish fit to grace any dinner party table or indeed a wonderful accompaniment to a midweek simple family meal.

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