Garlic Mashed Potatoes

I overheard this in a shop changing room last year. The woman, on her mobile, also gave the other person detailed instructions on how to actually peel the potatoes and boil them. I won’t go into that here – the whole thing took hours, but in real life it is quite easy.

as many potatoes as you need

about ¾ pint of milk

3 – 10 garlic cloves

sea salt

oil or butter

Peel your potatoes as usual and put in a pan with say 2/3 cold water and 1/3 milk so that the potatoes are covered. Peel and squash with a flat knife between three and ten garlic coves depending on how garlicky you like things. The flavour of the garlic comes out mellow though, so don’t worry too much about it being overly pungent. Add the garlic cloves to the pan, with a little salt. Cover and bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer for a further 20 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked.

Drain the potatoes – but keep the cooking liquid. Start to mash the potatoes and garlic together adding the cooking liquid as needed. Add salt and pepper to taste and a little oil or butter if you like.