Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

If you have never roasted garlic before, you’ve been missing out.  The clearest directions I have found for it are here and you simply cannot go wrong with anything Elise cooks.  Read that?  Okay good, keep going.  Now roasted garlic is awesome and can be used for many things, not the least of which is to give some extra kick to your favorite mashed potatoes.  Assuming you don’t eat all of it when it comes out of the oven.  :looks completely innocent:

Ingredients:

• 2 heads of garlic
• olive oil
• enough potatoes to cover the bottom of a 2 quart pot–unpeeled and uncut, but scrubbed (I used red new potatoes, and I think I had about 7 for the 2 of us–yeah we like our taters)
• salt
• pepper
• fat free half and half
• 2 tablespoons margarine

Directions:

1. Cover the potatoes with water and set to boil.  Since they’re uncut, they will take longer to cook (expect 40-60 minutes), but trust me, it’s worth it because they’re going to be uber creamy.
2. While the potatoes are cooking, roast your garlic according to Elise’s directions.
3. The garlic will be done before the potatoes, so when they’re finished, pop the garlic out of the skins and set aside.
4. When the potatoes are fork tender, drain the water.
5. Salt and pepper the potatoes to taste and mash.  You can use a potato masher, but with the garlic it tends to work better to use a hand mixer.
6. Next add the garlic and margarine and mix well.
7. Slowly drizzle in your half and half (or other dairy product of your choice) and mix until potatoes are desired consistency.  Be sure to add the liquid slowly because you can always add more, but if you add too much you’ll make the whole batch runny.

These go well with…well…anything.  Enjoy!