Taking the baked potato to a new level
I made short ribs the other day for guests, and was looking for an interesting potato preparation to go along with them. I considered mashed potatoes, then garlic mashed potatoes, then baked potatoes, and even scalloped potatoes. I finally landed on the idea of a combination of all of those things, a sort of deconstructed version of mashed, scalloped and baked.
Baking the potato allowed me to serve only half on each plate — with the creamy garlic sauce and the short rib that seemed rich enough. I’m starting with the baked potato here, and I’ll have the short ribs in the next post. This is so simple and low maintenance, but it raises the baked potato far above its humble station. By the way, everyone ate the potato skin, it was that good.
Baked Potatoes with Garlic Cream | 4 to 6 servings
This serves six eaters if everyone gets a half potato. There might have been a call for seconds if the main dish wasn’t rich. Russets are great for baking since the flesh becomes light and fluffy when cooked, perfect for the garlic cream.
3 large russet potatoes
4 large garlic cloves
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
Pinch of salt
Minced parsley
Preheat the oven to 425°F. Scrub the potatoes and pierce them 5 or 6 times with a skewer.
Plain ol' russets make the best baked potato
I have a metal skewer that I always use for piercing potatoes, but any skewer will work just fine
Place the potatoes right on the rack in the preheated oven. Cook them for 1 hour and 15 minutes. This makes a nice crunchy skin.
While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the garlic cream. Smash the garlic cloves with the side of a knife and peel away the paper. Trim the root.
This is an easy way to remove the paper -- it cracks away from the garlic clove when you give the side of the knife a good thump
Melt the butter in a small saucepan and cook the garlic cloves over very low heat for 30 minutes. They should not burn or even brown — only color slightly.
I bent an ordinary fork to make this task easy -- shows how often I cook garlic like this in my little saucepan
Smash the soft garlic with a fork or masher. Add the heavy cream and salt.
Sometimes heavy cream is just what works best
Mix well and continue cooking at a very low simmer over low heat for another 15 minutes. The cream will reduce slightly.
When the potatoes are done, slice them in half lengthwise. Mash them slightly with a fork and spoon some of the cream over the top.
Just three or four mashes to open the potato up for the cream
Sprinkle with parsley and serve hot.
(Next time I think I’ll try them with chives…)
Kelly McCune © 2010
(Photo Sacramento Bee)
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Damn you Kelly.
#@%$!! This looks amazing.
And easy…!