Ina's Parmesan Smashed Potatoes

By Addie

1999, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
Show: Barefoot Contessa
Episode: Thanksgiving

Ingredients

• 3 lbs red potatoes, unpeeled
• 1 Tablespoons kosher salt plus 2 teaspoons
• 1 1/2 cup half and half
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Details

Adapted from foodnetwork.com

Preparation

Step 1

Place the potatoes and 1 T of salt in saucepan with cold water to cover. bring to boil, lower the heat, and simmer covered for 25-35 minutes, until the potatoes are completely tender. Drain


In a saucepan, heat the half and half and butter. Transfer the potatoes to an bowl and beat with mixer for a few seconds on low speed to break them up. Slowly add the hot cream and butter to the potatoes, mixing on the lowest speed.


Fold in BY HAND the sour cream, Parmesan, the remaining salt and pepper; season to taste, and serve immediately. If the potatoes are too thick, add more hot cream and butter.
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REVIEWS:

Loved the recipe. Easy to make family loved it. I did not know what half and half is so I did half milk and half cream, is that correct.

This recipe is truly excellent. Not only does it dress-up my normal mashed potatoes, but actually saves work -- No peeling and no chopping! I normally don't care for skin-on mashed potatoes, but Ina has changed my mind; there's a nice look and texture to this dish.

Best mashed potatoes recipe ever! My family special requests this dish every Thanksgiving and Christmas. I add a few cloves of minced garlic and dried or fresh thyme to add even more flavor. Keeping the skins on the potatoes provides a thick texture, the parmesan adds a nice salty bite, and the sour cream gives the potatoes a luxurious silkiness. Another win for Ina!

I made this with a standing rib roast for Christmas dinner. They were fantastic! Everyone loved them. You have to add plenty of salt for all the flavors to come through. I will definitely make this recipe again. Thanks, Ina!

This recipe was a hit with my family, most of whom love mashed potatoes. I am not a mashed potato fan, and this recipe did not convert me into one. I would have preferred a stronger cheese flavor.

By far the BEST recipe for mashed potatoes I have EVER had. These are soooooo delicious and its hard to mess up the recipe. anyone can make these. My husband is such a picky eater that it makes me want to strangle him but when I made these he was in love with them. Now he requests them about once a week since they are so darn good. Don't look any further for another recipe.. make this one and you will be glad you did. AWESOME!!!

OK here is the thing. Don't be like me and not count your patatoes. Duh! Okay I was way foolish. Since I normally follow recipes to a T all the time, I had forgotten that I was short on patatoes, and dummy me, measures out all the wet ingredents according to the recipe and dumps it in the mixer bowl and I had patato soup! So learn from me, (if anyone is even dumb enough to even do this and either use enough patatoes, or only add the butter mixture little by little, don't over wet. Because I ended up with a patatoe soup! However, silly me, I served it in a small bowl on everyones plate w/ a spoon, and it was kind of wet mushy stuff, made it look good by sprinkling pepper and salt on top, (so it looked good.) I served it laughingly that it was a mashed patato soup and my mother laughed and I said, 'Try it its delicious" strangely enough it was! I think because of all that parmesean cheese I added. YUM, so even when you screw it up its good!

I made this dish for Thanksgiving. It was a hit with everyone. It's not hard to make, and I highly recommend it. We even warmed up left-overs with a bit of cream, and they were still delicious.

I used small white potatoes since I had them on hand and followed the recipe exactly, substituting only a 50/50 mix of lowfat milk and heavy cream for the half & half. Looking forward to the leftovers.

These were great for Thanksgiving dinner. The flavor of the parmesan enhances but doesn't overwhelm. Good thing I doubled the recipe!

Made this for Thanksgiving dinner, looking for not-ordinary dishes. This recipe was so simple to do, but had such great results! I went more rustic, and mashed the potatoes by hand, and I did add more parmesan. Every bite was gone, and after all the pleading and prodding, I have to make another batch today, just two days after Thanksgiving. This recipe is already a family favorite, so thank you!

I LOVE horseradish mashed potatoes, but thought this Easter I'd switch things up a bit. (To save time and money. I accomplished the task of saving time and money, but lost flavor and dimension. I just thought they were OK. No real flavor punch. (Yes, I used enough sour cream and cheese. They did reheat very well, though.

This is it! I give this four stars only because it was a bit too rich for me - the potatoes got a little lost in all the butter and 1/2 and 1/2 so I'll use less next time. I put fresh snipped chives on top - delicious!

I used skim milk instead of cream, a little less sour cream and less parmesan cheese. And still, these smashed spuds were fabulous!. Along with food network's "Turkey Swedish Meatballs" and my basic steamed broccoli, I had a dinner party hit.

Awesome recipe I've prepared on more than one occasion. You can even let your kids smash the potatoes! Thats what I do! Oh and it tastes great!

I found a recipe similar to this one in Ina's Family Style cookbook, but minus the parmesan cheese. This will now replace my Barefoot Contessa buttermilk mashed potato recipe. Both are good, but this one is unbeatable! I've even used a hand mixer and the potatoes turn out creamy and fluffy every time.

I first made this recipe for my Thanksgiving dinner (Along with three other recipes from Ina and everyone loved them. At the end of the day I had no potatoes left and was asked to make again.

Made these instead of mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving. Super easy to make. Everyone liked them. Tastes good. The only thing - can't even tell there is parmesan cheese in them. May try this again with a different cheese.

The best, the yummiest mashed potatoes EVER!!! I did use half as much cream as called for, and actually substitued 1% milk for the cream.