Pendleton mashed potatoes

Tonight’s entry is an original recipe I came up with last week and made tonight. I wasn’t sure it would work. (Obvious by today’s Facebook status — “Very excited about the semi-experimental side dish I have planned to accompany tonight's T-bone dinner. If it's a hit, it'll be on the blog tonight! And, if it's not, just forget we ever had this conversation.”) But it did, and I can’t wait to share it with you!

Here’s what you’ll need:

1 potato

5 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/8 cup heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup Pendleton Canadian Whisky

Sea salt and coarse pepper

Wash and cut the potato into 4 pieces. (You can peel it if you want, but I prefer skin-on.)

Place the potato pieces in a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil on stove and cook until tender, about 35 minutes or so usually.

While the potatoes are cooking, add the heavy whipping cream and butter to a saucepan and heat on medium low. Allow to reduce. The process only takes about 10-15 minutes, but it won’t hurt to start it when you start the potatoes and just reduce the heat or even turn it off toward the end.

When potatoes are done, drain and pour into a mixing bowl. (I like to use my stand mixer if it’s not already in use.) Add the butter and cream mixture and the whisky. Mix using an electric mixer until you’ve reached your preferred consistency. Add some sea salt and coarse pepper and give it another quick mix.

I served these with grilled T-bones. I also had a salad, while the Mr. had green beans. I’ve learned it never hurts to have a back-up side dish when experimenting!

It looked like this: