Saturday Sides: Smashed Potatoes (for when life throws you curves)

[Saturday Sides is a weekly feature I run to help you combat the side dish blahs. Check here Saturdays to see what’s new and different you can add to your dinner table. Or, you can subscribe here so that you never miss a Saturday Sides Recipe.]

Oy VEY!

This week. Well. Yeah. Where to begin?

This week hasn’t been anything like I expected it to be. As a matter of fact, I actually already had a post written for today and I pushed it to the side and decided to save it for another day. Because when I wrote that post I thought my week was going to be a lot different than it actually was.

My girls went to camp this week! Yay!! All three of them. At the same time. Together. No one was home but me, Bob, and the animals. Which I faithfully fed, just like I promised the girls I would. It was crazy quiet here, in case you were wondering. Bob and I spent two full days being uber productive.

Bob and I had planned a week of eating nothing but potato chips, ice cream, and turkey sandwiches on plain white bread. Seriously. We were. It’s true!! I wasn’t going to cook anything.

Then, well, as an online friend of mine likes to say; it became a plan “B” week since camp called on Tuesday night. Babs had fallen and was hurt.

We drove through the night to meet camp staff and Babs at the hospital and this morning, after meeting with the orthopedic surgeon, this is how the week ended.

Can you believe her? Smiling like that?!? Meh.

Well, anyhow, I couldn’t very well feed Babs potato chips, ice cream, and plain white bread all week. I mean, I could have, except Bob and I had already eaten it all by Wednesday afternoon (we’re nervous eaters, do you know stressful a call like that is?).

So, I had to cook. Good thing too, cuz I was itching to get back in the kitchen and pretty darn sick of crappy bread. Unfortunately, Bab’s arm hurt a lot and she wasn’t really up for running all over the place to get groceries, so I had to make due with what I had on hand.

These rustic smashed potatoes are great for days (or weeks) like this. They don’t use anything particularly special in the ingredients, although adding crispy bacon and shredded extra sharp white cheddar makes them scrum-dilly-icous. Hey, does that word have a copyright on it? Well, no matter, what I mean to say is . . . YUM. All you need is a few potatoes, some butter, sour cream, and a little milk. They take all of 30 minutes from start to finish, so if you have a sick kid who wants your attention (as mine does now) they’re ideal. So, since Babs is wanting my attention, I guess I should get on to the recipe and get out of here. Have a great weekend everyone!

Smashed Potatoes

2 pounds of small thin skinned potatoes (such as red potatoes or yukon gold)
4 Tablespoons sour cream
1/4 cup margarine or butter
1/3 cup milk, half and half, or cream
1/2 - 1 tsp salt

Wash potatoes thouroghly and remove any large eyes or blemishes. If you don’t have scales, I have found that about 7 or 8 very small potatoes will make about a pound.

Place them in a heavy pot and add enough water just to cover the potatoes. Bring the water to a boil and cook until tender; about 20 minutes. If you aren’t sure if they are done, just use a sharp knife and stab into the center of the potato. It should easily move through the potato. When they are done, remove from heat and drain well.

Add sour cream, margarine, and milk to the pan and return the potatoes.

Use a potato masher, or a large fork and “squish” the potatoes roughly. Leave large pieces, but mix the milk, butter, and sour cream in well.

Sprinkle with salt and serve hot.

Without the pictures:

Smashed Potatoes

2 pounds of small thin skinned potatoes (such as red potatoes or yukon gold)
4 Tablespoons sour cream
1/4 cup margarine or butter
1/3 cup milk, half and half, or cream
1/2 - 1 tsp salt

Wash potatoes thoroughly and remove any large eyes or blemishes.

Place them in a heavy pot and add enough water just to cover the potatoes.

Bring the water to a boil and cook until tender; about 20 minutes.

Remove from heat and drain well.

Add sour cream, margarine, and milk to the pan and return the potatoes.

Use a potato masher, or a large fork and “squish” the potatoes roughly. Leave large pieces, but mix the milk, butter, and sour cream in well.

Sprinkle with salt and serve hot.

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