This Creamy Sauce Is Typically For Pasta, But It Belongs In Your Mashed Potatoes

A simple mashed potato preparation can reveal how much time and even resourcefulness a person had at the moment of its creation. A batch mashed with fine foods like Brie will indicate that one had occasion for an extra-decadent finish. More basic approaches obviously point to the universal need for easy weeknight dinners when you're too tired to cook. And mashed potatoes that incorporate items from totally unrelated recipes, like the Alfredo that you might otherwise see cloaking fettuccine in Italian-American kitchens everywhere, just signal some real home cooking genius. The creamy sauce is particularly positioned to take your tubers somewhere totally different than expected, while actually using elements already known to spruce up a spud with aplomb.

Do you know what potatoes love the most? Butter, cream, and, if they're feeling extra affectionate, something like parmesan cheese. And do you know what Alfredo sauce is made of? That's right, most of those very same ingredients! Combined into a sauce before they're whirled into your mashed potatoes instead of being added separately, they'll actually incorporate even better for a smoother finish. And, should you already have some left over from last night's pasta, properly flavoring your mashed potatoes is one less thing to think about. The proportions, however, might be a little bit trickier — but barely.

Now, you could just make your mashed potatoes as usual and cloak them with a few spoonfuls of warmed Alfredo like you would an ordinary gravy. Depending on how rich you've already made your starchy base, that addition might begin to verge on excessive. So, running a few calculations to mix it right into the mash instead gives you more control for times when you might not be interested in dining like some kind of velvet-draped royalty.

A standard mashed potato recipe might call for half a stick of butter (equalling a ¼ cup when melted) plus a ½ cup of milk for every 2 or so pounds of russets or Yukon Golds. That's a total of ¾ of a cup of dairy mixed into the spuds. So, while the cheese-enhanced Alfredo sauce will have a slightly different character than milk and butter alone, you should be good adding ¾ cup to 2 pounds of potatoes once you start mashing. If you're still worried about overdoing it, just start with a ½ cup and increase to taste. You may want to omit any extra salt to start, too, as the parm typical of Alfredo sauce has plenty on its own. And while not traditional for the classic pasta dish, a bit of parsley is excellent for topping your Alfredo mashed potatoes for a pop of color and a hint of grassy, mildly bitter herbaceousness.