Sour Cream and Chive Mashed Potatoes

SERVES — 6 to 8

This year I was hoping for a giant bowl of mashed potatoes that tasted like the inside of a twice-baked potato, which is to say very tangy and full of chives, and that’s exactly correct here. If lumps upset you, use a ricer. If you don’t want to peel the potatoes, don’t. If you want to use a mix of Russet and Yukon, you can. These are MY mashed potatoes. It’s up to you to make them YOURS.

I will flag that there is NO butter in these potatoes. These potatoes are really about the tanginess of the sour cream and buttermilk and the herbiness of the chives — in my opinion there’s plenty of butter elsewhere in this menu — though if you really want a few tablespoons of butter, please add it!

Ingredients

• 5 pounds Yukon gold or other creamy potato, peeled and cut into large chunks
• Kosher salt
• 1 cup whole milk or buttermilk, plus more if making ahead
• 1 cup heavy cream
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup sour cream, divided
• 1 cup finely chopped chives, divided
• A few tablespoons unsalted butter, optional

Preparation

1. Place potatoes in a large pot and cover with about 2–3” of salted water (salted like you’re making pasta). Bring them to a boil and cook until all the potatoes are completely softened and tender (test one with a fork, it should be easily smashed), about 40 minutes. For what it’s worth, if you’re picking between over cooking and undercooking, I say overcook (undercooked bits = lumps that never soften).
2. Meanwhile, combine cream and buttermilk in a medium pot and season with salt and lots of black pepper. Bring to a gentle simmer, then remove from heat.
3. Drain potatoes and return them to the pot in which they boiled. Using the back of a wooden spoon, spatula, potato crusher, whatever (even a ricer, if that’s your speed)–, smash/crush the potatoes until they’re mashed to your liking (I prefer more than a few lumps).
4. Pour the hot cream mixture over the potatoes and mix until well blended, but not gloopy or gummy, and season well with salt and pepper. These are your make ahead potatoes. They can be made and chilled 2 days ahead. To proceed with the finished mashed potatoes, keep reading.
5. When you’re ready to serve (whether you’re reheating or just making them to serve now), add about ¾ of your sour cream and chives and mix well. This is also when I’d add the butter if I was going to add it. Transfer to a serving bowl and top with remaining sour cream and chives, pepper and flaky salt.

DO AHEAD: There are two ways to make these ahead. One, peel and cut the potatoes the night before and store them in the pot of salted water (don’t even have to refrigerate). Two, make the potatoes up until step 4, then proceed with step 5. As a reminder, potatoes will become much stiffer when they sit overnight, so when reheating, you’ll have to add at least ½ cup (sometimes more) of milk or buttermilk to loosen them up.

LEFTOVERS: Fried in oil in a nonstick skillet like a pancake. Cold out of the container.