A bit early for the holidaze on this side of the border, and, at the very last minute kickoff for our cousins to the North – this recipe, more or less from Tyler Florence and adapted a wee, tiny bit by the nice folk at Delish and yours truly; makes the, bar none, hands down, no question, absolutely best mashed potatoes I have ever had the pleasure to wolf down.
ANd now, after a weekend back in New England, serving them up to friends; they also totally agree.
Even if there was a bit of fear in their eyes as I explained what I was gonna do.
See, Tyler recommends boiling potatoes in butter, cream, olive oil and seasonings until tender, then straining all that potato essence infused liquid into a bowl and then…
mashing the potatoes with it!
GENIUS!
Note: the nice folk at Delish opted for half and half, but I tried the first time with heavy cream. The second time I made them, I used half and half, and think that they were a little more better. I have no idea why.
Both Mr. Florence and Delish used three pounds of peeled, chopped potatoes. I used 
24 ounces of small, whole unpeeled red potatoes the first time, and 24 ounces of small, whole unpeeled yellow potatoes the second. The yellow potatoes were best, I think, but you do what you want.
INGREDIENTS
•24 oz bag small yellow potatoes
•3 tbsp butter
•3 tbsp olive oil
•1 tsp Seasoned Salt
•1 tsp garlic powder
•1/2 tsp dried sage
•1/2 tsp dried rosemary
•1/2 tsp dried thyme
•Half and half to cover the potatoes
Pour the olive oil over the butter, potatoes, and seasonings in a pan. Add half and half to just cover the potatoes, then cover the pan, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the potatoes are tender, 20 to 25 minutes. Be careful to avoid boiling over.
Place a colander in a bowl and drain the liquid from the potatoes into the bowl.
Note: the potatoes will have a thick coating of the half and half mixture.
Return the potatoes to the pan, then add some of the liquid from the bowl and mash.
Note: why not just mash the potatoes and the liquid in the pan without draining? I found that there was just a bit too much liquid (unless you like really soft mashed potatoes) – and so did not use all of the drained half and half.
The result?
Perfectly tasty mashed potatoes!
Try these once. They will be your holidaze potatoes forever more.