Roasted Garlic Rosemary Mashed Potatoes

Every year, for Thanksgiving and other holiday feasts, I try to have people over for an "orphan" feast. Basically, I invite friends who aren't going home, don't want to or don't have family for a feast. I've been making my signature Roasted Garlic Rosemary Mashed Potatoes since I was about 20. I've decided to share my recipe! The only thing is that I don't really follow a set recipe and I don't really measure, and every year I make it a little different. So, use this more as a guideline and adjust to your own tastes.

I think fresh and organic always better, so I buy as much from the local farmer's market and organic as possible.

Serving Size: A big giant bowl of potatoes

Ingredients:

• 4-5 whole heads of garlic
• 3 large russet potatoes; whole, washed and unpeeled.
• 3-4 small to med. yukon gold or red potatoes; whole, washed, unpeeled.
• 1 large bunch of fresh rosemary; washed and dried.
• 1 tsp rosemary, very finely chopped (minced)
  
• 4-5 tbsp butter (or more if you like yours super buttery)
• 1 pint half and half (you won't be using all of it)
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt
• pepper
• parsley
• optional: cream cheese, sour cream, parmesan and/or mozarella cheese

Roasting the Garlic (prepare this ahead of time):

1. Cut off the top of the garlic heads so that you expose the cloves. Don't cut so much off that you waste all your garlic. For the odder shaped heads, sometimes I take a paring knife and cut off the tops on the cloves that grow weird on the side.
   
2. Place 3-4 sprigs of rosemary on the bottom of a baking dish then put in the garlic heads with the tops facing up. I use a medium-sized glass baking dish, about 8" in diameter.
   
3. Drizzle olive oil over the garlic heads, so that nearly all the rosemary is covered. Cover the dish with heavy foil (or double layer a thin foil) and bake in the oven at 375 degrees until garlic is tender, brown and a little carmelized. A toaster oven works for this too. It usually takes about 30-40 minutes.
   
4. Remove from the oven and let cool.
   

Making the Potatoes:

1. Boil the potatoes in a giant pot with some salt and the rest of the rosemary until the potatoes are done and a fork can piece the potato easily. Be sure to check the potatoes and take out the smaller ones first. Don't overcook them. Let the potatoes cool a little bit and peel the skins off. Be careful, because the potatoes will still be hot. A paring knife helps me lift the skins so I don't burn all my fingers.
   
2. Put the potatoes in a big bowl. Squeeze out the garlic from about 2.5-3 heads, add butter, salt, pepper and some of the oil from the roasted garlic. The garlic should come out easily, if you have some trouble or don't want to get your hands all oily, use a cocktail fork to aid in this process.
   
3. Start mashing the potatoes and slowly add half and half until it reaches the consistency you want. I think lumpy potatoes go best with the roasted garlic.
   
4. Then add additional garlic, salt and pepper as necessary to taste. Stir in the finely chopped rosemary and parsley.
   
5. Optional: Sometimes for extra flavor or richness, I add a little bit of sour cream, cream cheese or any other cheese to the potato mixture. If I add cheese, I usually make the potatoes a few hours or a day ahead, then I top the potatoes with a little more cheese and then pop the whole giant bowl (make sure it's oven safe) in the oven for about 1 hour at about 300 - 350 degrees.

I usually have more garlic than I need, which I set out also for guests who like to spread the garlic on bread, turkey, and anything else on the table. The roasted cloves will also keep in the fridge for few weeks -- simply place in a small jar with a little olive oil. The garlic can be used with fish, chicken, pasta, or anything else (ok, maybe not dessert)!