cook: duchess potatoes

I was NOT going to do Thanksgiving. That is, I had already told my husband that my social anxiety could not handle the 20+ relatives that were going to be at his sister's home for the holiday and that I would then not likely be going. My sister-in-law then sent a message to both of us, saying that many of the college-aged and early adult nieces and nephews and emotionally-overwhelmed siblings (like me) were not gonna come and that there were going to only be 10 guests--still too large for my comfort, but less daunting to "be on" around. Maggie said she was going to roast a turkey breast and a salmon and asked what sides would I like to cook?  Patrick hadn't yet told her that I was not coming, and so I impulsively said I'd cook: oyster casserole; Duchess potatoes; cheesy kale gratin; and shredded Brussels sprouts salad with hazelnut crunch. Yesterday I brought out the 5-pound bag of potatoes and washed my spanking brand new potato ricer to cook the potato dish one day ahead.              

 

Like Claire Saffitz in her New York Times cooking video, I wanted to pipe fancy rosettes. However, I didn't have a pastry bag nor a container to hold the pastry bag to fill with the mashed potatoes although I did have the large star tip. And so I decided to improvise with a large Ziploc bag and a flower vase. 

  

I got my mise en place ready with salt, pepper, nutmeg, cream and butter.

  

And four egg yolks which I set aside while melting the butter and heating the cream.

 

Into the 400 degree oven went my 5 pounds of scrubbed russet potatoes for 1 hour.

Potatoes done! And then I sliced each of those hot potatoes (I've got Teflon hands), scooped out the potato of each half and popped into the ricer and then squeezed out the potato into the pot of hot cream and butter that I set on low on the burner.

 

Wow, it had been a while since I mashed so many potatoes. And I didn't use a potato masher and instead whisked the potatoes to keep them from turning into a paste. I'm used to mashing one boiled potato for two people. And then I folded the 4 egg yolks into the whipped potatoes. Even more arm work.

 

I ate two of the potato skin halves and set the rest on the baking sheet. Gawd, it was not working, piping the potatoes with a Ziplock bag and star tip. I ended up scooping and smoothing with a spoon. And the potatoes felt dry, and so I spooned pats of butter on to the potato halves.

I still had mashed potato left and decided to still be fancy and pipe with the smaller pastry bags I had and a smaller star tip.

Okay, so my Duchess Potatoes are not the most elegant-looking. But I do plan on making Duchess Potatoes again, using someone else's recipe next time, and not in the potato skins. I think just rosettes on a greased baking sheet would be an easier make-ahead dish. I sprinkled paprika on the potatoes and they're in the fridge, ready to haul to Morgan Hill for the 4:00 p.m. feast. There were no jars of oysters at the Japanese grocery store yesterday, and so I told Maggie that oyster casserole was off my list. Shredded Brussels sprouts salad with hazelnut crunch and then cheesy creamed kale next.