Sweet and Savory Mashed Potatoes with Fried Onions

The Internet needs another recipe for mashed potatoes like it needs another recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies / another hole in the head.  

Maybe right now we could all use another hole in the head. 

Or just these mashed potatoes because they’re layered, sweet, and savory, and topped in a downright gratuitous amount of onion rings (yes, onion rings).  

Cream, butter, salt, and pepper… this is a little prayer of gluttony and thanks to you. 

What very important to know and respect is that under these mashed potatoes is a layer of buttery mashed sweet potatoes…. and over these mashed potatoes is a mountain of fresh fried onion rings. 

Have we lost our mind? Or found it.  (Found it.) 

We’ve got our potatoes for mashing, melted butter and creams for richness, flour and spice for onion coating, and onions for frying.  

Let’s make this masterpiece.

I like to boil potatoes for mashing.

Is there a case for roasting potatoes and then mashing them?  Certainly possible.. but I like the extra moisture that boiling adds to the potatoes.  I think this contributes to softness.  

Frist:  peeled. 

Peeled and diced into relatively even chunks.  The uniformity will help them boil at the same rate and finish cooking at the same time.  

Two pots.  One for sweet potato chunks and one for russet potato chunks.  We’re keeping separate church and state. 

While the potatoes boiled away I whisked together melted butter, whole milk and heavy cream.  

We’ll add this to our hot, cooked potatoes when we’re feeling rich. 

Easing on down the road because nothing stops this train:  an onion is sliced thin and tossed in buttermilk.  

In a separate bowl I whisked together flour, salt, pepper, and cayenne in generous amounts.  

From the buttermilk bath to a flour shower.  

I let the dipped and coated onion rings rest on a wire baking rack while the oil heats.  

Fry these!  We’re going to fry these (and try not to eat them all before the potatoes are done).  

Back to our potato business.

Each potato is drained and kept separate from one another. 

Starting with the sweet potatoes, we’ll mash and add half of the cream and melted butter mixture. 

Salt and pepper.  Loads of salt and pepper… or to your taste.

I use a masher to keep my potatoes on the rustic side.  Feel free to use a ricer if you prefer a perfectly smooth potato. 

Into a big ol’ cast iron or casserole dish.  Smoothed to finish. 

The cooked russet potatoes get the same treatment. 

A dose of milk and cream.  More salt and pepper and a good mashin’. 

Spread to top.  

On with the onion rings.  So many. Don’t be shy!

Now you can toast the dish under a broiler or you can use a kitchen torch to create toasty bits around the edges. 

Keep warm in the oven and serve in generous portions with… probably with Thanksgiving dinner.  

Feels right. Tastes right.  Onion rings. How’s that for a mantra?

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