The secret to perfect mash

My intention when I started this blog was largely to share recipe's. Since I work a lot to 'feel' it has proven very difficult to put recipes to paper. I hope you will bear with me.
Today I don't actually have a recipe but more a tip.
Mashed potatoes is the ultimate comfort food. Simple but simply delicious.
I think it is one of the nicest ways of eating potatoes but unfortunately hubby disagrees and he is Dutch! I think perhaps he has been brought up on too much Dutch 'stamppot'- mashed potatoes/veggies.
I too have childhood memories of eating mashed potatoes- feeling under the weather and my mother enticing me with a little mash.
Despite my husband’s resistance I continue to put mash on the menu- for three of us, his portion of potatoes sits forlornly on his plate and what do you think he does? - Yeah he mashes them on his plate, men! Maybe he has some childhood trauma of being forced to eat lumpy potatoes I don't know, but I always makes sure he has a forkful of just what he is missing hoping one day to win him over. As yet to no avail.
Of course you can go many ways with flavour, adding a number of tastes to compliment the mash; garlic, mustard, horseradish, pesto, (cream)cheese, mayonnaise or creme fraiche but in my opinion butter, nutmeg, milk/cream, butter and salt and pepper will suffice. But I digress… the 'perfect' mashed potatoes has nothing to do with taste but everything to do with technique!

Until just recently I have always been more than satisfied with my mash but a couple of weeks ago I discovered something that I just must share. Many thanks to celebrity chef, Simon Rimmer (BBC 2 Something For The Weekend)
You don't even need to rush out and buy a ricer (utensil resembling a large garlic press) I try to avoid too many cooking helps and try to avoid gadgets that has just a single use because all they end up doing is jamming up kitchen drawers! Further you need no electronic devices- which is strictly taboo as far as mash is concerned as this will cause over beating, resulting in the spuds releasing the starch and you will be left with a gluey mess. (I think we all have been there at some stage- I remember making baby food with a blender-it’s a wonder it’s not my son that is the mash-hater)

I won't go into detail about types of potatoes and cooking etc. Just ensure your potatoes are well cooked (they cook more evenly if sliced length ways) and bear in mind if they are are underdone then it's a lost cause, there is no way lumps can be avoided.
Reheat the pan of drained, cooked potatoes for a few moments to steam away any excess water.
Turn the heat off. Don't add any liquids or butter at this stage but first mash the potatoes with your masher until the lumps have gone (but not any longer), don't over work them.
Now you can add any cream/milk/ liquid preferably warmed, with butter, seasoning and proceed further with a good old wooden spoon and whip. As the butter emulsifies you end up with a nice smooth and glossy mix and the potato no longer stick to the pan, it's amazing.
You will get perfect light and fluffy mash, the texture will be perfect. Heat briefly if necessary. Serve. Mmm delicious!

Something very funny happened this evening and now I am even more encouraged to persevere with my mission to convince my husband to eat mash. We were eating Moussaka and my son asked where the olives were! Well I was dumbfounded and very nearly fell off my chair, because up until recently he claimed to detest them! My husband is the same, in the last year he has started not only to eat olives but admits to positively enjoying them! Funny enough he now eats olives fervently, black or green alike, as if catching up for all the years he has avoided them!

Typically Dutch

The Dutch cuisine can be symbolised by one of the famous van Gogh paintings...The Potato Eaters. They are very much a meat-potato -vegetable nation. And they love to mash potatoes with all kinds of combinations of vegetables.
If you ask a Dutch person what they are having for dinner they will generally answer cauliflower, broccoli, or green beans whereas if you ask a Brit it will more likely be chops, chicken or steak. Are the Dutch as obsessed with vegetables as the English are with meat? Well there is an abundance of vegetables growing in Holland and the the Dutch are very proud and fond of their produce but naming a vegetable gives a good indication of what dish is being served. There are certain 'rules' in Holland, for example certain vegetables must accompany certain meats! It is very baffling and I still haven't quite got the hang of it. But I don't really go 'Dutch' too often.
As I mentioned they are very fond of mashed potatoes often combined with vegetables, stamppot, traditionally served with cubed bacon, smoked sausage, or a meatball with a rich jus gravy. It is simple food and can be very satisfying on a cold winters day. I am not a great potato lover, but there is however one dish that is regularly to be found on our menu: Brown beans bruinebonen, potatoes (not mashed), cubed bacon pieces served with fat juices, piccalilli, and onions. It’s simple but delicious.
Bruinebonen soup is also popular but at number one is Erwtensoep (pea soup).
The Dutch are also famous for their dairy products (especially for their cheeses) and generally dessert consists of a dish of yoghurt, kwark (fromage frais/quark) or vla ( cold custard).
But they do have sweet tooth's, they love their cookies / pastries / cakes and I don't just mean the famous 'space cake'! A firm favourite is a piece of apple tart or a stroopwafel which often accompanies a cup of tea or coffee. Their fondness for sweet dishes is also is reflected in the abundance of pancake restaurants (also available with savoury fillings), market vendors selling poffertjes, sweets especially drop (liquorice) and bread toppings for both breakfast and lunch ie hagelslag (chocolate flavoured pieces). Another popular bread topping is peanut butter.
The Dutch are also food junkies, there are numerous snackbars selling many snacks ie frikadel (sausage), bitterballen/kroket (meat ragout) accompanied by patat french fries. Shoarma is equally popular as is coming across a street vendor selling Vietnamese lompias (spring rolls).
A step upwards from a snack bar is an Indonesian/ Chinese-takeaway/restaurant. Holland has a colonial past and have therefore acquired a taste for the exotic, in particular Indonesian cuisine. Indonesian ingredients are readily available in most supermarkets and many have found their way into mainstream cookery. An example is sate (Satay, meat on a skewer with peanut sauce).