Wasabi Mashed Potatoes

I originally made these potatoes for a dinner with my “mom”, aunt, and sister after seeing them made on a cooking show, and I served them with marinated sesame crusted tuna steaks and roasted asparagus. When I made them the first time, I baked the potatoes, put them through my food mill, and used a wasabi powder that I have. While the potatoes were good, the texture and flavor wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for - they seemed to be drier potatoes, which I think was because of the wasabi powder in addition to being baked, and they weren’t EXACTLY what I wanted. So, I went about making them a little bit differently until I got the results I was looking for!
First and foremost, to get the best, creamy mashed potato texture without any lumps, I highly recommend getting yourself a potato ricer or food mill! You can find them at nearly any cooking store, they’re fairly inexpensive, and definitely worth the investment. (I have one of each!) I’ve never found anything else to give you the perfect consistency for mashed potatoes the way this little tool does. I’m not particularly fond of lumpy mashed potatoes, so there was no question that I needed one (or two) of these… ;-) The great thing about them is that you can use them for other things too, like making your own homemade baby food. The models I have of both the ricer and the food mill come with different plates which determine how fine you want your food, so it’s easy to go from baby’s first foods to chunkier versions when they’re ready for those stages.
Another thing that I like about this recipe, other than the wasabi (which I LOVE, especially with sushi), is that it can be made as healthy as you want it to be. I’ve made this with a very good-quality fat free sour cream (Morning Glory is excellent) as well as Greek yogurt, and I’ve made it with skim milk as well as heavy cream. You can make this recipe using very little wasabi or a lot of wasabi, depending on your own personal tastes. It’s entirely up to you to make it what you want! :-)

Printable Recipe

1 lb. russet potatoes, cut into uniform chunks
½ c. Greek yogurt or sour cream
1 - 2 tsp. prepared wasabi
2 - 4 Tbsp. cream, half & half, or milk
¼ c. minced fresh parsley
Salt and pepper, to taste

Place the chunks of potatoes into a saucepan and cover with cold water; bring to a boil and simmer until the potatoes fall apart when pierced with a fork. Drain the potatoes. While the potatoes are still hot, use a tongs to transfer them to a potato ricer or food mill and press the hot potato pieces back into the empty, warm saucepan. (Because we’re using a potato ricer/food mill, it’s not necessary to peel the potatoes before cooking them; when you rice potatoes, the skins don’t make it through the press.)
Once all of the potatoes have been riced, add the yogurt or sour cream, prepared wasabi, and cream and stir to combine. (Note: Add small amounts of the wasabi and the cream first and then continue adding more until you reach the desired flavor and consistency. You can always add more, but it’s usually more difficult or even impossible to take it back once it’s already in there! If your potatoes do get too runny, you can place them on a warm burner until the extra liquid evaporates.) Once you’ve reached the desired consistency, add the fresh parsley and salt and pepper to taste. Makes 2 servings