Goat cheese mashed potatoes

Any cookbook with the phrase “do-ahead” in the title was bound to land on my bookshelf. No woman who schedules her panics can resist such a title. I’ve only tried a handful of recipes from here so far, but all have been at least serviceable, and all were blissfully made ahead. Future self is always grateful.

Goat cheese mashed potatoes

Adapted from “Happy Holidays from the Diva of Do-Ahead,” by Diane Phillips

Ingredients:

8 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

6 tablespoons butter, softened, divided

½ cup grated Parmesan, divided

½ cup low fat sour cream

½ cup plain nonfat yogurt

6 ounces goat cheese

Zest of 1 lemon

2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

Method:

Cook potatoes in a pot of boiling salted water until tender. Drain and rice into large bowl. Whip potatoes with 3 tablespoons softened butter, sour cream, yogurt, goat cheese, lemon zest and chives.

Grease baking dishes with two of the remaining tablespoons of butter, including up the sides. You can bake this in one 13-by-9 pan, or divide it into smaller containers. I used a 9-by-9 and one smaller glass dish. Sprinkle dish or dishes evenly with ¼ cup Parmesan. Spread potato mixture over the top. Dot surfaces with remaining tablespoon of butter and remaining Parmesan cheese.

Do ahead: At this point you can bake the potatoes for 20 minutes at 350, or refrigerate them for a few days, or freeze and rethaw. Bring dish up to room temperature before baking.

Rating: Not too shabby. Hard to go wrong with potatoes, goat cheese or lemon zest. 

Deviations: I have to confess that the lemon zest was an accident. I bought a log of goat cheese with lemon zest and thought, why not? Why not indeed? Likewise the addition of yogurt was designed to get around the fact that I hadn't bought quite as much goat cheese as called for and wasn't coming up with quite the creamy texture I sought. And naturally I added the bit about ricing the potatoes, because how else do you achieve heaven?