dinner guests.

today was a quiet day. laundry in the morning and had one of our friends for dinner. we hadn't seen them in a long time and we knew that they liked a good tasty meal. so, my sister and i decided to make the same poultry recipe from before but used chicken quarters instead of dealing with butterfling a few cornish hens.

we changed up the sides to brussles sprouts and tried a new recipe for mashed potatoes. the mashed potatoes came out surprisingly good. they went well with the chicken and the brussels sprouts and were slightly savoury and tangy from the garlic, green onion, and lemon--they ended up bightening the whole meal. :) it's been decided: they're soooo going to be a repeat in the future!

 

Mashed Potatoes with Lemon, Garlic and Chives
(bareley adapted from Creative Culinary)

1/4 cup buttermilk (i didn't have any so i just used fat free milk we had in the fridge)
6 tablespoons butter (used a little less, maybe 5 tsp max?)
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel (reserved some for garnish)
juice of a little less than half a lemon
1/2 cup chopped green onion (or fresh chives) (reserved some for garnish)
2 pounds red potatoes, cut in half (do not peel) (used mixed baby potatoes)

1. Melt 3 tablespoons butter in heavy small skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and sauté 1-2 minutes; do not brown. Mix in lemon peel, then green onion or chives. Set aside. (added the lemon juice around here and let it cook for a little bit--try not to let it cook too long, you want the onions to still be slightly green when they're done)

2. Cook potatoes in large pot of boiling salted water until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain. Return potatoes to pot and mash roughly; these are not meant to be the consistency of regular mashed potatoes. Add onion mixture, buttermilk and remaining 3 tablespoons butter and mash together. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Garnish with fresh chives or green onion. (decided to just mix everything together with the reserved chives and lemon zest.)

makes 4-6 servings.