Mashed potatoes!
Oh, you're gonna dig this one.
You make this ahead, put it in those big deli containers,
shove it in the fridge, 10 days out, you're fine.
You'd get away with two weeks if you want.
I took a pound of potatoes per person,
or one large russet per person,
and I put a ton of crushed garlic down in with the potatoes
in salted, boiling water.
Salt it when the water comes up to a full boil.
Always start potatoes in cold water.
Then I put them through the food mill
and just zhoozh 'em up, break 'em down,
and then we're going to mash them up with hot milk.
I've got the milk off to the side here.
For every six potatoes,
you're gonna need about a cup of warm milk,
and we're going to add our warm milk
and then here comes the good part.
In this pan, I basically made French onion soup.
You take a bunch of big onions, chop 'em up,
cook 'em down in butter,
add a can of beef consume or a little beef stock,
let the stock cook out.
It tastes like French onion soup!
Then we're gonna pull out the bay leaf.
I season it with a little ground thyme, salt, and pepper.
We're gonna add all of the caramelized onions
to our garlicky mashed potatoes.
(audience clapping) No, no!
No, no.
No, no, no, wait, wait.
Then we're going to add the Guyere cheese.
(cackles) I know!
(audience clapping)
So you mix this altogether,
and as I said, you put it back
into some deli storage containers,
throw it in the fridge the day of,
bring it to room temperature,
and put it in a tall saucepan or sauce pot,
just like I have here.
Why are we doing that?
Because the day of, to reheat it,
and to hold all day long,
all you're gonna do is make a gentle water bath
called a bain-Marie, you're gonna send your potatoes
to the spa.
You put this inside the gentle water bath.
It'll heat them up and keep them perfect,
as long as you want them to hold.
For the Brussels sprouts, instead of cooking them,
I'm gonna make a Brussels sprout salad
with some toasted nuts and pepitas
and come boozy cranberries.
The cranberries you can reconstitute.
These are dried, sweetened cranberries.
You can reconstitute them, of course,
if you're serving children,
just in a little boiling water,
although that would've stopped my mother,
and I add a shot of Grand Marnier,
so they taste nice and boozy and orange-y,
and for the Brussels sprouts,
I buy two pints for every six people
of the big pretty boys
and you just core the bottom and separate them.
These hold for days in the fridge
as does our dressing.
You can make the dressing right in a Mason jar
and just throw it in the fridge.
I wanted you to see every step
so I'm making it in a glass bowl,
but literally, you can just put this in a Mason jar,
throw it in the fridge and shake it up.
This is a great make-ahead
if you're going to somebody's house too.
You can't get easier than bringing a salad, right?
So our Brussels sprouts are in the bowl.
I've toasted up some pepitas.
Again, you can do all of this ahead.
Toasted up some walnuts for crunch.
Adding all that.
Adding our boozy cranberries.
Hello, boys!
Then in the bowl, I have one shallot,
one clove of garlic, grated,
to that, a little fresh nutmeg,
a little orange and lemon zest.
We're gonna throw in some fresh herbs, thyme, and parsley
'cause we have them.
We're gonna add a little hint of all spice
to highlight those Autumn flavors in the citrus,
some smokey cumin,
and we're gonna add some grainy mustard,
few tablespoons of grainy Dijon,
about a 1/2 cup of cider vinegar, apple cider vinegar,
few tablespoons of real maple syrup, salt and pepper.
This dressing is delicious.
You're gonna love it.
On any kind of salad.
You can make it with Romaine or spinach.
Anything you like.
I just love this Brussels sprout thing
'cause it's so cute.
And then we're gonna whisk that up.
And don't dress it until you're ready to serve
'cause of course, it'll start to wilt down
all of your pretty Brussels sprouts
but that's good to go. (audience cheering)