A smooth, creamy mashed potato with parmesan

Alice Zaslavsky is the host of A Bite To Eat with Alice, weeknights at 6pm on ABC TV and anytime on ABC iview. Alice is the resident culinary correspondent for ABC News Breakfast and ABC Radio, a food literacy advocate, bestselling cookbook author, and creator of Phenomenom, a free digital toolbox helping teachers slip more serves of veg into the curriculum.

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Australian comedian and actor Dave O’Neil joined Alice in the kitchen.

Dave loves potatoes, especially chips, and so Alice decided to surprise him with this cheesy mash.

A picture of potatoes in boiling in a pot of water. — Make sure water covers your potatoes as they boil, add extra water if needed. (ABC News: David Sier)

This recipe appears in A Bite to Eat with Alice, a new nightly cooking show on ABC iview and weeknights at 6pm on ABC TV.

Find the full list of recipe credits here.

A Bite To Eat With Alice: Cheesy parmesan mash

Prep time:: 5
Cook time:: 50
Skill level:: Low
Serves:: 4

Ingredients

1 kg medium-sized Desiree or other floury/roasting potatoes, scrubbed

2 tablespoons salt flakes

2/3 cup (200 ml) hot milk

120g cold unsalted butter, cubed

1/2 teaspoon cracked pepper

1/2 cup (150g) parmesan cheese, grated

Extra virgin olive oil, to serve

Method

Halve the potatoes add them along with 1 tablespoon of the salt flakes into a large saucepan and cover completely with cold water. Place over high heat and bring to the boil; this can take up to 15 minutes, depending on the size, shape and material of your pan. Once boiling, cook for 30–35 minutes, or until a skewer or fork goes through a potato without much effort; during cooking make sure boiling water is covering the potatoes at all times (I pour in a little more from a kettle if need be).
Reserve a little of the boiled potato water in a mug. Drain the potatoes through a colander and give them a good shake to loosen the skins. Meanwhile, wash the pan you've cooked the spuds in. Pop them back in the pan to steam out any excess moisture. If mashing with a masher, remove the skins, if using a ricer, this can be done without first removing skins.
Return the pan to medium – high heat with the potato innards. Pour in hot milk, butter, pepper and the remaining tablespoon of salt flakes. Use a flexible spatula to whip the milk and butter into the potatoes.
If folding in the cheese, sprinkle it on top of the mash and use the flexible spatula to scoop it underneath the hot mix to melt and incorporate. If the cheese doesn't appear to be melting, pour in a little more hot milk or reserved potato water.
When the mix is smoothed to your liking, taste one more time for seasoning. Transfer to a warm serving dish and cover with a lid or tea towel to keep warm. Drizzle with olive oil, a sprinkle of salt flakes and crack of pepper to finish.