Recipe: Chicken & Dumplings with Leeks and Tarragon

The holidays are far gone, but we're still getting plenty of use out of this year's stove-centric loot. By now, anyone out there reading knows that we love hearty one pot meals: lamb stew, pork butt, brisket, the list goes on. And while our trusty royal blue Le Creuset was plenty big for small gatherings, it couldn't accommodate the larger parties that we love to have. Luckily, Jake's parents gifted us another dutch oven with a whopping 7.25 quart capacity, and in aqua blue this time! We're so in love with it that we've used it at least once a week since, regardless of our party size. (Good thing we have a big freezer!)

Also under the tree/menorah this year: the new Smitten Kitchen Cookbook! We so often go to the Smitten Kitchen blog for inspiration and had been waiting anxiously to pour over the beautiful book as soon as it was released. It did not disappoint and after binging on Perelman's recipes and luscious photography we were left with a hankering for one of our favorite SK recipes – Chicken and Dumplings! The recipe isn't in the book (it's ok Deb, we forgive you!) but since we practically have it memorized, we dove right in. And, of course, our brand new Le Creuset was ready and waiting to be broken in. 

Chicken and Dumplings with Leeks and Tarragon 

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen, adapted from Cooks Illustrated 

For the Stew: 

+ 1 whole chicken, cut into 8 peices

+ salt and ground black pepper

+ 4 teaspoons vegetable oil

+ 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/2 stick)

+ 2 medium leeks cut in half lengthwise and then into 1-inch pieces

+ 1 large onion, minced

+ 6 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour

+ 1/4 cup dry sherry

+ 4 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth

+ 1/4 cup whole milk

+ 1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves

+ 2 bay leaves

+ 1 cup frozen green peas

+ 3 tablespoons minced fresh tarragon leaves 

For the Dumplings: 

+ 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

+ 1 tablespoon baking powder

+ 1 teaspoon table salt

+ 1 cup whole milk

+ 3 tablespoons reserved chicken fat (or unsalted butter)

1. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels, then season with salt and pepper. Heat 2 teaspoons of the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add half of the chicken and cook until golden on both sides, about 10 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate and remove the browned skin. Pour off the chicken fat and reserve. Return the pot to medium-high heat and repeat with the remaining 2 teaspoons oil and the remaining chicken. Pour off and reserve any chicken fat.

2. Add the butter to the Dutch oven and melt over medium-high heat. Add the leeks, onion, and 1/4 teaspoon salt and cook until softened, about 7 minutes. Stir in the flour. Whisk in the sherry, scraping up any browned bits. Stir in the broth, milk, thyme, and bay leaves. Nestle the chicken, with any accumulated juices, into the pot. Cover and simmer until the chicken is fully cooked and tender, about 1 hour.

3. Transfer the chicken to a cutting board. Discard the bay leaves. Allow the sauce to settle for a few minutes, then skim the fat from the surface using a wide spoon. Shred the chicken, discarding the bones,then return it to the stew.

4. On to the dumplings... stir the flour, baking powder, and salt together. Microwave the milk and fat in a microwave-safe bowl on high until just warm (do not over-heat), about 1 minute. Stir the warmed milk mixture into the flour mixture with a wooden spoon until incorporated and smooth. Return the stew to a simmer, stir in the peas and tarragon, and season with salt and pepper.

5. To make the dumplings, gather a golf-ball-sized portion of the dumpling batter onto a soup spoon, then push the dumpling onto the stew using a second spoon. The dumplings should be about 1/4 inch apart and you should have about 18 dumplings. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook until the dumplings have doubled in size, 15 to 18 minutes. Serve!

Recipe: Chicken in 40 Cloves

As much as we love a good BBQ and summer produce, we’re excited to watch the leaves turn yellow and red and feel the days shorten because that means our meals are starting to change as well. Fall is really our favorite season for cooking. Braises, roasts, Brussels sprouts and squashes... we just can’t get enough. The thing is, most of those autumnal foods require a fair amount of time to prepare. And while there is nothing better than slowly braising a lam neck for 8 hours as you read by the fire, right now we just don't have the time for that.



Luckily, we have access to plenty of chicken! With just a few simple ingredients, chicken lends itself to a quick braise - all that deep, warming flavor we crave within a reasonable weeknight's cook time. For one of our first fall stews Jake brought home a chicken, a quart of stock and 4 heads of garlic while Silka picked up a bottle of dry white wine and some cookies. (Obviously, the cookies were not used in the preparation of the chicken.) In under an hour we were sitting down to a gorgeous meal, in front of a roaring fire and in a warm house filled with the scent of slowly roasted, caramelized garlic.


Chicken in 40 Cloves

+ 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
+ 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
+ 1 chicken, cut into 8 pieces, at room temperature
+ Salt
+ about 40 large garlic cloves, or heads or garlic, peeled
+ 1/2 cup dry white wine
+ 1/2 cup chicken stock

1. Pat the chicken pieces dry and season liberally with salt.
2. Add oil and butter to a dutch oven over a high flame.
3. When the fats are hot but not smoking add chicken pieces, skin side down, and cook until skin turns an even, golden brown - about 3 minutes. Turn over to brown other side and when done, set pieces aside. Work in batches to cook all the meat.
4. Reduce heat to medium. Place the garlic cloves at the bottom of the skillet and sauté until garlic is lightly browned on all sides - about 10 minutes.
5. Add the chicken on top of the garlic then pour in the wine and stock.
6. Cover and continue cooking until juices run clear when a thigh is pricked - 10 to 15 minutes more.
7. Take cover off and place under the broiler for 5 minutes to re-crisp skin of the chicken. Serve over rice or potatoes.

Recipe: How to Roast a Pastured Chicken

While at Windy Ridge Natural Farms, we picked up a few things - a dozen eggs, a roaster, and a whole rooster for stewing. On top of that bounty, Tim was nice enough to send us home with some pink potatoes, his own Provencal herb mix, a stack of information about his farm and like-minded organizations, and a simple recipe card.

We really appreciate when pastured meat farmers provide recipes. While we don't always use the actual recipes, they generally highlight the best method for cooking their product. We often hear people say they don't like grass-fed beef or free-range chicken because it's too tough, rubbery or sinewy. The thing is: some people don’t realize they have to treat pastured meat differently than conventional meat. It can be tough or rubbery, but when prepared properly it's really, really good! It's all about sharing information, and that's one of the main reasons we write this blog. 

So when we glanced over this recipe card, we were excited to see that Tim suggests a different technique for cooking his birds - about 2 hours in a cooler oven. We've always roasted our birds at 350 for an hour and often the dark meat is, while much deeper in flavor, kinda... rubbery! Well, duh!! That’s because these birds are actually moving their legs! And with the more active muscles - shoulders, necks, shanks, & thighs - the motto is always: slow and low. Why we never connected the dots is beyond us!

Well, we couldn't wait to try this new method! And we decided we might as well do a whole Windy Ridge dinner - the chickens, herb mix, and pink potatoes! (There is something so satisfying about eating a meal that all comes from one farm.) Not surprisingly the low and slow method worked like a charm! Farmer knows best!

Windy Ridge’s Roast Chicken

+ 1 roaster - about 4.5 lbs

+ 2 tbsp Herbs De Provence (a mix of thyme, savory, lavender, fennel and whatever else you'd like)

+ 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

+ 1 tbsp coarse grain salt

For Gravy:

+ 1/2 cup dry white wine - we love Dr. Franks Dry Riesling

+ 2 tbsp butter 

+ 1 tbsp flour

1. Preheat oven to 300. Place a skillet big enough to hold the bird in the oven while it's heating.

2. Rinse and dry the chicken. Rub olive oil all over bird, then the herbs and salt.

3. When the oven has heated remove the skillet, put the bird in breast side up and place back in oven. Cook for 1 ¾ hrs.

4. Take the chicken out of the skillet and let stand for 10 minutes. In the meantime, place the skillet with drippings on the stove over medium heat. Whisk in ½ cup white wine and let reduce by half. Then whisk in 2 tbsp of butter and one tbsp of flour. Cook until thickened and serve over carved chicken.

Field Trip: Windy Ridge Natural Farms

While farmers like Joel Salatin may be the poster children for sustainable farming in America, one of the deep pleasures of writing this blog has been meeting other dedicated - and often unsung - farmers in the NYC food-shed. Recently, while in the Southern Tier of New York State, we were lucky enough to stumble upon one these farmers.

Windy Ridge Natural Farms in Alfred, NY is, not surprisingly, situated on a windy ridge. On this quiet hilltop sit about 400 of the happiest chickens we have ever seen! And caring for them is the tireless and tenacious Tim Koegel. Tim’s story is not all that different from others we have heard. He grew up on a small farm, saying goodbye to an agrarian lifestyle at age 18 - or so he thought. Skip a few years ahead to Tim with a good job, a lovely family... and a daughter with a terrible and inexplicable rash. When no modern or holistic medicine could solve the problem, Tim became convinced that it was food related. After carefully monitoring what his daughter was eating, he discovered that she suffered from an allergy to sulfites - food preservatives found as commonly in "organic" food as in conventional products.

That's when Tim realized the food system was seriously broken, and he decided that the only way to promote change was to participate in it. Over the last ten years Tim has become a leading pioneer in organic and sustainable poultry and egg farming. Working closely with Animal Welfare Approved and National Organic Farmers Association of New York, Tim has experimented and tinkered his way to a truly exceptional poultry production system. In fact, Tim describes his farm as being for experimental as much as productive. He works closely with AWA, consulting with people who want get into a similar kind of poultry farming. Recently, with a grant from AWA, he designed and built a state of the art mobile pasture layer house (a chicken trailer).

The Windy Ridge layers - Rhode Island Reds, Golden Laced Wyandottes, and Red-sex Links - are offered uninterrupted access (weather permitting) to pasture. Besides the ample food they find while foraging, they are fed organic grains grown in Western New York and Northern Pennsylvania. Their eggs can be found at Dickson’s in NYC and he raises broilers during the summer, selling them from his farm as wholes or by the half. He also raises roosters for meat (Windy Ridge Coq-au Vin coming soon!) and hopes to be able to house and sell more in the near future.

On top of being blown away by Tim's innovations and contributions to sustainable organic poultry farming, it was inspiring to listen to his ideas on good 'ole food - which is really what this is all about. To Tim, food, health and wellness are all part of the same thing. The food he produces isn't just less-bad for you, it actually makes you healthier. And that is the real goal- to make food that is delicious, healthy, and better for local economies.

We cant wait to come back this summer and see the Windy Ridge broilers. Thank you Tim for being such a welcoming inspiration!

Recipe: Mustard / Salad Dressing Chicken

We've probably alluded to the fact that cooking for one another was a crucial part of our courting process. One of Jake's early culinary coups was his family's top secret salad dressing. It's a punchy, mustardy, creamy dressing that pairs perfectly with sweeter salad greens. It took Silka a few months, but she finally got Jake to divulge the recipe. (He must have liked her.) Around the same time Jake wooed Silka with his mom's chicken parts in mustard sauce or, as we like to call it, "Salad Dressing Chicken."

Quick, super easy and inexpensive, this dish was a classic in Jake's family. While it's a simple recipe, it packs a major punch. His mom would make it for dinner parties as often as on busy week nights. It's quite a bit thicker and stronger, but this mustard sauce comes very close to that signature dressing. It might take another few months for Jake to agree to publish his secret weapon, but in the meantime this chicken is awesome!

Mustard Chicken

+ 1 whole chicken in 8 pcs

Sauce:

+ ½ cup Dijon mustard

+ 2 tablespoons soy sauce

+ 3 crushed garlic cloves

+ ½ cup olive oil

+ juice of one lemon

+ pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Mix all of the ingredients for the sauce in a bowl untill combined and thickened.

3. Dry off chicken parts and lay in a baking dish so that each piece has a little room around it. (Over crowding will lead to uneven cooking.)

4. Spoon the sauce over the chicken to cover and bake for one hour.

Serves 4

Butcher's Demo: How to Break Down a Whole Chicken

UPDATED: See below for a simple chicken stock recipe!

For our first butcher's demo we decided to go with chicken. It's the easiest thing to break down, extremely versatile, and probably the handiest "butcher" skill to have at home. When you break down a chicken in your own kitchen, you decide how to cut the pieces - whole legs vs. legs and thighs, whole breast vs single breasts - and how to use them - baked chicken pieces, grilled chicken wings, chicken soup or stew. You're left with the components of a great and easy stock (wing tips, back bone, giblets) and whatever you don't use, you can freeze for later.

We hope you enjoy our first video! These demos are a work-in-progress so we'd appreciate any suggestions, which you can send to cutandbake@gmail.com. Thanks for tuning in!

Simple Chicken Stock

+ the remains of 1 whole chicken (see above)
+ 1 celery rib
+ 1 carrot
+ 1 medium onion, left unpeeled, halved
+ 1 bay leaf
+ 8 whole black peppercorns
+ 4 quarts cold water
+ 1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1. Bring all ingredients to a boil in an 8- to 10-quart pot and skim froth. 
2. Reduce heat, uncover and gently simmer for 3-6 hours, skimming froth occasionally.
3. Strain through a sieve or colander to remove the chicken pieces, and discard the solids.
4. Chill, covered. Once chilled, remove any solidified fat and save for cooking (schmaltz). 5. Use within a week or freeze, well sealed, for up to a year. Bring to a boil before using.

Sunday Dinner: Chicken in Mushroom Sauce and Spinach Souffle

When we began planning for this weekend's meal, we realized it was the first weekend in at least four months that we'd be together in our apartment with no plans or guests. Now,  obviously we like to entertain but we were pretty psyched for our own little Sunday Dinner Date Night. When it's just the two of us we don't have to worry about how the food turns out or when dinner is ready, so we can take our time with more risky dishes. And if the kitchen gets a little messier because we're busy enjoying our newest local alcohol discovery, Breukelen Distillery Whiskey, then so be it.

It's truly autumn now - we're feeling and smelling it in the air, and seeing it in the warm light - and we were craving a hearty fall meal. Jake, an amateur mycologist, was especially craving mushrooms and because of the late summer rain they were in abundance. Silka had her eyes on the dark, crisp spinach flowing into the market stands and we both wanted to try something new.

We started with a spinach souffle, and from there started brainstorming what kind of mushroomy protein would go with it. Friday evening and Saturday morning  were spent pouring through our favorite cookbooks and we finally decided on chicken with a creamy mushroom sauce. Since both are fairly rich dishes, a green salad was the only addition we needed. 

On Saturday afternoon, we were off to the Market to get the goods with our friend Sara Mills, of Pomme Designs and Always Hungry. Both Bulich Mushroom Farm and Violet Hill Farm had an array of earthy mushrooms - crimini, hen of the woods, maitake, and porcini - and we got a little of each. From our buddies at Flying Pigs Farm we bought a beautiful plump chicken and a carton of eggs and we stopped by Migliorelli Farm for some crisp spinach. For our salad greens we went to one of our favorite greens farm, Windfall Farm and we ended with some truly amazing nutty Tuscan-style cheeses from Dancing Ewe Farm.

While marketting, we gave Sara a little tour of our favorite meat and dairy stands. You can read her lovely post about it here: "On Tour".

Chicken Parts in Mushroom Sauce

+ 1 whole chicken cut into 8 pieces

+ 4 small leeks, removing the dark green stems and cutting up the pale bulb into ¼ inch slices

+ 1 ½ lbs of mushrooms - we used porcini, crimini, and hen of the woods

+ ½ cup of ground dried mushrooms - you can buy dried mushrooms or dry them yourself

+ 1 cup of dry, earthy white wine (Burgundy or Arneis)

+ 1 cup of hot water

+ 2 tablespoons of olive oil or chicken schmaltz

+ 3 tablespoons of butter

+ 2 tablespoons of cream

+ A variety of herbs tied in a bundle around a clove of garlic - we used sage and thyme

+ salt and pepper 

1. In a large heavy-duty pan, drop the olive oil (or chicken schmaltz) and turn the burner to medium-high. As the pan is warming, pat the chicken dry with with a paper towel and generously salt the skin side. 

2. When the pan is hot brown the chicken parts in small batches- a minute or so on each side. (When browning, be careful not to crowd the pan or the ingredients won't brown properly.) Reserve the bowned chicken parts on a plate.

3. When all the chicken parts have been browned, saute the leeks in the same pan until they soften and become translucent. Meanwhile, combine the wine, hot water and ground dried mushrooms* in a separate bowl.

4. When the leeks are cooked put the chicken pieces back in the pan, skin side up, and add the liquid. Cover the pan partially, turning to a medium heat and keeping it at a slow simmer. 

5. Cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour. When the chicken is done - check with a thermometer (the meat should be 165 degrees) or cut into a piece and see - take the chicken pieces out and arrange on a platter. 

6. Turn the heat back up to medium-high and add the butter and sliced mushrooms**, stirring and reducing for about 10 minutes. When reduced, remove from heat and stir in cream. Pour over chicken and serve.

* If you want to make your own dried mushrooms, take ½ lbs of mushrooms and slice them thickly (1/4 inch thick). Put them on a baking sheet, careful not to overlap them, and put in the oven at 200 degrees. Check on them occasionally to make sure they don't burn. After about an hour, remove from oven and grind in a spice grinder (or a coffee grinder), in a mortar, or with a knife.

** If you wanted to be super fancy, you could pre-saute the mushrooms while the chicken is cooking, using another pan and a little butter. It probably would make this dish better but it's more work and more dishes to clean. And to be honest, we didn't do that and our mushroom sauce was awesome!

Spinach Souffle

From Mark Bittman's How To Cook Everything

+ 4 tablespoons (½ stick) butter, plus butter for the dish
+ ¼ cup AP flour
+ 1½ cups milk, warmed until hot to the touch (about a minute in an average microwave)
+ 6 eggs, separated
+ Salt and freshly ground black pepper
+ Dash of cayenne or ½ teaspoon dry mustard
+ ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

+ 2 tablespoons minced onion

+ 1 spinach, cooked, drained and chopped or pureed

1. Use a bit of the butter to grease a 2‐quart soufflé or other deep baking dish. (Hold off on this step if you're not going to bake the soufflés until later.)
2. Put the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter in a small saucepan over medium‐low heat. When the foam subsides, stir in the flour and cook, stirring, until the mixture darkens, about 3 minutes. Turn the heat to low and whisk in the milk, a bit at a time, until the mixture is thick. Let cool for a few minutes, then beat in the egg yolks, sprinkle with salt and pepper, cayenne or mustard, onion, spinach and cheeses. (At this point, you may cover the mixture tightly and refrigerate for a couple of hours; bring back to room temperature before continuing.)
3. About an hour before you're ready to cook, heat the oven to 375°F. Use an electric or hand mixer or whisk to beat the egg whites until fairly stiff. Stir about a third into the sauce to lighten it, then gently—and not overly thoroughly—fold in the remaining whites, using a rubber spatula or your hand. Transfer to the prepared dish and bake until the top is brown, the sides are firm, and the center is still quite moist, about 30 minutes. Use a thin skewer to check the interior; if it is still quite wet, bake for another 5 minutes. If it is just a bit moist, the soufflé is done. Serve immediately.

Sunday Dinner: Roast Chicken with Collards, Mashed Potatoes and Raspberry Gallette

Whenever we visit Jake's family in the Berkshires, we look forward to cooking them a big meal. Like us they are food-obsessed, and it only seems fair that we contribute, given their 18+ years of cooking for Jake and his two brothers.

This last visit was timed perfectly with the height of Jake's father's harvest- so we knew his huge collard greens would be a major component of the meal. From there we headed to our friend Sean Stanton's North Plain Farm where we picked out our protein. As we arrived, two of Sean’s apprentices entered the Farm Store carrying a full load of beautiful, yellow-skinned, pasture-raised chickens that had been slaughtered the day before- the evidence of which was in the driveway. Well, we knew we couldn't get much fresher than that. And talk about local! The remainder of the broilers were scratching around in the field right outside. We left with three chickens to roast, plus some of Sean's perfectly porky bacon to cook with the greens. 

Jake’s parents always have a sack of potatoes laying around from their friends at Foster Farm in Sagaponack so we thought we might as well round out the meal with some creamy mashed potatoes. As we were busy foraging for produce, Jake's mother was picking hundreds of raspberries from their bushes for a TBD desert. With all our ingredients in order, we got cooking.

This was a simple meal to prepare and it couldn't have been more satisfying on a brisk early-Fall day after a beautiful morning hike and an afternoon of local harvest. The chicken was incredibly juicy and- unlike what you get from the supermarket- tasted really chicken-y. The collards were sweet with a strong irony flavor and delicious hints of porky goodness while the mashed potatoes were buttery, creamy and oh so filling. But the impromptu raspberry gallette was the highlight, with handfuls of peaked fruit tucked into a light flaky crust. But that's a recipe for another post!

Roast Chicken with Gravy

+ 1 3-4 lb Chicken, pasture raised with giblets

+ ¼ cup of butter, softened

+ a bunch of herbs: thyme, rosemary, parsley, sage or whatever you have

+ 4 garlic cloves, crushed

+ 1 medium yellow onion, halved

+ salt and black pepper

+ ½ cup all-purpose flour

1. Preheat your oven to 500 with a cast iron pan or a clay baking dish in it. (If you don't have either, a large all-metal pan or a Pyrex baking dish will work.) Check to see if the chicken has any giblets in its cavity, hopefully it does. Take them out and set aside.

2. Dry off the chicken with a towel and make sure you immediately put the towel in the laundry basket. Try to gently separate the skin from the breast. You don't want the skin to tear, so don't force it. If you’re successful tuck a couple of cloves of garlic in the crevice between the leg and the breast (on each side), along with a few tablespoons of butter and some of the herbs.

3. Spread the rest of butter all over the top of the chicken then salt and pepper heavily. This is what give a roast chicken that great golden brown crust. Stuff the inside cavity of the chicken with half an onion a couple of garlic cloves the rest of the herbs.

4. Place the chicken, breast side up in the hot pan and put it in the oven.

Meanwhile- if you have them- brown the giblets in a small sauce pot with salt and pepper. After they are nicely browned add a 1 ½ cups of water, the other half an onion, and a pinch of salt and pepper. You can also throw in a carrot or celery stalk if you have them. Bring it to a boil and keep it at a hard simmer while the chicken roasts, adding more water if needed.

5. After 15 minutes turn the oven down to 350.

6. Check the chicken after 45 minutes. If you want to use a thermometer stick, it should read 165 when stuck into the breast. Our preferred method is shaking its leg. If it shakes loosely and clear juice runs out, it's done. When it's done take the chicken out of the pan, tipping it slightly so all of the inside juices can run out into the pan. 

7. Place the chicken on a carving board and let it rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Bring the giblets to a medium heat. Strain the the stock from the giblets into the pan and whisk together with other juices. As you whisk, slowly add flour to your desired thickness. Be very careful- you can't "unthicken" gravy.

Collards with Bacon

+ A bunch of collards - they cook down a lot

+ 8 oz bacon

+ ½ cup of Organic Apple Cider Vinegar - we almost exclusively use the Bragg Organic brand

+ salt and pepper to taste - red pepper flakes are good, too

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil.

2. Go through the collards removing the thick part of the stems. Blanch the collards in the boiling water. Take them out after 3 minutes and run them under cold water to stop the cooking.

3. Cut the bacon up to what ever size you like - as you've probably learned, we like big chunks.

4. Fry the bacon in a large saute pan. When the bacon is pretty browned and crispy, throw in the collards, the apple cider, and some salt. 

5. Cook for about 20 minutes, stirring frequently. Some people like them with more bite then others, so just keep checking until they reach your desired tenderness. Sprinkle with salt or red pepper flakes and serve

Jake's Creamy Mashed Potatoes

+ 2 lbs of Yukon Gold potatoes, quartered - we like Russets as well

+ ¼ cup butter, cut up in chunks

+ whole milk - non-homogenized or raw if possible - or cream

+ salt and pepper

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil and throw in the potatoes.

2. Meanwhile put the butter in a large bowl or the mixing bowl of a standing mixer.

3. After about 20 minutes check to see if the potatoes are tender by sticking a fork in them. When the potatoes are done, drain.

4. Add the hot potatoes to the butter. If you are using a standing mixing use your whipping attachment and start mixing on a low setting, adding the milk or cream slowly until you get your desired consistency. We like it chunky, but rich. You can just as easily mix everything together with a masher, big serving fork or spoon. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve.