Different as Black and White

I am continuing to learn about cooking. I learn new things each time I cook and remember to either do it again or never do it again. This weekend I learned an important lesson.

Do you know the difference between black pepper and white pepper?

Let me enlighten you.

Black pepper is the entire peppercorn either ground or finely crushed, based on preference. It does have a kick to it. It is also harder for your body to digest.

White pepper is what remains of the peppercorn once the outer black shell is removed. It is much milder and easier for your body to digest.

When you are in the middle of a recipe and it calls for an amount of white pepper and all you have is black.... do not use the same measure of black pepper. Use about half of what it calls for. Trust me.

Now that we have that out of the way, we can go on to talk about my new favorite kind of mashed potato, the garlic rosemary kind.....

Garlic Rosemary Mashed Potatoes
based upon the original recipe found here

2.5 pounds of yukon gold potatoes, washed and cubed (peels remain)
2 tblspns of olive oil
1 & 1/2 tspns of minced garlic - which is about 3 cloves
2 tspns of dried rosemary - is you have fresh, it would work so much better, just mince it first
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tspn salt
1/4 tspn black pepper
8 ounces of cream cheese, cubed

Boil the potatoes. Meanwhile, saute the oil, garlic and rosemary. Once the potatoes are fork tender, transfer to your Kitchen Aid (or you can hand mash, this is just easier) and pour the garlic and rosemary mixture over them. Stir together. Pour the milk, salt and pepper over the potatoes and start the mixer. I kept it around the 2 - 4 speed. Once it is starting to look like mashed potatoes, drop the cubes of cream cheese in one at a time until they are well blended.

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SO good! I really wish I had of splurged and bought fresh rosemary, because it wasn't as strong as I felt that it needed to be. The measure for black pepper IS correct in the above recipe, i used double that and really regretted it. It wasn't so bad that you couldn't enjoy the dish, but you could tell they were "over peppered". I plated mine up covered in the gravy from the roast - it was perfect!