Cheesy Thyme Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients

• 2 ½ pounds russet potatoes (about 4 potatoes)
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 sprigs of thyme, plus more as garnish
• 1 ½ cups heavy cream
• 1 ¾ teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
• Freshly ground pepper
• 1 cup finely shredded cheddar cheese/fontina or another melty cheese

Instructions

1. 1
   Peel all the potatoes and dice them into 1-inch cubes. This doesn’t have to be perfect but try your best to get them to be uniform in size.
2. 2
   If you own a steam-basket, great—use it! I don’t own one so I made a make-shift steam basket by filling up a 3-quart Dutch oven/pot with a few inches of water. I then nestled a sieve on top and added the potatoes to it and covered the potatoes with foil.
3. 3
   Place your steam basket/make-shift thing over medium-high heat. Steam the potatoes for about 30 to 35 minutes, stirring them about half way through. Give them a taste and make sure they’re VERY soft. Remove them from the steam basket and run them through the potato ricer, in batches, into the bowl or a stand-up mixer (or just a regular ol’ medium bowl).
4. 4
   Repeat this step until you’ve worked your way through all of the potatoes.
5. 5
   In a small saucepan, add the butter and thyme. Warm over medium-low heat until the butter has melted. Allow to steep for about 5 minutes. Next, add the heavy cream and heat until just warm. Discard the thyme leaves. Pour that into the stand-up mixer bowl, along with the salt and pepper and beat, with the paddle attachment, for about 1 minute. Scrap down the sides, if you need to. Give it a taste and adjust the salt to your liking. Add the cheese and stir until melted.
6. 6
   Serve immediately or store in the fridge to reheat later.