Potato Sauce--a Fast & Easy Holiday Recipe

A quickly assembled sauce of crème fraîche, mayo, roasted garlic and pepper. Great on many types of potatoes--boiled, roasted, or baked.

I've got a fast recipe today. It uses 4 ingredients--and if you can't find the main one, you can always substitute or even make your own. How easy is that?

We eat potatoes to celebrate so many things.  If it's not my Make Ahead Irish Mashed Potato Casserole alongside a Thanksgiving turkey, it's a baked potato, roasted potatoes, or boiled new potatoes from the farm share cuddled up with Swedish Meatballs.

Our family's favorite way to enjoy these potatoes is with Potato Sauce.  I know the name is boring--I thought about trying to jazz it up by calling it Crème Fraîche and Røastéd Gårlic Pøtatø Saüce, but in the end opted to keep it simple. It's just a sauce for potatoes, after all.

I first had this sauce in Copenhagen when my sister in law whipped it up. I was blown away at how delicious something so simple could taste! I'm not sure if it was the exoticness of the crème fraîche or the comfort of home cooking after travel or what--but I was smitten.

If you are fortunate enough to encounter some magically marked down containers of crème fraîche you're good to go. If not--you can make your own. Here's a recipe. If you don't have time for that--just use some sour cream. It's all good.

What if you didn't roast your garlic crop last year? No worries, finely chop some fresh garlic, or stir in some dehydrated minced garlic if that's all you've got handy. [Don't tell me you didn't even grow garlic--it's pretty easy. If you live in a place where tulips and daffodils flourish in the Spring, you live where garlic will grow. Plant some in the fall and harvest it--along with amazing garlic scapes--in early summer.]

For other recipes using roasted garlic, please see my Garlic Recipes Collection, part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient.

Potato Sauce (serves 4, scales up easily, keeps a few days in the fridge)

½ cup crème fraîche (or make your own or substitute sour cream)

1 to 2 Tablespoons mayonnaise

2 cloves roasted garlic (here's how I put up mine--or substitute fresh or dried minced garlic)

freshly ground pepper to taste (I start off with about ½ teaspoon and go from there)

In a small bowl stir together the crème fraîche and mayo. Smash and crush the garlic into a paste, and add it with the pepper. Stir well. Chill for at least 30 minutes to allow the flavors to mingle. This keeps for a few days in the fridge. I prefer the flavors best at room temperature and will set the dish out while I'm setting the table, but my daughter is happy to eat this on reheated leftovers straight out of the fridge. We're having it for her birthday, along with 'steak and cake'.

yes, I just threw it back into the original container. Saved a dish.