Never made mashed potatoes before.  Decided to go big or go home and make ’em into giardiniera mashed potatoes on my very first try.

Boiled half a bag of mediumish-sized russet potatoes and mashed ’em with a giant wooden spork utensil I somehow own.  Don’t remember buying it.  Maybe my mom gave it to me?  No idea.  Anyway, mashed up the boiled spuds while adding some milk and half a jar of the giardiniera I got from Roma’s.

See how it mixed in there real nice?? >>>>

Poured the giardiniera juice in there too to really infuse the whole dish with the hot flavor.  Served it with grilled chicken and a cold glass of Seagram’s Lemon Seltzer water in a Hawkeyes pint glass to balance out the heat from the potatoes.

After a bite or two I added some salt and pepper.  Might be good to keep the jar of giardiniera on the table too in case you run into a bite without any giardiniera in it.  Kind of bland around the giardiniera.  Maybe adding butter to the original mixture would’ve flavored the potatoes a little further.  Or maybe I need to put an entire jar of giardiniera instead of half a jar.  But that’s a lot of giardiniera.  It’s like 6 bucks a jar from Roma’s and I don’t want to waste it all on mashed potatoes.  I might want a giardiniera burger or something this weekend.  This whole experience gave me a lot to think about.