For the holidays, cook mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes in your Instant Pot and save space on your stove top. For mashed potatoes: Wash, trim and dice new potatoes (no need to peel!) and place on a steamer rack. Place the steamer in your Instant Pot. Add one cup of water. Secure Instant Pot lid, set value to SEALING and set timer for 7 minutes. At end of pressure cooking, use an instant release. Pull the steamer basket out of the Instant Pot, and pour out water in the liner pan. Turn instant Pot to SIMMER and melt 1/2 cube of butter in the liner pan. Put the potatoes back into the pan and mash with a potato masher, adding milk or half-and-half as needed until you reach desired consistency. Turn Instant Pot to WARM until rest of your meal is ready to serve. Serve mashed potatoes with fresh chopped parsley or chives, and more butter if you like.For savory sweet potatoes:Wash and trim three or four medium sweet potatoes. Poke knife holes in potatoes. Place in a steam rack and place in Instant Pot liner pan. Add a cup of water. Set Instant Pot to high or manual, set valve to SEALING and set timer for 15 minutes. At end of 15 minutes, allow a natural release for about 10 minutes. Release remaining steam. Remove potatoes with tongs and slice into wedges. Put into a pie pan and sprinkle with a teaspoon of olive oil or melted butter, and grated or shredded Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle with basil and a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar. Cover with foil. When holiday dinner is just about ready, place potatoes in the oven to keep warm until cheese is melted and turkey is sliced. (The Instant Pot mitts I used would make great holiday stocking stuffers: https://amzn.to/2ODpXpL. And full disclosure: if you purchase the mitts at that link, I'll make a small commission, but at no additional cost to you!)
