Italian mashed potatoes with garlic, EVOO and seasoning.

I've been intrigued by olive oil based mashed potatoes.  I've had the super simple, yet super delicious olives, olive oil, salt and potatoes recipe, but I was stuck without olives the other day (yes, shame on me).  So I came up with a yet another ad-hoc special that ended up working out really well.  It was based on the idea of olive oil, garlic, italian seasoning and hot pepper flakes.

The respective amounts of each ingredient are up to you, since I was making it up as I went along.  But the end result was pretty tasty.  I do fry the garlic in EVOO at low heat so if you have a "frying" EVOO use that.

Italian mashed potatoes

Potatoes.  Say 5 lbs of russet.
Italian seasoning.  Say 1 Tbsp.
Frying EVOO.   Something not too "good".
Drizzling EVOO.   Something good.
Garlic.  Say 1-2 heads.  Or whatever hits your fancy.
Hot pepper flakes.
Milk or half/half.  Say 1/2 cup.
Butter.  Say 1/2 a stick.
Salt and pepper.

1.  If you will eat the skins, scrub the potatoes gently.  Otherwise peel them.  Cut potatoes into 1" to 2" pieces.  I had gigantic russets so I cut them into fourths.  I'm lazy so I left the skins on.
2.  Boil a big pot of water.  Salt as desired.  I like salt, so I am generous.  Add potatoes and cook until they are tender.  The skins will start to peel off on a few pieces when done.  While the potatoes cook do steps 3, 4 and 5.
3.  While potatoes are cooking, smash as much garlic as you want and mince into coarse pieces.  (If you just wanted to smash and not mince, that would be fine with me.)  I used 1.5 heads of garlic for my recipe.
4.  In a frying pan, heat up the frying EVOO (or whatever oil you want), the garlic, some italian seasoning and the hot pepper flakes.  Stir on medium low for 1-2 minutes.  The garlic should not brown at all, but should become aromatic.
5. (Optional) Heat some milk or half-and-half with some butter in the microwave until the butter is melted.
6.  When potatoes are done, mash or rice them while hot.  Add the EVOO, garlic, seasoning mixture and the milk/butter mixture.  Add salt and pepper taste.  Add any of the drizzling EVOO.  Gently fold everything to mix.  Too much mixing while stiffen the potatoes giving a gluey texture, which I personally do not like.
7.  Serve.