I’ve struggled in the past to make mashed potatoes with the texture I really like – the really fluffy, smooth, creamy kind. Maybe I’d been using the wrong kind of potatoes or I wasn’t cooking the potatoes for long enough or I could have benefited from a tool like a potato ricer…but I think the real reason I wasn’t getting the result I wanted is that I was reluctant to use enough of a few key ingredients. Namely butter and cream.

Well, I’ve gotten past that now.

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Ina Garten (aka, the Barefoot Contessa) roasts a chicken every Friday night for her husband Jeffrey when he makes the long drive out to their home in the Hamptons. How homey and inviting that sounds! Of course, Jeffrey is one lucky guy to be coming home to anything Ina makes, but a flavorful roast chicken is just one of those satisfying staples that always seems to please and is pretty easy to pull together. The Herb-Crusted Roast Chicken recipe I’m sharing today isn’t from Ina, but I’m quite sure Jeffrey would find it quite worth the drive home to “the island”.

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