Salisbury Steak, Smashed Potatoes and Creamed Spinach

This Rachael Ray TV Dinner (aka Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Gravy, Smashed Potatoes and Creamed Spinach) is one of our favorite comfort food meals in the cold months. Since I still have a ton of ground beef in the freezer I made this for dinner on Monday:


Everything was fantastic, as always, but the smashed potatoes really made the meal. They were so good I could have eaten a big bowl of them and called it a day. I used red potatoes and left the skins on for flavor, color and texture (and some much-needed vitamins). I also added about five cloves of smashed garlic to the pot as the potatoes were cooking. Once the potatoes were cooked and drained I added the rest of the blue and mascarpone cheeses I had leftover from the caramelized onion and blue cheese orzo I made a few weeks ago, three finely minced scallions, a little salt and pepper and maybe a tablespoon of butter. I mashed everything together and took a taste. Holy cow! These were the best smashed potatoes I've ever made. The tang from the blue cheese, the creaminess of the mascarpone, the mild garlic and onion flavor all worked in perfect harmony. Insanely good.