Recipes Comfort Food Casseroles Mashed-Potato Casserole with Sage and Fontina 5.0 (3) 3 Reviews To take mashed potatoes up a few notches, cookbook author Melissa Clark mashes them with a creamy, tangy mix of crème fraîche, butter, parsley and sage, then tops them with cheesy breadcrumbs and bakes until crisp. Slideshow: More Casserole Recipes By Melissa Clark Melissa Clark Melissa Clark is a food writer and the author of more than 40 cookbooks. She has been a staff reporter at The New York Times for more than 10 years, where she writes about food trends, develops recipes, and appears in cooking videos linked to her column, A Good Appetite. She is a regular guest on the Today show, Rachael Ray, and NPR.Experience: Melissa Clark's introduction to the world of culinary journalism came while she was pursuing her MFA from Columbia University, where she took a food writing course taught by Betty Fussell. Upon graduation, Melissa worked catering and front-of-house restaurant jobs, did freelance writing for publications such as Time Out New York, and began developing recipes.Melissa has been writing for The New York Times since 2007. She's been a staff writer there since 2012, turning out her weekly column, A Good Appetite, and writing about 65 recipes for the paper each year.Melissa has authored more than 40 cookbooks, including collaborations with renowned chefs Daniel Boulud, David Bouley, and Claudia Fleming. Her work has been recognized with awards from the James Beard Foundation and the IACP.In 2019, Melissa hosted her own podcast, Weeknight Kitchen with Melissa Clark. She has been featured as a judge on Iron Chef America and regularly appears on the Today show, Rachael Ray, and NPR's The Splendid Table. Food & Wine's Editorial Guidelines Published on March 29, 2017 Print Rate It Share Share Tweet Pin Email Photo: © John Kernick Active Time: 20 mins Total Time: 1 hrs Yield: 8 to 10 Ingredients 6 tablespoons unsalted butter (plus more for greasing at room temperature) 3 pounds baking potatoes (peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces) ½ cup crème fraîche (4 ounces) 2 tablespoons parsley (chopped) 1 tablespoon sage (plus 2 sage leaves chopped) 8 ounces imported Fontina cheese (shredded) Kosher salt Pepper ⅓ cup breadcrumbs (plain dry) ⅓ cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (freshly grated) Olive oil (for frying) Directions Preheat the oven to 400°. Lightly grease a 2-quart shallow baking dish. In a large saucepan, combine the potatoes with enough water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to a boil and cook until fork-tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Drain well and transfer to a large bowl. Mash the potatoes with 4 tablespoons of the butter, the crème fraîche, parsley and chopped sage. Fold in the Fontina and season with salt and pepper. Spread the potato mixture in the prepared dish in an even layer. In a small bowl, using your fingers, blend the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter with the breadcrumbs and Parmesan until coarse crumbs form. Top the potatoes with the breadcrumb mixture. Bake for about 30 minutes, until golden and crisp on top. Meanwhile, in a small skillet, heat 1/4 inch of olive oil over low heat. Add the sage leaves and cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp, about 3 minutes. Transfer the sage to paper towels to drain. Scatter the fried sage over the casserole and serve. Make Ahead The assembled unbaked casserole can be refrigerated overnight. Rate it Print