In Season: Potatoes

Posted by Alaina Browne, December 7, 2008 at 4:00 PM

Although potatoes are harvested earlier in the year, they're easily stored by producers from up to six months and that's why you'll see so many of them at the farmers' market this time of year. At home, you'll want to make sure to store them in a cool, dark, dry place to prevent them from sprouting or spoiling.

I'll happily eat potatoes any which way—french fried, scalloped, mashed, braised, hashed, stir-fried. Below are a variety of straight-forward potato preparations and recipes. I hope you'll use them as starting point for creating your own bit of potato deliciousness. Another pat of butter, a bit of bacon, some fresh rosemary, freshly ground pepper, are a few of my potato flair go-tos. I know, not exactly groundbreaking but easy and delicious. So what are your potato tricks and signature dishes?

Potato Recipes

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Tags: In Season, potatoes

11 Comments:

I get a lot of compliments about my mashed potatoes, which seems odd to me. I mean, they're just mashed potatoes. I use a potato ricer to smash them, and the add-ins are the usual butter, milk, salt (sometimes pepper, sometimes not). Probably the only somewhat unique thing I add is yogurt or sour cream or buttermilk, depending on which one I have on hand. I think that adds a nice little tang, much like adding sour cream to baked potatoes.

Or possibly it's that I taste the potatoes and adjust the seasonings. I've seen a lot of people who mash, add butter and liquid and a shake of salt and plate it up without ever tasting. Yeah, it's not rocket science, but a little more salt or butter or whatever can make a big difference in the end product.

dbcurrie at 4:41PM on 12/07/08

I like to cook my potatoes on a medium heat in chicken stock. I use enough to barely cover them and stir them occassionally so that the parts that poke through the stock cook properly. I pour off the stock into a vessel of some sort. I then let them dry out just a bit, add butter until incorporated and then add back in some of the stock. I don't have a masher so I just use a fork. I add more stock as necessary, maybe a bit of milk. How much salt I add depends on the saltiness of the stock. Lots of pepper.

Of course the usual boiling, butter/milk and mash recipe is fantastic. too. Whatever method I use I always let them dry out some and add in the butter first, and separately, from the milk.

Marls Barkley at 5:03PM on 12/07/08

What's #6 on the list of recipe links?! I can't see it, and therefore I am sure it is THE recipe I have been waiting for all my life!

Cary at 6:48PM on 12/07/08

The Blumenthal’s Roast Potatoes look great. I'm going to try it out.

amgconz at 9:05PM on 12/07/08

I think I've posted this link a time or two ... or three times ... maybe four ...

LunaPierCook at 9:09PM on 12/07/08

Here are some of my favorite potato dishes:

Baked Potato Wedges
Fried Potatoes
Pesto Potatoes
Potato Pancakes
Potato Puree

5starfoodie at 11:04PM on 12/07/08

Nigella's scalloped potatoes are good. This is by far my fav go to dinner winner.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/nigella-lawson/creamy-potato-gratin-recipe/index.html
I use 4 cloves of roasted garlic and half an onion and a few shallots.
This was great for when you are using a lot of oven time, it finishes in the oven and cooks on the stove.

JerzeeTomato at 9:28AM on 12/08/08

Smashed Red Potatoes. Cook them up, skin on with a bay leaf. Break them up with some cream cheese, butter and a bit of sour cream and milk. Keep them chunky. Add lots of chives and of course season well with salt and pepper.

dhorst at 9:57AM on 12/08/08

http://www.recipecarousel.com has a great potato salad recipe
real healthy too.

cheers!

cookery7 at 12:29PM on 12/08/08

i haven't tried them yet, but the pioneer woman's crash hot potatoes look good. you boil them, smack them flat, drizzle them with olive oil and whatever else you like, then bake.

i also like hasselback -- put a small potato in the bowl of a wooden spoon and slice downward, not quite all the way, in 1/4 inch increments, so that it resembles a porcupine. sprinkle with the usual and bake with olive oil and butter, basting occasionally.

cybercita at 1:35PM on 12/08/08

I love a good old fashioned loaded baked potato, with lots of melty butter, sour cream, real bacon crumbles, chives and some cheddar cheese. I think Paul Deen has a good idea when she oils the outsides of her potatoes and sprinkles them with a coarse kosher salt before baking. It makes a crustier, saltier skin, which makes it easier to eat once you get all the yumminess out of the middle -- after all, as mom always says, "All of the vitamins are in the skin!"

juliebugsmama at 2:52PM on 12/08/08

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