This month, the old high-utility, high-nutrition standby, The Potato.
(If you would like to be on or off of this monthly cooking thread ping-list, please send a private message.)
-JT
Too funny. I love potatoes but don’t have any fancy recipes. Mostly stick with baked, mashed or scalloped.
Authentic German Schupfnudeln Potato Dumplings
Roasted finger-shaped dumplings with sage butter.
Ingredients
1 lb starchy potatoes
1 egg*
2/3 cups flour
pinch of salt
pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
knob of butter
handful of sage leaves
Servings:
Units:
Instructions
Wash the potatoes, and cook in simmering water until they are soft. Peel them while they’re still warm and press through a potato ricer. Spread onto a baking sheet and set aside to allow the water to evaporate.
Once cooled, knead the egg and flour into the potatoes. Season with salt and nutmeg, and form into a long, thin roll.
Cut into one-inch pieces and use your hands to form bite-sized, finger shaped dumplings by rolling them with your palms.
Cook them in lightly boiling salted water until they come to the top. Take out with a skimmer, and leave to cool a bit.
Melt the butter in a pan. Add some sage leaves and wait for them to become crispy.
Add the dumplings and sauté for 5-10 minutes until golden brown.
Serve immediately, garnished with some fresh sage leaves.
This is hilarious, Martin Yan teaches us to make Crap soup, Seaweed Rose, and an interesting potato birds nest..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwI-PoawRhU&feature=emb_logo
Darn, I can’t believe I left out Latkes. I learned to make these many years ago, and while I just don’t ‘get’ the applesauce thing, I love these with sour cream.
(I’ve always grated the potatoes by hand - I thought they’d get too liquid-y and mushy in the processor. But this recipe seems to use the processor to good effect):
http://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/212816/foolproof-potato-latkes/
Potatoes are a health food for me. They’re a major source of potassium, they’re easy to grow, and they’re one of the few things I can eat when my stomach is acting up.
For anyone here who keeps a stash of “survival seeds”, I recommend getting a few packets of true potato seed.
True potato seed, or TPS, looks a lot like tomato seeds, and can be grown the same way. Unlike seed potatoes, TPS can be stored for years with only a slight decrease in germination rates. TPS is harder to find than seed potatoes, but Jungs has started carrying one variety of it. And Cultivariable.com has dozens of them, along with lots of information on growing them, and how to select which ones to save.
Potatoes grown from seed tend to have smaller crops the first year, and the size, color, texture, flavor, bug resistance, disease resistance, and any other trait you can think of, will be unpredictable. TPS isn’t really intended as a source of main-crop potatoes. But, if anything happens to your seed potatoes and you can’t get more, TPS gives you a way to rebuild your supply. Taste a spud from each plant, and save seed potatoes for planting from the ones you like best.
If you want to save your own TPS, watch for those little green potato-berries that sometimes form after the potato flowers. They usually fall off while still green, that’s ok. Just set the berries somewhere they can continue ripening, and let them dry naturally.
I love potato soup. I keep mine really simple, just potatoes, bouillon or chicken broth, and a can of cream of chicken soup.
Or beef stew, with whatever proportions look “right” of beef, potatoes, carrots, peas, and tomatoes.
I sometimes make “smashed potato”, which is just a potato cooked in the microwave and mashed with a fork. It satisfies the craving for mashed potatoes, but with less work and fewer dishes than making them the standard way. Add milk, butter, and salt if you like. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. I usually top it with cream of chicken soup, or whatever gravy I can find. It’s a simple too-tired-to-cook meal.
My family sometimes eats a dish we call “breakfast stir-fry”. Diced potatoes, finely chopped carrots, whatever breakfast meat is handy, all fried in butter together. Then when it’s all cooked but not quite browned, add eggs and continue frying until the eggs are cooked.
MANAGE MY RECIPES
Just found a new on line site to help manage those recipes
in any “when I get around to it” drawer, box, or any other hide-y-hole,
The site is Copy Me That.
https://www.copymethat.com/features/recipe-manager/
A free site which you can upgrade for a price. You might
want to check it out.
https://www.copymethat.com/features/recipe-manager/
Happy Feasting!