The Funky Kitchen

What are your favorite things about potatoes?

The comforting umami flavor in a baked potato? The dreamy creamy softness of a mashed potato? The crispy bite of the exterior of a roasted potato? That they go well with almost anything? Their divine pairing with butter? The carbohydrate content? (I know I’m not the lone carbohydrate addict out there).

All of the above are my favorite things about potatoes.

When I was a littler girl than I am now, my mom, brother and I would have supper at my Grandma’s every Wednesday. I would get to choose the menu one week, then my brother would choose it next. My choice was always roast beef, cloud potatoes and gravy. I didn’t really care too much about the roast, except that it allowed for gravy to be made. I really did like the gravy (and still do) but it was important because of the giant pile of cloud potatoes on my plate. Yes, they were really just mashed potatoes, but with the imaginative flare my grandma imparted into us, they were clouds on our plates. Cloud potatoes were my favorite.

Maybe it was the years of cloud potatoes, maybe it’s my Irish-Ukranian heritage, but potatoes are such a perfect food. So many of my favorite meals still include potatoes of some sort. And these potatoes hit the spot! Once again Nigella Lawson has just the right thing. A potato that offers comforting potato flavor, lovely potato cloudy softness, crispy edges… All of these things that I adore about potatoes, in addition to being easy to prepare and looking like striped potato caterpillars.

Hasselback potatoes are the potatoes that can do it all! And here is how:

Hasselback Potatoes

(adapted from Hasselback Potatoes in Nigella Lawson’s Forever Summer)

2 medium sized potatoes, scrubbed but not peeled

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp Butter

1/4 tsp salt

• Preheat the oven to 400° F.
• Place one of your potatoes into a large spoon, so that the bottom of the potato is cradled in the spoon.
• Take a knife, and cut across the potato, through to the spoon, at as small of an interval as you can easily manage (~ a few millimeters). The spoon is serving as a cradle during the cutting process, so that all of the ‘leaves’ that are cut in this step are still attached to the ‘spine’, if you think of your potato as a book.

• Heat the olive oil and butter to sizzling on the stove top and brown all sides of your potatoes, starting cut side down (or, spine side up, if that helps you visualize).
• Place the potatoes in a roasting dish, cut side up (or spine side down, for those of you following along) and spoon the fat over them.
• Sprinkle with salt.
• Pop the potatoes into the oven for 40 minutes.
• Then, turn up the heat to 450° F, and continue to roast them for 10 more minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked through and tender, but the edges of all the ‘leaves’ are crispy and browned.
• Remove from the oven and serve.

This recipe only makes two potatoes because I was only cooking for two people. It should multiply linearly very easily to feed whatever size of party you are cooking for. Mmm… just thinking about these makes me want to go downstairs and sneak a couple of crispy bits from Mister’s that is waiting for him to come home.

Late one night, not too long ago, I developed a craving for potato wedges. Crispy on the outside, soft and floury on the inside and perfect for dipping into some concoction of sauce. Isn’t dipping fun? The issues I faced were time and cooking method.

As I mentioned above, it was late, so my normal oven roasting method would not do. Half an hour, or there abouts, to attain my desired level of crispy was too long to wait. Frying, or deep frying, would cut down on the time required but it would add undesired fat to the mix. I’m not saying that it wouldn’t have worked well as a method, for it would have, but at that particular time I didn’t want to go that way.

How could I make quick crispy potato wedges without getting out a big ol’ pot of oil?

The answer: egg wash.

When you’re baking bread and use an egg wash on your yet to be baked loaf, the egg wash will contribute a distinctive finish as well as a crispier crust. If it can make bread crispier, I didn’t see why it wouldn’t do the same thing to a potato wedge. As an added bonus, the egg wash gives the flavoring elements of choice something to stick to, so that they stay on the potato.

It was as easy as pie. Separate an egg, whisk the white until frothy. Add some spices. Coat your wedges and bake. How frothy should the egg white be? This frothy:

Fifteen minutes later, you have some crispy on the outside, soft and floury on the inside potato wedges. Dipped into a creamy-spicy sour cream and sriracha dip, they were a great (and quick) midnight snack. Craving fulfilled.

Quick Potato Wedges in the Oven

2 potatoes, washed and scrubbed

1 egg white

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp black pepper

• Crank the heat all the way up to 500° F to preheat the oven.
• Cut both potatoes into 6-8 wedges (depending on how big your potato is) lengthwise.
• In a bowl, whisk the egg white until frothy.
• Add the salt, paprika and pepper to the bowl, and mix.
• Toss the potato wedges with the egg white, draining off excess liquid.
• Arrange on a baking sheet in a single layer, with some space in between.
• Bake until browned, turning halfway through for even browning. (~15 minutes total, or 7-8 minutes per side).
• Serve  with condiment of choice to hungry midnight snackers.

For the dip we ate our wedges with: just combine a tablespoon or two of sour cream with some sriracha (how ever much you want, it depends how spicy you like it). It’s so easy, but so very very tasty to dip potato wedges in.

Mister’s family and I were up north in the lovely town of Swan River this weekend. Though the reason for our being there wasn’t a very happy one, it was a good couple of days because I got to see some of the places in Mister’s childhood that were pretty special in his upbringing. We went to his grandparents farm, the lake where he learned how to fish, and I got to meet some of his extended family members. Because of his having grown up out of province, and the trip to Swan being quite a drive, most of his childhood haunts are far away.  It was nice to take a walk down memory lane and learn about the things, people and places that have affected his growth into the man he is today.

These biscuits are his dad’s recipe (Hi Tom!) and Mister and his brothers ate them often while growing up. Normally he makes them round, as we did too, but I couldn’t resist a couple of hippopotamus shaped ones as well. A hippo shaped biscuit is just too irresistable a thought.

Tom’s Best Biscuits

(from Company’s Coming Muffins & More 1983, Best Cheese Biscuits)

2 Cups flour

4 tsp baking powder

2 Tbsp sugar

3/4 tsp salt

1 Cup grated cheddar cheese

1/3 Cup cooking oil

3/4 Cup milk

• Combine the first four ingredients in a bowl.
• Add the grated cheese, stirring to coat.
• Add cooking oil and milk, stirring to form a soft dough.
• Turn dough out onto a board and knead gently 8-10 times. Note from Tom: Do not over-knead!
• Pat dough out to approximately one inch thick.
• Cut out your biscuits using a biscuit cutter, glass, or cookie cutter. Hurray for hippopotamus!
• Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, at least one inch apart to attain crisp sides.
• Bake in a 425° F oven until nicely browned (~15 minutes).

These biscuits are good with pretty much any spread I’m told, but we ate them with butter and honey.