This Spud’s For You

Spuds get no respect. I was reminded of that when, this past week, we needed a no-nonsense evening meal. A late meeting meant that we would not be dining until about 8:30, so we needed a fast repast. Thanks to leftover chili and some russets that I had baked earlier in the day, we had a meal. I scooped out the potato flesh from the skins, mashed it, combined it with some Parmesan cheese and packed it back in to the potato skins, then reheated them in the oven for 10 minutes. I topped the potatoes with the chili and a big spoonful of yogurt, and dinner was ready in 15 minutes. I had not anticipated the taste explosion when I bit into dinner that night. The creamy, mild offset to the chili tantalized my taste buds. I was reminded of hundreds of childhood meals.

I grew up in a 1950s Midwest farm meat-and-potatoes dinner family. Back then, about three-quarters of our meals included a potato side dish. I’m sure it helped to fill those stomachs after a day of farm work and chores. It was never anything fancy. Potatoes were boiled or mashed and sometimes baked, though the other methods were faster. Leftover mashed potatoes were sometimes made into potato patties for a quick side. Of course, we also enjoyed potato salad in the summer, even hot German potato salad, on occasion. And several times a year, my mother would make a scalloped potato casserole of layered sliced potatoes, onions, and ham, fortified with a cream sauce and then baked, sometimes with a cheese topping. By and large, that constituted the Midwest farm potato pantheon.

Beyond boiling and baking

When I moved to the Boston area in the late 1960s, I moved into rice mode as the starch side dish. But more recently, I’ve come back to appreciate the use of potato by other food traditions. Despite the heavy Irish population in the Boston area, I’m actually not talking about their potato dishes. No shepherd’s pie, neeps and tatties, or rumbledethumps. I’m talking about appreciating the breadth of interesting potato concoctions in Indian fare – assorted curries and vindaloos – and the Persian koresh offerings. In addition, a number of Mediterranean recipes include potatoes. I’m especially fond of a duck fat potato galette that I discovered a few years ago.

Looking for a new lease on potatoes for your own menu, you might consult The Potato Year by Lucy Madden, a member of the Irish Foodwriters Guild. Among her 300-plus recipes are a host of tempting takes on the lowly spud from appetizer to dessert. From Peru, where potatoes were first domesticated in about 5000 BCE, comes ocopa, a dish that includes, after some aromatics, raw peanuts, evaporated milk, lettuce leaves, and hard-boiled eggs. If you prefer, there’s a dish whose name is a mouthful – potatoes of the grape gatherers of Burgundy. Or you could try braendende kaerlighed (burning love), a Dutch recipe described as being most suitable for Valentine’s Day (“hearty food for the hot-blooded”).

Load ’em up

But before I get to trying these, I’m still back at loaded baked potatoes. I’ve just begun to explore the possibilities. This recipe suggests filling them with more than 20 different toppings and/or 18 different vegetables. How about curried walnut pate or lentil hummus? Maybe go out on a limb with Sriracha-mustard mayo or zucchini hummus? I could imagine a number of interesting combinations using these as a starting place. I’ve really rediscovered my respect for spuds.

How about you? Do you have a potato recipe that goes beyond the ordinary?

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