Regardless how to you say it, we can agree that potatoes are one of the most user-friendly vegetables around.
So you’d think. While potatoes are one of our staple foods it deserves a little more attention than being 5% of the main food items New Zealander’s waste each year.
Potatoes are tubers, literally swollen roots, that belong to the same family as kumara, taro and yam. Native to the Andes in South America, it was the British that brought the humble spud to New Zealand. By 1880 they were a staple part of the early settlers diet and it would be fair to say, have stayed that way.
There are 10-12 readily available main potatoes varieties grown in New Zealand (you may be familiar with Rua, Agria, Nadine etc). There are many varieties that have limited or localised supply that you may never see in larger stores, rather at your local vege shop or farmers’ market.
What I did learn earlier this month is that there is a new varietal called ‘Sunlite’ (which will be available from next season) that has 30% less carbs than most others! Bingo. Bango.
Which potato variety to use and when?
Potatoes are classed as either ‘waxy and smooth’ which are great for when the recipe requires it to hold its shape, eg: slow cooked stews, salads etc (eg: Nadine) or ‘floury and fluffy’ for baking, mashing, roasting and wedges (eg: Agria). To help remove the guess work, most potatoes you’ll buy in the supermarket tend to labelled for baking or mashing or ‘general purpose’ which is good for everything (eg: Rua).
Enjoy ‘new potatoes’ at Christmas dinner? These are literally newly dug from the ground. Over time these will not stay firm and sweet, but progress into ‘general purpose’ spud for much of its life. Enjoy them freshly dug while you can.
Love the Spud
Potatoes while cheap, shouldn’t be dismissed as an unimportant veggie. They take months to grow. If you have tried growing your own potatoes you’ll know it takes time and a whole lot of compost, but your home grown harvest will be worth every effort. I would highly recommend you planting seed potatoes.
Buying them shouldn’t minimise the growing efforts however: think of the farmer, the workers involve with tending and bagged them, and the truck that took them to the supermarket for your convenience. That shouldn’t result in wasted spuds when they get to your door. Do your bit!
Potato Storage
Keep your potatoes in a cool, dark space – not in the fridge. Personally I’d recommend that you remove them from any plastic packaging (so they don’t sweat and ferment in a dark corner of the pantry) and keep them in a crate under the kitchen sink. Be sure not to store them with onions though, reportedly they speed up the aging process! When your spuds start forming ‘eyes’ in an attempt to sprout, they are fine to cook. Once they start growing a small forest in the cupboard and getting decisively squishy, you may want to plant or compost them!
Cooking with Potatoes
For this exercise I will presume that you’ve already tried roasting them; cut into chips or wedges and baked; boiled and cooled and diced up into potato salad; or mashed.
Want to up the ante on your potato repertoire? Oh my oh my, the places you’ll go. As an 18 year old flatting for the first time, I lived off potatoes. I could virtually share 20 delicious ways to bake and stuff a potato with left-overs: from half a tomato, to a slither of cheese, salvaging a spoonful of relish and a generous dollop something wonderful. But whether on a budget, or on a waste-not adventure, there are plenty of recipes to keep the family intrigued and your spuds well utilised.
- Baked Potatoes
- Curried spuds
- Gratin Potatoes
- Rosti
- Hot Potato Salad
- Hasselback Potatoes
- Frittata
- Leek & Potato Soup
- Curly Potato Noodle Chips
- Potato Peel Crisps
- Orange and Potato Cake
TIPS: If you are cooking with grated potato or kumara (say for a hash brown or rosti) don’t forget to squeeze out the juice first! Potatoes carry a deceptively large amount of water and if you don’t literally squeeze it out, your dish will turn to mush and you’ll never really get the crispy texture you’ll crave. Adding a teaspoon of cornflour helps bind them too.
Much ado about mash
Not only are gnocchi, croquettes and tattie scones a favourite for left over mash, there are many simpler ways to enjoy too:
- Flavoured Mash: reheat and fold through basil pesto & shaved Parmesan; red onion, grated cheese and fresh herbs; crumbled feta & capers. Add a dash of cream if you need to add extra moisture.
- Potato Top Pie: forget the crust, top your favourite filling (fish or vegetable casserole) with mashed potato, sprinkle with grated cheese then bake until lip-smackingly golden (aka Cottage pie)
- Potato Focaccia
- Potato Pancakes
- Kumara & Potato Mash Soup
There are so many recipe ideas with potatoes and leftovers it will take a month of Sundays to get through them all….but I will, watch this space. Enjoy your spuds. Remember, they aren’t the most flavoursome veggie on the planet so don’t be afraid to inject salt, spice, herbs and anything you fancy into your potato meal.
Anything I’ve missed? Let me know!
