Potato

How to store Potato

Potatoes like to be kept dirty and in the dark. Leave them in their paper bag and store somewhere cool; they keep for several weeks. However new and salad potatoes do prefer the fridge.

Prep & Cooking tips

Peeling will depend on the dish you plan on cooking – never for baked, always for mashed. Put potatoes in a sink full of water and leave for a few minutes to let the mud loosen and settle on the bottom. Then either scrub or peel, depending on how you’re going to use them.

Waxy varieties are best boiled, used in salads or sliced for gratins. Floury potato varieties are spot on for mash, chips, roasting and baking. Potatoes are wonderful at soaking up surrounding flavour. If boiling, season the water with salt and consider adding a few aromatics such as bay, garlic and thyme to the water too. You’ll be amazed how much flavour they take on.

Easy ideas

1. Season at the start

Don’t underestimate how well potatoes soak up flavour and seasoning from their surroundings. If boiling them for mash or the early stages of a roasty, make sure you season the water with salt. Aromatics such as garlic, bay and thyme will have a noticeable impact on the final flavour, too. Likewise, if baking them sliced in a gratin dish, make sure the cream or stock you use is seasoned well before you add it. Even a humble baked potato will benefit from a rub of salt after it has been washed; it makes for a crispy, moreish skin.

2. Use your leftovers

Leftover spuds in all their forms can be put to good use in a thrifty kitchen. Old roasties can be sautéed in a pan as the backbone of a breakfast hash; a few mushrooms, chopped bacon and a fried egg to finish. Mash can be refashioned into fishcakes or a clumsy bubble and squeak with a few wilted greens; you can even freeze it until you are in desperate need of a topping for your cottage pie.

3. Perfect partners

It is hard to think of much that a potato couldn’t pair well with. There are, however, some things with which they shine. You can’t go wrong with dairy in all forms; if you have ever eaten tartiflette or dauphinoise you’ll be in no doubt. Fresh herbs, too, be it a few sprigs of rosemary in the roasting tray of some chopped parsley in your mash. Don’t shy away from the garlic; just think chips and aioli.

4. Leftover roasties

If by any chance you have some leftover roasties, they can be put to good use in a thrifty kitchen. They can transform into a clumsy bubble and squeak with a few wilted greens; or, chopped and fried, they’ll form the backbone of a breakfast hash, alongside some onions, mushrooms, spinach, and a fried egg to finish.

Goes well with

Spices (Caraway, Cayenne, Cumin, Nutmeg, Saffron)Anchovies

Herbs (Chives, Dill, Lovage, Parsley, Rosemary, Tarragon)

Dairy (Butter, Cream, Hard cheeses)

All meat and fish

Capers

Eggs

Garlic and onion

Lemon

Mustard