10 ways to get the best out of a potato
It’s one of the most used and promising ingredients on the planet; they’re sustainable, full of nutrients and incredibly versatile. Besides, they also give us one of the world’s most favorite snacks. And even though fries go well with any dish, sometimes your guests just like to change it up a little! Tap into your inner experimentalist and try one or all of the below ways to celebrate the possibilities of the potato!
1. Mashed potato
Mashed potato can be made in a hundred shapes and flavors. Basically, all you need are potatoes, salt, butter, and milk. Or, if you want to give it a little extra, cream. Boil the potatoes in salted water until they’re very soft. Then add the butter and milk, and garnish with herbs, bits of bacon, green onions, garlic or whatever you like with it! And… did you know you can also make mashed potato pancakes? A great way to use leftovers!
2. Jacket potato
With their irresistibly crispy skin and fluffy inside, baked potatoes are a quickly made hit! Take potatoes and poke holes all over the potato. First, dry bake the potato for about 20 minutes on 220-230 degrees. Then, lacquer it with some oil, sprinkle salt and pepper over it, and put it back in the oven for about half an hour. If they’re all soft on the inside, cut them open, mash the inside a little and add your seasoning or topping!
3. Potato chips
They’re easy coming from the bag, but they’re way lovelier when they’re home-made! To make chips, put your potatoes through a cheese slicer, and put the thin slices in ice cold water with a bit of salt. Soak, drain and pat dry. Mix the slices with a bit of oil. Then, place them in an oven on 180-200 degrees for about 20 minutes, and sprinkle with herbs like garlic or paprika powder!
4. Rösti
Though we don’t want to curse in Italian, we can say rösti is like the pizza of potato. You can make this Swiss recipe by grating a potato and squeezing the moisture out. The starch keeps the rösti together. Then, add salt and pepper, and bacon, onion, or rosemary to taste. Form into a patty and bake in the oven or in a pan. Flip it and finish it with a nice topping of choice.
5. Potato foam
Potato foam is quite easy to make. You need 4 parts of floury potatoes, 3 parts of milk, 3 parts of butter and 1 part of potato water. Furthermore, you’ll need salt, nutmeg, and some truffle oil for taste. Once you’ve cooked the potatoes in salted water, you need to peel and strain them through a potato ricer. Then, you mix the riced potato with hot milk, the potato water, the butter, and a little bit of truffle oil. Put the mixture in a whipped cream dispenser, shake it well before use and keep the mixture warm for serving!
6. Potato croquettes
Fried or baked, with a crunchy layer and an indulgingly soft inner core… who doesn’t love a good croquette? A nice batch of these can be made with 500 grams of floury potatoes, the yolk of 1 egg and a bit of parmesan. For the crust, you can use three egg whites, 1 tablespoon of flour and some breading. Tip: don’t make the puree too mushy, as that can cause the croquettes to burst!
7. Regular gratin and gratin dauphinoise
Potato ‘au gratin’ is a widely popular dish with cooked potato slices, layered with cheese and cream and placed in the oven. A variety on potato gratin is potatoes dauphinoise. Here, the potatoes are thinly sliced and put in cream, though some recipes use that in combination with milk or even vegetable stock. The starch from the potatoes binds the cream, so you will end up with a rich and thick sauce. Arrange the sliced potatoes in a bowl and cover it with foil. Leave in the oven on 220 degrees for about half an hour, before removing the foil and placing it back in for another half hour. The result? A true comfort food, that works great as a side dish!
8. Hasselback potatoes
Sliced, but not entirely… to get a little more surface area to put on herbs and cheese! Hasselbacks are a bit of work, but they’re well worth it. Take some medium-sized potatoes and thinly slice them, but don’t cut through. Place them in a tray and cover them with some melted butter. Bake them on 220 degrees for about an hour, and then take them out to sprinkle them with parmesan and chives, before placing them in the oven for an additional 5 minutes. You can also use herb or garlic butter and finish your potatoes with some seasoning!
9. Fondant potatoes
This is a very good-looking dish and a Gordon Ramsey specialty for super well-done potatoes. What you need is vegetable oil, peeled and smashed cloves of garlic, rosemary, and thyme. Next to that, some unsalted butter, chicken broth and, of course, some fine potatoes! First off, cut the potatoes into thick slices and then use a cookie cutter to take out nice shapes. (You can also use small potatoes and cut off the top and bottom!). To remove the starch, place the potatoes in cold water. Bake the potato shapes in the vegetable oil and season with salt and black pepper. Then, add the other ingredients and cook for a little while. Finally, add the chicken stock and put everything in the oven on 200 degrees, for 15 minutes until they’re golden, roasted and simply delicious!
10. Fries
And, for a preparation method that is indispensable: fries! The summit of potato potential if you ask us. After being cut and blanched, these potato sticks (or other shapes!) are fried to perfection. Either served seasoned, loaded, on-the side, or with a dipping sauce: you simply cannot go wrong with fries. If you’re looking for trendy flavor combinations, good margin-makers or an exclusive recipe, check out these recipes for fries!
