The gorgeous potato. The filling, hearty root vegetable that is native to the Americas is a staple for many cultures across the world now. It’s a cheap meal option, the G.O.A.T. side dish, and can easily be zhuzh-ed up for a fancy meal or served simply with butter and salt.
I grew up on so many potatoes that I’m surprised I’m not actually made of potatoes. I don’t actually think I could rank all of the kinds of potato dishes I’ve had throughout my life. I have vivid memories of my family eating potatoes with most of our meals. Like in many Midwestern homes, a meal isn’t a meal without meat and potatoes. We usually cycled through au gratin potatoes, instant potatoes, baked potatoes, and mashed potatoes as sides. Since getting into cooking almost a decade ago, some potato dishes have become beloved standards, namely gnocchi and homemade potato salad (although the potato salad from Cub Foods will always be a more than acceptable option).
Here’s a quick list of potato dishes I have happily devoured throughout my life. I simply love potatoes and would gladly eat any of these options below for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. When asked if I would smash or pass on a potato, it’s always a SMASH, no question.
Au gratin potatoes
Baked potatoes
Fries (crinkle-cut, curly, matchstick, shoestring, smiley, steak, waffle, wedges, etc.)
Funeral potatoes - a cheesy shredded potato casserole
Gnocchi
Hash browns
Home fries
Instant potatoes
Lefse
Mashed potatoes
Potato bread rolls
Potato chips
Potato salad
Potato skins
Poutine
Scalloped potatoes
Tater tots & potato crowns
Comment below with the potatoes you love to eat! 🥔
Potato Lore
There are over 5,000 kinds of potatoes all over the world, a number I simply cannot comprehend. I can barely name five kinds of potatoes: purple, Russet, Yukon, fingerling, baby. I’m not even sure if these are all distinct kinds of potatoes, and “purple” is probably not even the official name of that type of potato, it’s just the color.
When you’re choosing a kind of potato for a recipe, it does matter what kind you choose. They range in from waxy to starchy. Waxy potatoes keep their shape during long bouts of cooking in stews, casseroles, and for potato salad. Starchy potatoes are better for baking and frying, and tend to have a white flesh (think Russets). There are types of potatoes that are good for all uses, so when in doubt, grab a bag of Yukon gold.
I’ve talked about the importance of produce storage in newsletters before, but I will emphasize again that it’s critical to store your vegetables properly to prevent them from going bad (molding or sprouting in the case of the potato). Store your potatoes in a dark area that is well-ventilated. I use a wire rack in the darkest corner of our kitchen counter for our potatoes to let air flow around them and to keep them from sprouting. If potatoes get a tiny taste of sunlight, they will start to sprout, which isn’t the end of the world if it happens. You’ll just want to core out the sprouts (and the eyes of the potato too), and make sure it hasn’t started to get soft.
Potato Party Deets 🥔 🎊
When my bestie asked if we could co-host a potato party, it was a very enthusiastic ‘YES’ response from me. It kicked off me thinking about hosting monthly food parties in 2024, and inspired a Potato Party Pinterest board. My mind raced with the possibilities of what everyone could bring!
Over the weekend we were able to host the Potato Party of our dreams! I made Duchess Potatoes for the first time, and our friends really showed off their best potato dishes. Here’s what we ate:
Duchess Potatoes: I used Claire Saffitz’s recipe on NYT for Twice Baked Duchess Potatoes and it was genuinely so fun to pipe the mashed filling into the potato skins.
Potato Flatbread: This is a potato pizza (featured in this article) with homemade dough, a layer of mascarpone, sage, pecorino and finely chopped anchovy, and topped with thinly sliced new potatoes.
Funeral Potatoes: A Midwestern classic! This is basically a cheesy, creamy casserole made with frozen hash browns. Some variations have diced onions or sometimes ham.
Breakfast Potatoes: These were a delight. They were cubed potatoes with homemade salsa and homemade queso, cooked to the most creamy texture. I ate them with extra queso for good measure.
Hasselback Potatoes: Slice whole potatoes into thin strips, being careful to not cut all the way down. These potatoes are held together as one unit on the bottom. My friend basted them with some herbs and butter, and served them with sour cream.
When I think of the small but mighty potato, I can’t help but think it’s one of the best foods out there. Versatile, filling, fancy or low-brow, it really can do it all. Now go make a baked potato!
Things I Like
Baking bread as often as I can - getting my hands in some dough still centers me in a way that almost nothing else can.
This entire Instagram carousel with gems & food.
New neighborhood coffee shops are popping up all around the Twin Cities lately and I’m so happy about that. Honestly Starbucks will never see another dime from me, and there’s no need for them to with all the new shops popping up! I always order my standard hot americano with a splash of oat milk to get a sense of each shop’s espresso roast. Sunbean Coffee's americano was perfection!
Morning and day dates with my husband 😍 Mixing it up with different times of day helps keep things fresh. Plus, romance doesn’t just exist post 6 p.m.
This post helped me with some of my inner monologue this week
May your week be gentle and may you eat well. 🌲🥣