National Potato Day is your chance to spend 24 hours talking, thinking, dreaming about and eating the most staple of foods this August 19th– and the team at Quattro Foods loves being part of the spuddy fun.
Our very own Sam is a food-growing enthusiast and currently has 36 sacks of potatoes growing in her garden, covering first earlies, second earlies and a main crop, if that means anything! (It didn’t to us either, but we’re learning!)
Why celebrate the simple spud? Because they’re easy to grow, they’re a dinner time staple, and they’re delicious, any way you cook them.
Growing potatoes
It’s easy! And if you’ve ever grown potatoes, you’ll understand the thrill of digging up your buried spuds, and of course, eating those first new potatoes of the season is every veg growing enthusiast’s seasonal highlight.
Start by planting a sack of small tubers. As the plants grow, pile the soil up gradually around the stems to bury the developing tubers. And watch with delight as your tremendous taters grow triumphantly.
The spud story so far
For centuries the humble potato has been the centrepiece of meals and snacks across the world. Hash browns for breakfast, baked potatoes for lunch and a side of boiled spuds, roasties or even a lovely mayonnaisey potato salad as an accompaniment to your meat and fish for supper.
Health in a spud
And they’re healthy too – full of iron, potassium and vitamin C. In fact, they’re so wonderful we’ve decided to celebrate Potato Day by sharing some of our favourite spuddy recipes.
Perfect potato dishes
Roasties – a classic
Peel, cut and boil your choice of spuds in salted water for 10 minutes. Drain them well, throw onto an oven tray, sprinkle with rock salt, drizzle with olive oil and stick in a pre-heated oven (about 180C) for 1.5 hours. Couldn’t be easier, couldn’t be tastier.
Hasselbacks – a little bit more work but worth every cut
Bring a pot of water to the boil with a little bit of salt. Throw in a bag of new potatoes and let them boil for around 12 minutes. Drain and let them cool, and then use a sharp serrated knife to cut lots of thin slices, (don’t reach the bottom and cut the potato in half!). The rings should fan out as the potatoes roast. Lay them out on a roasting dish, sprinkle with salt, drizzle with olive oil and here’s a little secret – we love a little peri-peri seasoning for an extra special spud surprise.
Kugel – traditional for some, tasty for everyone
This classic Jewish dish is a little messy to make but trust us, it’s worth every minute of the clear-up. Peel a (very large) bag of spuds. If you have a Magimix, the grating disc comes in very handy for kugel. Grating by hand is hard graft, but in this case, truly a labour of love. And it’s good for the biceps too 💪. Chop an onion into a bowl and then start squeezing the liquid out of your grated potato mix. After squeezing as much as possible, throw each handful into the bowl with the onion. Crack an egg into the mix, generously season with salt and pepper and now get stuck in! Mix the potatoes thoroughly with your hands and transfer into an oiled oven dish. Roast your kugel for 45 mins and tuck in. That crispy top is the stuff of dreams…
Dauphinoise potatoes – French and fabulous
Ingredients
- 150 ml full fat milk
- 525 ml double cream
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 bag King Edward or Maris Piper potatoes
- 120g grated Gruyère cheese
- 40g butter
- Plenty of salt and black pepper
First preheat the oven to 180C. Pour the milk, cream and garlic, seasoned with plenty of salt and pepper, into a large saucepan, bring to the boil, turn off and leave to infuse. Peel and slice the potatoes 2-3mm thick and overlap them in layers them in a greased ovenproof dish, spooning some of the cream mix onto every layer. Pour over the remaining cream mix, press down firmly, dot on some butter and cover with foil. Bake in the oven at 160C for 2 hours. Uncover, scatter the cheese over the potatoes and bake at 190C for a further 30 minutes until the potatoes are soft and browned.
Happy National Potato Day!