A russet potato, baked in tin foil, slathered in sour cream, tinseled in chives, loaded with black pepper, and topped with mild cheddar cheese. Its skin is a hard, tough crust. Inside it is as flaky, crumbly, dry and flavorless as shaved wax.
Mashed potatoes. Boiled, skins removed, smashed in a white ceramic bowl, mixed with skim milk, salted at the finish.
Hash brown potato casserole, baked covered in Corn Flakes, replete with butter and cheese, served at funerals. Delicious.
Potato and egg salad with fresh dill. Picked through for the hard boiled egg whites, chunks of potato left aside.
These were the potatoes of my childhood. My least favorite vegetable, second only to zucchini, which grew in abundance in our garden—and which, at the age of five, I threw up spectacularly onto my dinner plate when forced to consume it. But I don’t recall a spring planting potatoes, or harvesting them at all until much later. We bought them in large woven bags at the discount grocery store, or brought them home in brown cardboard appleboxes printed “Idaho’s Famous Potatoes.”
But when I was eighteen I tried a slice of potato pizza, baked in a wood-burning oven, covered every inch in little coins of Yukon Gold and mozzarella cheese and drizzled in olive oil. These little slices of potato surprised me. They were nutty and rich, buttery, creamy and sweet, and salted to perfection.
Several surfaces of my own kitchen today hold baskets full of potatoes. Little fingerlings, new yellow potatoes, sweet Hannah, jewel yams, yukon gold, red and purple and white. Most nights a week I cook using potatoes.
Fingerlings boiled in salted water and seared in a pan, dipped in a garlic herb yogurt.
Sweet potatoes roasted in the oven and drenched in oil with cumin, cilantro, parsley, saffron, lemon.
Roasted with garlic and rosemary.
Roasted and finished with lemon zest and dill.
Roasted with any herb, really.
Boiled, chopped, and mixed with hard-boiled egg and parsley.
Cooked in soup, with leek and creme fraiche.
Sliced thin and fried and dipped in mayo.
Boiled for salade niçoise.
Potatoes are full of vitamins and nutrients and fiber.
Potatoes are satisfying and comforting and versatile, keeping you full for longer. Keeping you on your toes.
Potatoes are ultimately savory, with hints of sweetness.
My favorite potatoes are crisp on the outside and buttery soft inside, so they explode in your mouth.
Potatoes are my favorite food.