Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew: Provident Living by Samwise Gamgee

Samwise Gamgee is pretty good at provident living. He rations his food and he is always prepared for emergencies. But my favorite provident living principle from Sam is that simple, cheap foods can be very versatile! You don’t have to spend a fortune to eat a variety of foods.

Before we even get started on how to prepare potatoes, remember, there are lots of varieties to choose from. We’ll keep it basic: try varying your diet by rotating between your typical Idaho spuds, red potatoes, sweet potatoes and yams.

For those of you who are a little less inclined to read this whole post, let me just give away my best potato secret first so you at least come away with one insanely useful thing. If you want to cook a potato for any purpose but you’re short on time, you can do it in 5 minutes. Wash it, poke holes in it with a fork, and put it inside a plastic grocery sack (NOT a plastic storage bag!). Microwave it for 5 minutes. What? It’s done! I did this yesterday when I was going to make potato soup. I microwaved the potatoes, diced them, and added them to my soup pot with all the other ingredients. Voila.

For those of you who have time to learn more, here are 15 nifty things to do with potatoes:

BOIL ’EM

What can you do with boiled potatoes? (You can also do all these things with baked or microwaved potatoes.)

1. Sprinkle them with oregano and/or pepper and any kind of cheese, including grated parmesan. Eat them with a green vegetable such as broccoli or green beans.
2. Make potato soup by adding onion, carrots, celery, chicken broth or bouillon, garlic, salt and pepper. Add spinach, which you might want to chop finely in a blender, if you like green things and want to live longer.
3. Cook peas and onion with them and add curry seasoning.
4. Top a whole cooked potato with chili (beans + plain tomato sauce + chili powder + garlic + onion or onion powder) and broccoli and cheddar cheese.
5. Sautee onions, then mix finely diced boiled potatoes with eggs and add to the pan and fry at all together to make a Spanish tortilla de patata. (This is totally the fake way…if you have more time and a big ol’ bottle of olive oil I will teach you the real way!)

MASH ’EM

Mashed potatoes? Can you do something with those besides smother them in gravy? YES!

6. Okay, the classic way, just in case we have some rookies. Boil your potatoes (or nuke them) and mash them with milk. Add
1. Salt, pepper and butter; or
2. Cheese, to be a little healthier.

Your mom might have a masher, but I use a fork and I turned out okay. (So did my mashed potatoes.)

7. Mix mashed potatoes with bacon, cheese, chives or whatever else you want to. Form patties and bake them and you have something nameless but delicious. (Very-not-kosher-latkes?)
8. Mix them into any type of soup to thicken it. Whatever type of soup it is doesn’t have to “go with” potatoes…it will work like a roux but is healthier.
9. Potato pancakes. I dare you to mix in whatever you want. Add eggs, then you can make it savory (like our latkes) or sweet (use your imagination! Fruit? Try it).
10. My personal favorite thing to do with mashed potatoes is use them to make bread. They make the bread’s texture incredibly good. Mix 1 tsp. yeast, ¾ cup warm water, ½ cup of mashed potatoes, ¼ cup sugar, ¼ cup butter, 1 egg, a pinch of salt and about 3-4 cups of flour. Knead, let rise while you’re at work or school. Form a loaf or some crescent rolls, let rise 1 hour. Bake at 400 degrees. (For more specific directions, ask me!)

STICK ’EM IN A STEW

11. The slow cooker: the busy person’s dream machine. With your potatoes you can throw in the ingredients listed for potato soup in #2 above (minus the chicken broth or bouillon), along with a roast if you are a carnivore. (Sorry, meat-eaters, I’ve been neglecting you. It’s just the potato show today.) Remember to put the roast on top of the potatoes because whatever is on the bottom will be cooked the most, and potatoes take longer than meat. Throw in some French-style green beans if you want to feel fancy. Always fill the slow cooker at least two thirds of the way.
12. Throw your potatoes in a pot or slow cooker with all the ingredients for taco soup—tomatoes, corn, black beans, onion, etc. (Have you ever had potatoes on tacos? That’s another thing you should try if you’re not in a soupy mood.)
13. So, imagine stir fry. Can you picture it? Broccoli, carrots, red peppers, onions, and…potatoes? J Now make it into a soup. Put all those ingredients in a pot (just FYI, almost any time I use carrots I cook them in the microwave first because they take FOREVER), and add some chicken broth or bouillon (or some meat) and teriyaki sauce. Some tips that will make a huge difference: mash some of your potatoes to use as a thickener as mentioned in #8 above; and don’t add the teriyaki sauce till you’re almost done, or you won’t be able to taste it.
14. Autumn beef stew: potatoes, corn, carrots, onions and a little apple juice. Heck, try apple slices. I put carrots in my apple pie once, and I decided that we are too closed-minded when it comes to fruit and vegetables.
15. Pretend you’re Irish and stew your potatoes with cabbage, onions, and fish. YUM, YUM, YUM!

Obviously we’ve only scratched the surface here. I’ve focused entirely on what to do with those boring old Idaho spuds. With red potatoes, try a potato salad. With sweet potatoes, make a pie or a casserole. Dare to invent.

If you want to know my very favorite way to eat a “potato”—my favorite is actually yams—I wash them, poke holes in them with a fork, wrap them in foil, and bake them in the oven. Then I eat them, with nothing added.