There may be people in this world that think otherwise, but potatoes are possibly the most boring food ever. I loathe eating them unaltered in any way: mashed, boiled, roasted… what else can you do with a potato? Oh, wait, I don’t care. Or at least I didn’t until I decided to try and add them in to recipes rather than just serving them next to one.
This isn’t really a recipe, as such, but more an eye opener for people like me who are hell bored of potatoes.
Boil em’ crush em’ stick em’ in a pan
This picture is the result of my experiment. I was cooking lamb chops with asparagus, but needed some carbs to bulk out the meal a little. I’d also run out of mint sauce, which in my house can cause mayhem, so I needed a quick way to fix both of those problems.
My solution
I boiled the potatoes just before starting to fry the lamb on a medium heat, turning every minute or so to keep in the heat and juices. When the potatoes where done (not too soft), I crushed them in the colander with a fork and added them into the pan around the lamb, with a little more butter to stop them burning and drying out.
The next bit involves routing through your fridge and seeing what you have. I had some garlic and chilli lying around, so I chopped them up and sprinkled them over the lamb and potatoes.
The next step involved some random act of God, in which there was some fresh mint in my fridge (I don’t know how I didn’t see that earlier). I used the flat of my knife to soften the mint leaves with a dessertspoon of red wine vinegar, then placed it over the lamb and potatoes, left in the pan for another minute, then served with the asparagus.
The result was really impressive, that bland stodginess you can expect from potatoes has gone and they positively contributed to a thoroughly tasty meal.
I don’t think it needs to be garlic and chilli to make this potato saver work. It’s worth looking at what you have and experimenting a few times until you find something that really works with the meal you’re trying to create.
Get the right equipment
Trying to bruise mint leaves with a knife was kind of annoying and not very efficient. The best piece of kitchen equipment for this would be a pestle & mortar, preferably one with a hardwood handle, to get the best results.
