Starch on fire

These two potato recipes, one hot one cold, are timeless classics that will complement any meal or food feast. Teach yourself how to make these two dishes well and you will be a culinary hero.

You can find our ‘layered potato dish’ in many guises - under ‘casserole’ (which it is) and gratin (with its cheese crust topping). It is a dish served hot/warm for all seasons and a carbohydrate dish that is a complement to any culinary occasion, and we defy anyone to argue that this version is not insanely delicious.

The second recipe is served chilled and evokes the outdoors, barbecues, picnics, boat trips, and the warmer months. It is the simpler of our two potato dishes to prepare, but the least forgiving in getting the spuds cooked exactly right.

Layered potatoes

There is one golden rule to making this dish – you MUST pre-cook the potatoes whole, and use full runny cream, not milk or stock that can curdle (leave that to professional chefs). Another warning: don’t try and count the calories - this is a sure-tasting Kiwi version and not a dish to try and lose weight by. The layers of potato are deliciously cemented by a rich, gooey, creamy custard of cream and cheese.

Try to use potatoes with low moisture, or the flowery ones like Agria**. Cook the peeled whole potato half through first (if you don’t pre-cook your potatoes you are likely to end up with a watery mess on the bottom of the dish).

Let the potatoes cool and then cut them into thick (not thin) slices.

Place the first layer of over-lapping slices in the bottom of the baking dish and work up to the top of the dish as illustrated. Season each layer with salt and pepper, a little of the full cream and a thin, even layer of grated easy-melting cheese (Edam, Colby or Gruyere).

During the preparation you can add herbs, finely chopped onion, garlic, bacon or mushrooms while building up the layers – but it is not necessary and our advice, as always, is to keep it simple. Competently cooked simple recipes will always win over those pretentious efforts that have too many ingredients and flavours.

Pour the last of the cream evenly and gently over the last top layer and sprinkle a final layer of cheese, which will form a crust (gratin). Cook in a warm oven 170-180 (the lower temperature avoids curdling the cream) for about 30 minutes. If the top starts to look like it will brown too quickly, then cover with tin foil. The longer the dish is cooked the firmer the potato layers will be as they absorb the cream. Up to you – gooey or custard-like firm.

Cut/spoon out individual portions from the baking dish.

Potato salad

This recipe has American origins and, before that, European, particularly German, where instead of mayonnaise, the warm potato chunks absorb a dousing of vinaigrette (combination of oil combined with an acidic vinegar/wine/citrus), flavoured with herbs and mustard.

Cold is cool

Dressing cooled potato chunks with lashings of mayo is an American idea, popularised after commercial mayonnaise reached household pantry shelves in the first half of the 20^th century. We use homemade mayo here because it can’t be beaten for flavour and you have control over its seasoning.

The basic recipe can be customised with other flavourings, but Foodstyle Review’s recipe, typically, is a ‘consensus’ of many studied spud salad recipes and we always have simplicity in mind for the amateur cook.

Our version is combination of boiled potato chunks, dressed in a mayonnaise (with the option of tarting up the flavour), garnished with chopped hard-boiled eggs, capers and crispy bacon or proscuitto.

We deliberately haven’t used onion or celery – while these ingredients are typically added to variations of this recipe, you will find a large number of people detest raw onion (or their digestive systems do) and don’t like the taste or texture of celery. And our advice is to always keep the recipe as simple as possible and don’t compound the textures and flavours.

Start with your spuds

Use potatoes such as New Zealand’s beautiful Agria, which have a creamy texture and keep their shape well when cooked. Two medium-sized potatoes per person is the rule, so you can scale this recipe to suit any number of folks from one to thousands.

Cut peeled potatoes into equal-sized pieces so they will cook evenly. If you leave the skins on (although they won’t look as good), be sure to scrub them well.

Here’s the hard part. Put them into salted water so they are covered and get the heat going into a rolling simmer. Keep your wits about you. Don't overcook the potato pieces - take them off the heat while they're still slightly firm, drain in a colander and let them go cold.

If you were making a European potato salad you would douse the potato pieces in the vinaigrette while they are warm so they more easily absorb the flavours.

The mayo

Whiz/beat three egg yolks until thick and creamy. Make sure there’s no water getting into this mixture – dry bowl and dry beaters.

Slowly drizzle in cup of (250 mls) of medium-weight oil while beating. Stop when halfway through the oil. Add a tablespoon (30mls) of lemon juice or white vinegar for zing. Beat in the remaining oil until thick (until it can coat the back of a spoon). Fold in the grain mustard.

While warm potato salads taste best the day they are made, cold potato salads like this can be made ahead of service, just keep it refrigerated. If you intend adding ingredients such as fresh herbs and crispy bacon then add them to the salad as close to service as possible.

Potato salad for four (scale for the number of dinners)

Ingredients

8 medium-sized spuds (2 per person)

3 egg yolks for mayo

1 cup of medium- weight oil (Canola is best)

30 mls (1 tablespoon) lemon juice or white vinegar

1 tablespoon grain mustard

Salt and pepper for seasoning

4 eggs for garnish (one per person)

3 tablespoons of capers

4 chopped gherkins.

2 rashers of bacon, cooked crisp and coarsely chopped

Presentation

You can prepare most of these ingredients in advance – but don’t mix them until you are ready for service.

** For a guide to Potato varieties and cooking see the chefs-potato-guide.

Spring 2009

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