I have two spinach soups in my repetoire – this soothing, mellow one with leeks, potatoes and a splash of cream – and a spicier, Asian-influenced soup with citrus and ginger.
Tag Archives: potatoes
Hasselback potatoes
9 Mar
Crispy on the edges, soft and buttery within, hasselback potatoes can make any meal feel a bit special. Continue reading
Krompir salata (Serbian potato salad)
27 Jun
With its sweet and sour dressing, krompir salata is a departure from our go-to potato salads – French potato salad and mum’s potato salad.
I made it to accompany these outsized Serbian hamburgers in our World Cup 2018 cook-off.
Papas a la huancaina
26 Jun
In this Peruvian salad, thick slices of potato are blanketed in a delicious spicy cheese sauce and teamed with hard-boiled eggs and olives.
It all plays very nicely together, and unlike the Peruvian team it is in with a chance in our World Cup 2018 cook-off.
The huancaina sauce is definitely the star of the show. It tastes like you hope that nasty yellow nacho cheese sauce is going to taste (and never does). Continue reading
Green borscht
14 Jun
From Russia with… green borscht. Actually, calling this soup green is generous. An unappealing khaki is closer to the mark.
But what green borscht (or shchaveloviy borscht to use its Russian name) lacks in looks, it makes up for in taste. Fresh and bright with lemony sorrel, herbs and gently cooked vegetables, it’s both light and satisfying. Continue reading
Breakfast burrito
8 Feb
On Sundays, we generally have a cooked breakfast (though it’s often noon by the time we sit down to eat it).
It’s often a full-on fry-up, heuvos rancheros, eggs benedict, or a homestyle egg McMuffin. But over the last year, these breakfast burritos have shouldered their way into the rotation.
Having experimented with different fillings and methods, I’ve pretty much settled on the version below: spicy hash brown potatoes topped with a fried egg all wrapped snugly in a warmed flour tortilla. Continue reading
Trinxat
23 Jan
Trinxat is a homely Andorran dish of potatoes, cabbage and bacon.
While the recipe differs little from bubble and squeak, frying in olive oil rather than butter, and the addition of garlic and thyme, results in something distinct. Continue reading
Potato and egg curry
8 Aug
Potatoes and eggs are a winning combination, whether in potato salad, breakfast burritos, Spanish tortilla, or that British classic, egg & chips.
This potato and egg curry is further proof of concept.
Mum’s potato salad
11 Jul
This is the potato salad I grew up eating. A sunshine-yellow mixture of potatoes and hard-boiled eggs, tangy with mustard and thick enough to spackle a wall.
The kind of potato salad that was served with a scoop and landed with a thud, compromising your precariously loaded paper plate. The potato salad of every barbeque, picnic and potluck dinner I ever attended. Continue reading
Beef goulash
25 Mar
Beef goulash is one of the first dishes I learned to cook on my own. The original recipe is from Seventeen magazine – that’s how long I have been making this dish…;-)
Kuku paka
19 Jan
Kuku paka – Kenyan chicken and potato curry – is both simple and delicious. Mildly spiced and creamy, my girls both love it.
Unlike many curries, the chicken are cooked separately – which keeps the flavours and textures distinct– and folded into the coconut curry sauce just before serving.
(Which is similar to chicken tikka masala, now I think of it.) Continue reading
Rosolli (Finnish root vegetable salad)
14 Dec
Rosolli is a Finnish root vegetable salad traditionally served at Christmas. What I enjoy most about it is the satisfying mixture of textures, from soft potato to the crunch of gherkin.
Crème fraiche and vinegar bring a sharpness to the dressing, balancing out the natural sweetness of the beets and carrots.
Ed’s clam chowder
5 Oct
My dad Ed cooked only a few recipes – spaghetti, hamburger mince gravy, sourdough bread, clam chowder – and he cooked them very well.
His clam chowder is as good as any I’ve ever had. The much-loved and lamented clam chowder that the BC Ferries used to serve wasn’t a patch on my dad’s version.
Salade liègeoise
1 Jul
After tasting her salade liègeoise this evening, my older daughter remarked that what she likes best about trying recipes from different countries is recognising adaptations of familiar dishes.
“Like this salade liègeoise, for example – this is just a salade niçoise for people who don’t have tomatoes.”
She’s spot on, and it really brought home to me one of the reasons I cook the way I do. It a way of engaging with the world, of opening a window into different cultures – “dining table” travel, if you will. Continue reading
Herring under a fur coat (shuba)
20 Jun
Herring under a fur coat – now there’s an original name for a salad… Chopped herring is buried beneath layers of vegetables and cooked egg, as snug and warm as if it were under a fur coat.
Having looked at a number of recipes online, I chose this version because it seemed relatively light, with just a thin spread of mayonnaise on top, instead of each layer.
Some people make a large mound of salad and decorate it (similar to salata de boeuf), while others create individual portions using ring molds. I liked the idea of making it in a glass bowl so you could see the layers. Kind of like a herring trifle…;-) Continue reading
Potato pancakes with sauerkraut (zemiakové placky)
15 Jun
This Euro 2016 challenge has made me aware of how many eastern European teams are competing – the menu plan for the next month is a bit cabbage-tastic. Potatoes are well represented too – and Slovakian potato pancakes feature both.
Seasoned with majoram and garlic, these differ from the potato latkes I usually make. Unlike latkes, they also include a significant quantity of flour, resulting in a breadier pancake.
Salata de boeuf
10 Jun
I first encountered salata de boeuf when we visited some friends over the Christmas holidays, and were treated to a generous spread of Romanian delicacies. Continue reading
Salad olivieh
18 May
I’ve made salad olivieh before, but this version is a knock-out. The roasted fennel and mustard seeds add lovely warmth to the dressing, and the Greek yogurt makes it less cloying than dressings made with mayonnaise. Continue reading
Fish pie
18 Feb
Fish pie is a comforting dish, and one many British people associate with childhood. I can’t recall ever eating one before moving to the UK, but unlike Marmite or Jaffa cakes, you don’t have to grow up eating fish pie to enjoy it.
Making a good fish pie does require care and attention. There are several steps – and several pans – involved. I’ve streamlined my version over the years, arriving at a fish pie recipe where the final result justifies the effort.
Vegetarian mole de olla
18 Jan
Mole de olla (or kettle stew) is a traditional Mexican dish made from beef and vegetables – typically corn, potatoes, green beans and courgette.
This vegetarian version comes from the Sundays at Moosewood cookbook – I’ve been making it for years, and always serve it with fresh cornbread to soak up the delicious sauce.
We’d eat this tasty stew more regularly if the girls weren’t so stubbornly resistant to its charms – they remain deeply unconvinced by cooked courgette. Continue reading
Peruvian seco
3 Nov
Seco is a traditional Peruvian stew. Chunks of meat – lamb, chicken or beef – are simmered for hours until the meat is tender to the point of falling apart.
Like dhania chicken, seco is definitely for coriander lovers only. It’s also pretty spicy, so I tone things down a notch when preparing it for the girls.
Champ
9 Jun
Champ – mashed potatoes with spring onions – is the most comforting of comfort foods. Apparently, it’s still sometimes served as a main dish in Northern Ireland, which would work for me…
Ca ri ga (Vietnamese chicken curry)
19 May
Cari ga, or Vietnamese chicken curry, is almost a chicken stew. With its familiar vegetable trio of carrot, potato and onion, it’s hearty enough to serve on its own, with maybe a hunk of baguette to soak up the sauce. Continue reading
Tuna fishcakes with tartare sauce
27 Mar
Fishcakes are a great store cupboard supper – quick to prepare using ingredients we nearly always have on hand. The addition of homemade tartare sauce makes it that bit more special, for those of us who like that sort of thing. For those who don’t, they are also nice with a wedge of lemon on the side. Continue reading
Haggis, neeps and tatties
25 Jan
We celebrate Burns night every year, hosting a supper with friends. As dinner parties go, it’s an easy meal to prepare. I toss a Macsween haggis in the oven, peel a big bag of potatoes and a couple of swede (much tastier than turnips), make with the potato ricer and that’s about it.
We usually start with mackerel paté and oatcakes – homemade this year as the local shop was out. Before tucking in, we stumble through a reading of Burns’ “Address to a Haggis” – delivered in a range of appalling Scottish accents – before toasting the “chieftain o’ the puddin’ race” with a shot of whisky.
Potato, leek and Stilton soup
13 Jan
It’s mid-January and I’m still incorporating Christmas leftovers into our meals…
When I discovered a forgotten wedge of Stilton at the back of the fridge, it inspired me to make this potato, leek and Stilton soup. While I’ve never really warmed (ha!) to vichyssoise, a bowl of this soup is my idea of a perfect winter meal.
Continue reading
Swedish meatballs (köttbullar)
11 Dec
I’ve never eaten Swedish meatballs in the IKEA café, but I have bought bags of frozen köttbullar from their food hall once or twice. They were nice enough, but these homemade Swedish meatballs are in a different league – crispy on the outside, soft and juicy within, and coated in a velvety cream sauce. Continue reading
Nikujaga (Japanese simmered beef and potatoes)
19 Nov
Nikujaga (or simmered beef and potatoes) is no-frills, homestyle Japanese cooking – something a Japanese mum would make on a busy weeknight the way I might make macaroni cheese. The Japanese call this sort of cooking ofukuro no aji, which means “mother’s taste”.
There’s a nostalgia associated with these dishes – while others may cook them, nobody’s tastes quite like your mum’s version. That’s because hers tasted of home and childhood… and love. Continue reading
Polish vegetable soup
15 Nov
When I worked in central London, it was necessary to employ various nurseries, childminders and nannies to look after the girls. Through trial and error, we learned that live-out nannies suited us best – and with two children, they worked out cheaper than a nursery.
Our nanny would arrive as I left for work, to spend the day with the girls, taking them to playgroups and parks, supervising playdates, and preparing their meals. So long as they cooked from scratch, I gave them free rein in the kitchen.
One Polish nanny in particular was an excellent cook. She would make the most wonderful soups for the girls, which she always served with stacks of thin pancakes. When she left us to start her own family, she kindly copied out those recipes the girls had become so fond of. This vegetable soup in particular has become a family favourite. It’s also a great way to clear out the vegetable tray before the week’s grocery shop. Continue reading
Sautéed potatoes
7 Nov
I used to make sautéed potatoes quite regularly, but until recently I’d fallen out of the habit.
When one of the girls has a friend round after school, the accepted thing is to feed the child some dinner before they are collected at 6pm. Our family normally eats quite late, so for playdates I’ll usually cook a separate kids’ meal.
I play it safe on these occasions, ever since I made a little girl cry by serving her a bowl of chickpea pasta soup. Schnitzel, meatballs, pesto pasta, fish fingers and chips, sausages and mash are all good bets. Continue reading
Tuna chowder
14 Oct
The word “chowder” has such a North American ring to it. You don’t seem to get chowders much in the UK, which is a shame because its a perfect match for the English climate and local ingredients. There is nothing fancy about this tuna chowder – just potatoes, onions, tuna, corn, dill and milk, transformed into something supremely tasty and satisfying.
This was one of my favourite dinners as a child. Mum had a big china tureen she would transfer the tuna chowder into before bringing it to the table. I don’t own a tureen myself, and probably wouldn’t use it if I did. But I always liked the way she took that extra bit of effort to make family dinners feel special. To make us feel special really… Continue reading
Leek and potato soup
2 Oct
I ate a lot of soup as a university student – particularly onion potato soup. This was mostly because it cost about $1 to make an enormous pot that I could live off for days. This leek and potato soup is pretty much the same soup, all grown up – just like me…
Butter instead of oil, leeks instead of yellow onions, and a splash of cream for the silky finish it brings. I sometimes add chunks of Polish sausage after puréeing the soup, which makes it more of a meal and adds a appealing smoky element to the flavour. But it’s not necessary – it’s delicious just the way it is. Continue reading
Gado gado
16 Sep
To my regret, I have yet to visit Indonesia. The closest I’ve managed to get so far is watching The Year of Living Dangerously – and eating delicious Indonesian dishes like gado gado.
Making gado gado is all about the preparation – boiling potatoes and eggs, steaming green beans, blanching cabbage and beansprouts, frying the tempeh, and achieving a perfect balance of flavours in your peanut sauce. After that, simply a matter of a few moments to pile everything on a plate and tuck in.
Diced potatoes with spinach
12 Sep
This potato and spinach dish is what I call a dry curry – there is no liquid used in the cooking, resulting in no sauce. It’s an easy weekday, store-cupboard meal. I prefer it with fresh spinach, but frozen also works.
The original recipe is from Madhur Jaffrey’s World-of-the-East Vegetarian Cooking, one of my all-time favourite cookbooks. Continue reading
Steak salad with horseradish dressing
11 Aug
I consider this steak salad to be the summer version of a roast beef dinner – grilled meat, roast potatoes, steamed green beans, and a horseradish-based dressing to dollop on top. I often make it with boiled potatoes, but as our stove top was condemned(!) by the gas man a few days ago, that wasn’t an option.
I serve the tomatoes, beans and onions in a large bowl; the meat and potatoes in another; and the dressing on the side. This works visually and also prevents the warm ingredients from making the fresh vegetables limp. It also cuts down on complaints from the girls, who are still “learning to like” horseradish – which is what I always say about those foods they currently shun. Continue reading
French potato salad
20 Jul
Of the three or four potato salads I make regularly, this pared-back French version is my favourite. With only five ingredients, quality matters – small salad potatoes, a grassy olive oil, fresh herbs, and tarragon vinegar (though a nice white wine vinegar works too). The original recipe comes from Nigel Slater’s Real Food. Continue reading
Stamppot
9 Jul
There are lots of recipes for stamppot, using different combinations of root vegetables and greens. I opted for “boerenkool stamppot”, mainly because it used up the rest of the kale I bought for the caldo verde. Most of the recipes called for bacon, but as I was serving the stamppot with slavinken, I left it out and added some diced gouda cheese instead. Continue reading
Salade niçoise
8 Jul
For our French World Cup meal we’re having salad niçoise with chocolate mousse for dessert. We have salade niçoise a lot – quick, healthy and easy to customise each plate for each person’s preferences: extra anchovies for me, no tuna for Lyra, double onions for Adam, pass on the capers for Nova etc. Continue reading
Caldo verde
7 Jul
For our Portuguese World Cup meal, we had caldo verde. I served it with some Ponte Nova cheese, chourico (Portuguese chorizo), Portuguese bread and pastéis de nata for dessert. Continue reading
Patagonian potatoes
5 Jul
When I was looking for Argentinian potato dishes to accompany the lomo asado, this recipe from Argentinian chef Francis Mallman kept coming up. Essentially it’s a quick-cooked potato galette that serves as a base for the grilled meat. Continue reading
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