Potato

Offelle are just like ravioli, but what encloses the filling is potato dough rather than pasta dough, which lends a special soft texture. Here’s how I coordinate the elements of this recipe so everything comes together perfectly. First I cook and rice the potatoes for the dough (as in the preceding recipe). While they’re cooling, I make the sausage-spinach filling and let it cool. Then I mix the dough, roll it out, and stuff it to form plump offelle.

Use this versatile dough to make small gnocchi with the familiar ridged shape, or in the following recipes for stuffed offelle and prune gnocchi. This same dough can also be formed into long gnocchi, page 80, cooked and dressed Friuli style with brown butter, smoked ricotta, cinnamon, and sugar. With all dishes using potato dough, keep several time factors in mind to get the best results. First, allow the cooked potatoes to air-dry thoroughly before you mix the dough—2 hours or even longer if possible. The drier the potatoes, the lighter the dough will be when cooked. Second, because potato dough is best when freshly mixed and cannot sit around, plan to shape the dough into gnocchi and cook them right away (or freeze them). If you are making stuffed gnocchi or offelle, have your filling ingredients ready when you mix the dough.

These candies were supposedly created in the Santa Clara convent in the state of Puebla and are sold everywhere in that state. They are long, cigar-shaped pieces of sugary sweet potato flavored with different fruits (mostly using flavorings and added colorings), but this is the basic recipe without any distractions. They are usually made with white sweet potato, but I prefer the flavor of the yellow or orange kind. Although it takes a couple of days to dry out, you can also serve it on a platter once it has cooled (and then you won’t even have to wait to eat it) the way many desserts were served in convents, and decorate it with some fresh pineapple on top.

Sometimes the best gift in the world on Christmas is to serve your children one of their favorite dishes. And, boy oh boy, does Spenser love cheesy potatoes! Warning: this recipe is extremely addictive. We use smoked paprika to add a hearty smokiness that’s like nothing else out there.

The key word here is “Gouda”: it takes your mashed potatoes right to the VIP list. This way, please!

Fall is a perfect time to try this bisque. The healthy and delicious sweet potato, which certainly represents the season in our home, is one of the stars of the soup. And if you’ve got leftover pumpkin flesh after carving your decorations, you can always substitute that for the canned purée. Using chicken broth instead of water gives this thick soup a rich-tasting down-home flair.

A great dressing is the key to an outstanding potato salad. And let me tell you: in our version, this German lady is wearing a nice dress. Y’all know Gina dresses well, too, and once she adds her signature “pig,” this salad is a stand-out, even among the best potato salads in Memphis.

PAT I told y’all, I can’t have steak without potatoes, and fingerling potatoes are my choice. These rich and creamy little darlings are about the size of my fingers, and they are firm enough to withstand the heat of my grill. A great tip for grilling potatoes is to boil them a bit first; this will give you faster and more even grilling. The olive oil will keep them moist and let the rosemary and garlic do their aromatic thing.

Everybody in the South has their own potato-salad recipe, and our version, using red potatoes and the coarse-ground, zippy Creole mustard, makes this a winner. Be sure to drain your potatoes thoroughly, because additional water will dilute the fantastic ingredients in the salad. It’s best to dress the potatoes while they’re still warm, so they can fully absorb the flavors.

PAT My sweetie and her mama love their sweet potatoes. You think maybe that has something to do with why they are so sweet? Gina created this extra-special dish for the mamas in our lives, but I love to prepare these potato cakes for her on Mother’s Day and serve Miss Gina in bed, of course.

We grill anything, and potatoes are no exception. The simplest way to grill sliced potatoes is to parboil them first. This makes for fast and even grilling. The calling card of these tasty taters is the appetizing grill marks that make them irresistible. That, and our house seasoning, when Neely’s barbecue rub makes its annual spring debut.

PAT Gina loves the daintiness of these “baby reds,” and the garlic, rosemary, and olive oil pop on your palate. But Spenser and Shelbi inherited their need for some potatoes with most meals from their daddy. We love us some taters.

GINA Who doesn’t like a good potato? I know I married a meat-and-potatoes man, and so does Tanya. She always finds a way to make great potatoes, and these are some of her very best. Buttery and garlicky—yum. PAT Baby, you can’t do pork chops without mashed potatoes. There’s something about taking your fork and getting a bite of pork chop and garlic mashed potatoes at the same time. You just take both of those jokers and let ’em hit the palate!

PAT In our house there’s always some barbecue going on (even if we’re not grilling, we’re adding the spice). These chips are dusted with paprika, garlic, sugar, and salt, and once they’re out of the fryer, they quickly disappear (so make two batches!).

GINA For some reason, there are always potatoes in the pantry. So pull them out and make some potato skins! Grilling them gives them a nice spin, and since we are the first family of barbecue, these skins are complemented by barbecue sauce, pulled pork, and bacon. And you guys all know how I feel about the pig . . . so I like to call these the “double pig.” They also make a nice pick-me-up when you’re entertaining, so, to make them more like appetizers, you can slice them in quarters, arrange on a platter, and sprinkle with green onions. Trust me, these will be eaten so fast they’ll be history. PAT That’s right, pig layered on pig, y’all! Having potato skins, and adding two types of pork—bacon and pulled pork—truly puts a guy (that’s me, Pat!) in hog heaven. For you non–pig lovers (surely only a few of you), you can always substitute turkey bacon, chicken, or even beef brisket for the bacon and pulled pork.

Mackerel is a rich fish with fabulous texture and depth of flavor. Though it’s not traditional, preserved lemon adds a piquant, salty touch to a rustic pounded sauce. To make sure the potatoes are crispy when you serve the dish, grill the fish first and fry the potatoes right before serving. Parboiling the potatoes makes it easy to get them crispy, while ensuring they’re cooked through.

Although skate “wing” might sound exotic, skate is nothing more than a kissing cousin to sharks, as well as a delicious fish with delicately flavored, sweet white meat. It’s more prevalent on the East Coast; out West, you will probably need to ask your fishmonger to order it for you. Weighting the skate while it cooks keeps it from curling, making for even cooking and a nicer presentation. Be careful when you add the wine to the brown butter, because the mixture will bubble up and spit a little.

This is a very rustic dish, the meat and potatoes redolent with rosemary and garlic and bathed in butter and pork fat. But as rich as all of that sounds, the best part might be the front legs that end up crispy and delicious; as you gnaw the bones, you’ll be reminded more than a little of fried chicken, and that’s never a bad thing. I portion out the rabbit so that the darker pieces get a little more cooking and the loin receives nothing more than a quick sear. As with Braised Rabbit Paws with Radiatore (page 89), make sure you ask the butcher for the smaller and more tender fryers, not roasters.

This is my idea of bacon and eggs. Thick, homemade bacon adding a smoky, salty touch to gorgeous spring asparagus and tender new-crop potatoes, all crowned with a perfectly poached egg—it doesn’t get much better than this. When you break into the soft yolk, it melts into the vegetables, forming a luxurious sauce. This recipe makes four hearty portions. If you would like to serve six smaller plates, keep the other quantities the same and simply increase the number of eggs.

This dish is one of the simple joys that comes from freshly dug new potatoes and the inimitable artichoke. You need nothing more than garlic and a hit of thyme to create a side that totally speaks of the earth and that would make even a simple grilled steak sublime.