Potato

I’m always looking for new things to do with calamari. It’s inexpensive, and if you buy it already cleaned—which I HIGHLY recommend—it’s super Q&E (quick and easy) to use. This recipe is fun because it takes minimum effort and you get maximum kudos at the dinner table.

So you went and invited everyone over for brunch one fateful Sunday morning. Sunday! The day you ordinarily sleep until eleven, don’t bother to wash your hair or change out of your pajamas, and end up watching TV upside down on the couch with newspapers and gossip mags strewn all over the floor. Tsk-tsk—it doesn’t sound to me like you’re quite ready for that hostess habit you picked up somewhere along the way. And yet here we are! Thank God there is this brunch-ready recipe you can prep the night before without even the most obnoxious of your foodie friends being any the wiser. Just get your dough and vegetables all set up and let them chill in the refrigerator overnight. Come morning, simply follow the quick baking instructions. If sweet potatoes sound too mushy for you, swap them out for 3/4 cup sautéed mushrooms.

Vegetarian shepherd’s pie is a fulfilling dish for a meatless meal. The kidney beans give it some heft.

The dance the Mashed Potato was all the rage after James Brown incorporated it into his rousing live show and review with his band the Famous Flames. Under a contract with a recording label that did not think much of the idea, in 1959 Brown took the song down to a friend’s studio in Florida and recorded the hit song “(Do the) Mashed Potato.” So he would not run afoul of his own label, Brown billed the song as Nat Kendrick and the Swans and the lyrics were attributed to one of Brown’s aliases, Dessie Rozier. Soon the nation was whipped up in the craze with two other hit songs, “Mashed Potatoes U.S.A.” and “The Mash Potato Man.” It is fun to use purple potatoes the same color as James Brown’s famous cape to make mashed potatoes while having a kitchen dance party with the kids.

My in-laws grew up in Indiana. My husband grew up in a meat-and-potatoes type of home. This changeable delectable potato dish can match up with anything. The potatoes inside are tender and flavored with the broth and the potatoes on top are nicely crisped and browned.

I was a boy-crazy preteen when I went on a trip to visit my friend’s grandmother Beauxma in Saint Martinville, Louisiana, in the sugarcane-growing region of the state. I was so taken by the story of the Evangeline Oak. In 1907, St. Martinville author Felix Voorhies wrote Acadian Reminiscences: With the True Story of Evangeline, inspired by tales told to him by his grandmother. The account of Emmeline Labiche and Louis Arceneaux is said to be about the real people behind Longfellow’s tragically romantic poem “Evangeline,” about a woman looking for her lost love, Gabriel. In 1929, Hollywood came to town and filmed the movie Evangeline, starring Dolores Del Rio in the title role. After the filming, a statue of Evangeline (looking a lot like Dolores Del Rio) was erected on the spot marking the alleged burial place of Emmeline Labiche. As a whole, Southerners have never let the truth stand in the way of a good story; and now the stories of Emmeline and Louis and Evangeline and Gabriel have fused into one story told time and again beneath the spreading branches of the Evangeline Oak. In fact, Louisianans have taken the story so to heart that the Evangeline variety of sweet potato is fast becoming one of the state’s most popular sweet potatoes.

This composed warm potato salad came together as a dish for my father. It has all the salty, tart flavors that he loves.

When I see the river rise and hear the birds sing, I think of my late dear friend Charlie Jacobs and his tune “Rhythm of Spring.” His association between native produce and more innocent days elevates the memory of spring smells to a sort of romance. He beguiles us. And he tells us that from our soil comes the ingredient we need to find meaning. When I make this soup in the first cool days of spring, I’ll serve it warm, and when the days begin to lengthen and turn warm, I like to serve it cool.

Premium Number One Beauregards are a popular variety of sweet potato grown in Vardaman, Mississippi. There are ninety sweet-potato farms within forty miles of this town, which even boasts a Sweet Potato Street running right into Main Street. With twenty thousand acres under cultivation, sweet potatoes have to be the state’s largest vegetable crop. Here a tart-sweet treatment and a dusting of crystalline flakes of salt elevate the down-home goodness of my favorite Beauregards.

An electric stand mixer makes mashed potatoes dangerously easy to prepare. You may find yourself eating them every night! Just be sure to leave them a little chunky: If you overmix them, they’ll become gluey. I love to eat these as a side with just about anything, especially Chicken Fried Steak with White Gravy (page 106). They’re so good that sometimes I even serve them as an appetizer, spooned into cocktail glasses and topped with a sprinkling of chopped fresh chives.

A dear friend from London gave me this recipe and a bit of good English advice: The key to great shepherd’s pie is the ketchup. So taste the turkey mixture before adding it to the baking dish and add another spoonful or two of ketchup if desired. The chili powder gives good flavor but no heat, so don’t let it scare you.

Empanadas are a quintessential example of what traditional Latin food is made of: rock-solid and time-tested techniques that can be adapted to accommodate what’s available regionally, or in the case of my Aunt Elsa, what was in her pantry. She could pull together the most delicious combinations of ingredients out of what appeared to be thin air and then fill and fry a few dozen pastry wrappers in a flash. When Thanksgiving rolled around, these were our version of the classic American pumpkin pie. Tender, flaky, and lightly sweet, these little “Mexican pumpkin pies” make delicious appetizers, too.

I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t like mashed potatoes, an all-American dish that is nostalgic and satisfying. Yukon Gold potatoes have a buttery aroma and a rich, creamy flavor, while roasted garlic adds a sweet flavor that is less aggressive than that of raw garlic. These are great with Pan-Roasted Half Boneless Chicken with Sautéed Escarole (page 140).

Beautiful plump fish covered with a butterscotch-colored sauce on a bed of snow-white puree, this is a very subtle dish, in a good way. The ratio of honey to mustard to soy sauce is perfect: you get sweet and salty with a little bite to complement the mild fish. The whipped parsnips are smooth and just rich enough with butter and cream. Bok choy makes a crisp accompaniment.

Salmon steaks are shaped sort of like a horseshoe and have the bone left in the center. They’re really thick and meaty and don’t stick like fillets, which means they’re perfect for the grill. Wild salmon is preferable to that raised in fish farms, as it tends to be healthier for you and taste better. Be sure to remove all the little pin bones with a pair of tweezers or have your fish guy do it. With the bounty of produce on the planet, I gotta say onions are probably my favorite vegetable. They can be transformed in so many different ways. This onion sauce is so velvety you’d swear there is butter in it. The trick is to cook the onions low and slow so they don’t brown or caramelize. This fennel hash is also killer with steak or eggs in the morning.

Clams steamed in beer is a favorite pub dish, and for good reason. The aroma of the hops in beer perfumes the shellfish and the malty flavor adds an extra roundness to the broth. Your kitchen will smell amazing! The sweetness of the clams, the licorice essence of fennel, the salty-smoky depth of bacon, and the slight bitterness of the stout make this a complex and flavor-packed dish.

A rich, creamy dip is a must-have for any good party. Make this onion dip ahead of time so the flavors can blend and mellow. If making the chips, for best results, you’ve got to cut the potatoes with a mandoline. If you don’t want to fry your own potato chips, try one of the terrific brands in the market these days. This dip is also killer with crudités and pita chips, or even spread on a burger.

Choucroute garnie traditionally combines sausages and thick chunks of bacon with larger cuts of meat like smoked pork chops and even hunks of pork shoulder. This faster version includes only sausages and bacon. The grated potato adds body and silkiness to the sauerkraut, which, if not homemade (see page 143), should be purchased refrigerated (not canned).