THE HUMBLE POTATO

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 June 1938, Page 4

THE HUMBLE POTATO

ATTRACTIVE METHODS OF SERVING.

Boiled, baked, perhaps fried —in these three ways the average cook serves potatoes for 365 days in the year. The world’s famous - chefs, however, have not scorned the humble potato, and their methods of serving it are most attractive.

The following group of recipes suggests a number of ways in which potatoes might be embellished.

Pan Haggerty.

Take 11b. potatoes (peeled and sliced finely), :11b. cheese, Jib. onions (peeled and sliced very thinly), Jib. dripping, pepper and salt to taste. Make the dripping hot in a large frying pan. Cover the pan with a layer of potatoes, followed by a layer of onions, and one of cheese. Cut in thin slices, season with salt and pepper. Repeat these layers until all the ingredients are used, finishing with a layer of potatoes, with pieces of dripping on top. Fry gently until cooked through, with an inverted plate or lid on top.. Raise the sides of the haggerty with a slice, and when the underside is well browned turn it over and brown the other side. Slide on to a hot dish and serve immediately.

Vegetarian Mince with Savoury

Potatoes,

Take some well-mashed potatoes, J pint vegetable stock, 1 small onion, 2oz. grated cheese, 2oz. margarine, sprig thyme and parsley, Jib. tomatoes, 1 tablespoonful of chutney, Jib. mixed nuts, 2 eggs, pinch of currypowder, 4oz. browned breadcrumbs, salt and pepper. Chop the nuts finely. Cook the tomatoes and rub them through a sieve.Peel and chop the onion and fry in one ounce of the margarine. Mix the curry 7 powder with the stock and add to the nuts, tomatoes, and fried onion. Next stir in the breadcrumbs, chutney, and finely-chopped parsley and thyme. Cook gently for five minutes. Boil the eggs hard. Rub the yolks through a sieve and add them to the mince. Season to taste. Beat the mashed potatoes quite smooth, add the remaining ounce of margarine, and season with salt and pepper. Add the grated cheese. Form a wall of the prepared potatoes in a fireproof dish and brown in a hot oven. Turn the mince into the centre and serve.

Hot Cheese Fingers. Take Jib. cold boiled potatoes, 2oz. butter, 1 egg, Jib. sifted flour, twothirds of an ounce of grated cheese, pepper and salt to taste.

Rub the butter into the flour and add to the finely-mashed cold potatoes. Add grated cheese, seasoned with pepper and salt, and bind with beaten eggs. Roll out about half an inch thick and cut into fingers. Bake until lightly browned (about twenty minutes) and serve very hot Potato Souffles. Take 2 cupfuls hot mashed potatoes, 1 tablespoonful butter, 2 egg-whites, 1 tablespoonful minced parsley, J cupful warm milk, grated cheese, powdered mint, salt and pepper. Flavour the potatoes with mint very delicately. Stir in parsley, salt and pepper to taste, and butter. Beat in the milk, and continue beating until mixture is perfectly smooth, then add stiffly-beaten egg-whites. Turn at once into little individual dishes. Bake for about ten minutes till brown and puffed. Sprinkle with grated cheese, and serve at once. Blanquette of Potatoes. Take 8 medium potatoes, 1 teaspoonful salt, 1 tablespoonful flour, 1 eggyolk, 1 medium onion, 2 sprigs parsley, 1 tablespoonful dripping. Peel, wash, and quarter the potatoes. Peel and slice the onion. Melt the dripping in a saucepan. Add the onion and fry until transparent, stirring occasionally. Add potatoes,- flour, salt, parsley, and enough boiling water to cover three-quarters of the potatoes. Cover and simmer for forty minutes or longer if required. Remove parsley. Cool slightly, and stir in beaten egg-yolk. Cook for a minute without boiling. Potato Nests with Petit Pois. Take 4 potatoes, loz. butter, 1 pint cooked peas, salt and pepper. Cut washed and peeled potatoes in to even slices, then into strips the size of a short match, throwing them as you cut them into a basin of cold water. Drain them thoroughly, pack loosely together in a wire Crying basket, plunge into smoking hot. fat, and fry till golden brown. Drain and turn out in the shape of an oblong nest. Melt the butter in a saucepan, put in the boiled peas, season and toss lightly till piping hot, pile into the nest, and serve with meat or poultry. Brown Potato Balls. Take 11b. potatoes, 1 egg, salt and pepper, J dessertspoonful chopped onion, Joz. margarine or butter, breadcrumbs, deep fat for frying. Peel the potatoes 'and boil them with some salt added until tender. Drain them and rub through a sieve. Separate the egg, beat up the yolk, and add it to the potato with the margarine, finely-minced onion, and seasoning to taste. Mix them well, leave the mixture to cool, then divide into small portions, and shape them into balls. Brush them with the slightly-beaten egg-white, coat them with breadcrumbs, put them into a frying basket, and fry them in deep fat until golden brown. Drain the balls and serve them immediately.