Crazy Days Challenge - Day 22 - Potatoes

When we went shopping the other day we picked up a pack of four potatoes.  I knew I had some at home that were on their last legs ... I've been knocking 'sprouts' off them for a couple of weeks now ... but I thought I could set to and use them all up and have the new ones in waiting.

I wonder how long it will be before these new replacements start to sprout?  

At this time of year as soon as the producers remove last years potatoes from the cold stores to send them for packaging and on to the supermarkets and shops, the potatoes want to become seed potatoes and start a new generation, hence the ability to sprout so quickly in the ambient warmth of our kitchens.

Anyway, I set to, knocking off all the sprouts first and then peeling them.  I kept the two best potatoes to be a baked potato for each of us one night this week, and then peeled all the rest.

I gave the peelings a good wash ...

... drained them through the colander.

And then added them to the 'soup bag' that lives in the freezer.

I see a big pot of soup being made by the end of this week, as it's full of tasty bits already.

The peeled potatoes were then cut into largish chunks and put into fresh cold water ready for boiling.  I always keep the chunks large even if I'm making mash as if you chop them too small the cooked potatoes end up tasting watery rather than potatoey, oh and always start with cold water or else the hot water starts to cook the outside right away rather than the heat seeping gently through and cooking the whole chunk evenly.

After coming to the boil and then simmering in the bottom oven of the Aga for twenty five minutes the water was drained off into a jug and the potatoes were left to steam dry nicely.

I had an idea to use up some of the cooked potatoes.  There was a little chunk of steak that I had rescued ... or rather that I forbade Alan from eating with his tea the other night, chopping it off before the rest even landed on his plate ... the steak he had was HUGE and I decided I could make him two more meals from this little piece!!

I cut up the steak into small pieces and added it to some of the cooked potatoes and a small handful of frozen mixed veg, moistened it all with a couple of tablespoonfuls of Bisto gravy, and then I retrieved my leftover pesto/spinach/pasta from the fridge and added some potato to that as well.

Everything went back into the fridge for a while and then I used some of the leftover ready rolled pastry from the fridge to make pies.  I didn't have enough of the shortcrust pastry left so I made shortcrust pastry bases and added Puff pastry lids. 

What a revelation I'll definitely be doing this again in the future, the two types of pastry make for a delicious pie, the shortcrust being sturdy enough to hold the contents and crisp up nicely but the Puff pastry staying deliciously soft and absorbing the steam from the cooking contents. 

Then last night for tea we had our pies with some of the cooked potatoes, which were quickly zapped in the microwave and some more frozen mixed veg with a good slosh of Bisto gravy.

It was very tasty and there are still some more potatoes in the fridge for a future use ... and two more pies each for our tea tonight to have with a different side veg.


Sue xx