I have a bunch of taters. I need to eat these taters. How should I eat these taters?

November 19, 2012 12:39 AM

I have a bunch of taters. I need to eat these taters. How should I eat these taters?

So I bought this big 10lb/5kg bag of red potatoes. I like potatoes, don't get me wrong, otherwise I wouldn't have bought such a big bag. The problem is that I kinda forgot I had another almost full bag of the same size in my mini-pantry, so now I have nearly 20lb/5kg of delicious baby red potatoes. What should I do with them?

Bonus points for variety and if it's something I can prepare ahead of time in bulk (rice/slow cooker) then portion out and store for the Modular Meal System™. All I can really think of that's fridge friendly is mashed potatoes, which I also plan on doing.

If it helps, I also have a shiny new mandonline slicer that I would like to learn to not cut my fingers apart on. I've never liked scalloped potatoes, though.

posted by Evilspork to food & drink (16 answers total)

Just a list of ideas:

Vicheysoise (or however it's spelled)

Blanch diced potatoes in boiling water for five minutes, saute some onions in chorizo, add potatoes, cumin, chili, salt and pepper, and you've got stuffings for breakfast burritos, quesadillas, all kinds of stuff

Hashbrowns for the rest of the year
posted by Ghidorah at 12:55 AM on November 19, 2012

Roast 'em!

Smash 'em!

Put 'em in a stew!

Broil 'em!

Bake 'em!

Eat 'em till yer blue!

mmmmmmmmmmm
posted by These Birds of a Feather at 12:58 AM on November 19, 2012 [11 favorites]

Hashbrown Casserole!
posted by mannequito at 1:01 AM on November 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Baby spuds? Tater salad.

Steam or boil them whole in their skins until they're not crunchy. Rinse them off, drain them and let them cool, then cut them in half (or quarters if they're big babies). For each kg of spuds dissolve half a teaspoon of salt in quarter of a cup of malt vinegar or balsamic vinegar; get them thoroughly wet with that mix, let them soak in it for five minutes, then pour off the excess. Slather with thickened cream for luxury, or yoghurt for tang, or a mix of the two to taste, plus a good handful of ripped fresh mint from the garden and far too much coarse-ground black pepper.
posted by flabdablet at 1:05 AM on November 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

My favourite thing to do with too many potatoes is to boil them whole (or halved), let them cool and then turn them into a salad, by slicing them thinlyish, and dressing with olive oil, (white wine) vinegar, salt+fresh ground pepper and whatever fresh herb you have on hand. I can eat this by the bucketful, and once made up it keeps nicely.
posted by thylacinthine at 1:29 AM on November 19, 2012 [3 favorites]

Baked Potato Salad: 1 2 3

Note: not "healthy" according to any diet, fad or otherwise. BUT DELICIOUS.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 1:56 AM on November 19, 2012

Slice potatoes long ways same thickness.
Layer in ovenproof dish with onion, salt, peppar
Make a pint or so of half stock (chicken or vegetable) and half milk.
Pour to top of layers of potato.
Top with a few small knobs of butter.
Bake in oven.
posted by Elmore at 2:30 AM on November 19, 2012

Bake or microwave a couple each morning and use as in-pocket handwarmers if you have a cold commute (then eat with desk salt).
posted by runincircles at 3:07 AM on November 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

You might be interested in this diet consisting of eating nothing but hash browns and french fries
posted by Flashman at 3:42 AM on November 19, 2012

Redskins...

Slice in Half
Melt a half stick of butter in a glass baking dish
Cover the butter with shredded Parmesan Cheese (maybe 1/2 cup or so)
put potatoes face down on top of the cheese
bake at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes......

Thank me later!
posted by HuronBob at 3:50 AM on November 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Salt Potatoes. It's an upstate New York tradition and it's delicious.
posted by katyggls at 3:55 AM on November 19, 2012 [3 favorites]

If you make mashed potatoes, you can freeze it as balls or put them in sandwich bags and then microwave when you want to eat them. I make shepards' pie. You can freeze that too. It becomes a meal that travels easy (for work) where all you have to do is microwave to heat.
posted by Yellow at 4:35 AM on November 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Oh hi I'm part Irish and one of my best friends is Irish and that means I know potato recipes.

* Colcannon is an Irish thing that is basically "mashed potatoes with chopped cooked cabbage or kale mixed in". I've also seen variants with cooked carrot puree, mashed parsnip, carmelized onions, or other vegetables mixed in. (Although, if you use scallions instead, it's called champ.) My own variant involves spreading the potatoes-and-kale into an ovenproof dish, topping it with shredded cheese and sticking under the broiler to melt the cheese before serving.

* Leftover mashed potatoes can be turned into potato farls, which is sort of a giant potato pancake sort of thing. Only with mashed potato instead of grated potato. Then there's boxty, which is a potato pancake with both grated and mashed potato.

* Irish stew is a given, of course - there is also Dublin Coddle, a stew of sliced potato, sliced onion, bacon, carrots, and pork sausage. It is fantastic for "I've been out drinking and I need to eat something before bed" food, and a friend of mine once tried some sort of hash-brown application to the leftovers and reports that also worked well (I think that batch didn't have carrots, though).

* And finally, a make-ahead thing which also isn't Irish - make up a huge batch of gnocchi and freeze for later use.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:36 AM on November 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Oh, just noticed the slow cooker! Dublin Coddle can be done in the slow cooker - find a coddle recipe and slow-cook it for 5 or 6 hours on "low".

And I have just remembered this one-dish baked thing which uses potatoes, onions, apples and sausage. It's gone into my "things I can cook even when I'm brain-dead" file.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:46 AM on November 19, 2012

Bubble and squeak. You can freeze the potato cakes and then just microwave them whenever you're in the mood for a quick snack.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 9:28 AM on November 19, 2012

Roasted Potatoes With Blue Cheese & Walnut Butter

SO freaking delicious.
posted by galvanized unicorn at 12:45 PM on November 20, 2012