Let the Sky Rain Potatoes

M.F.K. Fisher is an American icon of food writing. I know very little about her, having just discovered her. She lived from 1908-1992, in California and France. Despite her pedigree, she was a very down-to-earth person when it came to food. She reminds me a little bit of Arianna Huffington. Someone who has the privileges of the rich, yet remains an advocate for the less rich. Rare.

M.F.K. wrote about potatoes more than once. At first, it seemed she despised the tuber, because it was served unceremoniously at every meal of her childhood. Meat & potatoes, meat & potatoes, meat & potatoes. Later, she wrote about its discovery. The glorious discovery of the potato, and then the monarchy that pushed its edibility on the poor, who then starved to death when the potato curated its own disease. And then later, she wrote about the wonder of the potato, describing its fluffiness with a sensuality I will probably never achieve on this blog.

Let me try to tell you about my own experience of potatoes, and then give you a new recipe.

My first intense potato experience was when I had my wisdom teeth out, at about age 13. All I wanted to eat was mashed potatoes, soft enough with cream & butter to be practically put through a straw. That magical food saved my life. I didn't want to die as long as I had mashed potatoes, with black pepper. I think there is somewhere a picture of me in bed recovering, with an almost-smile on my face, only because of mashed potatoes.

Years later, I tried to understand how to cook potatoes. My, my, my... they are hard to cook. Consider the varieties. I read "The Man Who Ate Everything" by Jeffrey Steingarten, who, in journalistic fashion, tried to master potato cooking, and dissected the starch content down to a science. It confused me more.

DH prefers long-cooked oven baked potatoes with thick skins. I prefer fresh red potatoes boiled softly.

My friend, who was a chef at the Modern Cafe for years, told me that he can easily cook gnocchi. "Oh, my!" I said, "Gnocchi is easy?"

"Yes, totally easy," he said. And then he went into all the complications of picking the proper potato. He warned me about farmer's market potatoes (too fresh), and of grocery store potatoes (too old). After a few minutes of this, I was tuning out. Because really, how can you know a proper potato for gnocchi? Please, spare me.


POTATOES WITH ROSEMARY & GARLIC

In a pan, heat olive oil.
Add diced potatoes.
Saute, adding a lot of rosemary and fresh crushed garlic, and of course, salt. Cover the pan and cook, stirring ocassionaly, for however long it takes, because as I've said before, I know y'all know how to cook!

It is an oily dish, but delicious!

I love potatoes, so much. Today at the grocery store I perused all the frozen types of potatoes, and I was totally grossed out. Let's just review a few of the grossest things available for purchase.

sweet potato fries
hash browns
tater tots
potato pancakes

None of these are good food. Even though I am a mom who wants desperately to make food more instant, I cannot, will not, serve this crap to my kid. And neither should you.

Except once in a while.