Potato Update: A Garden of Spuds!

Our garden continues to provide us with a daily harvest of potatoes. I'm enjoying watching Andy become Mr. Mad Kitchen Scientist, enthusiastically concocting new recipes, with our daily bounty of taters.

Andy is a potato lover. In fact, he ordered 7 pounds of seed potatoes earlier this year from Decorah, Iowa's Seed Savers. According to Gardening When It Counts by Steve Solomon, 7 pounds will produce approximately 175 pounds of potatoes! Who said carbs were bad? Seems extreme . . . we will see!

We planted All Blue Potatoes, All Red Potatoes, and Carola Potatoes. Ha! Red, white, and blue for 'Merica! We're so patriotic; oh yes, we are! The Carola Potato is best known for its storage longevity. We're hoping to make cold and hot potato dishes late into the winter! The red and blue potatoes were chosen because we like the colors. . . 'You're not cool unless your food has color!'

Up until recently, I had no idea how to harvest or dig up potatoes. Andy has taken this potato planting very seriously, and so, in turn, I've learned quite a bit about potato harvesting. To start with, when the potatoes are ready to be harvested, the stems of the potato plants look nearly dead. Currently, our potato plants are a mix of green and brown stems and leaves. To get the potatoes out of the ground, one must use a pitchfork or a shovel to get underneath all of the potatoes. The tines are very long, so it can be very easy to accidentally spear the tubers. It's important to make sure the pitchfork or shovel is completely under the potatoes to protect their delicate skins.

Carola Potatoes

All Blue Potatoes

Last night, we modified the earlier Herbed Potato Salad that we posted in late July. Our CSA, Harmony Valley Farms, included a Brebis cheese from Wisconsin's Butler's Farm in our cheese share last week. Brebis cheese is a sheep's milk cheese with a mild flavor. It's spreadable, much like goat cheese. We thought this would make an excellent addition to our warm potato salad! Check it out!

Herbed New Potatoes with Brebis Cheese
1 - 2 lbs. of new potatoes
2 Tbs. butter
a minimum of 1 clove of garlic, chopped
1/4 c. fresh parsley (mixed with other herbs if you have them ~ thyme, oregano, etc.)
2 ounces Brebis Cheese

Using a heavy pan/pot or Dutch oven with accompanying cover(s), melt butter over low heat. Put in whole or quartered potatoes (depending on size). Dump garlic and herbs over the potatoes. Cover and cook for 25 minutes on low, shaking the pan periodically to avoid sticking. After 25 minutes, remove from heat and put clumps of cheese over potatoes. Cover and let stand for two minutes. Serve hot! Makes four servings.

Tonight, we made a vegan potato salad in preparation for a backyard wiener-roast with my parents tomorrow. Super delicious!

Vegan Potato Salad
8 cups of potatoes, cubed
fresh dill or other herb of choice
1 cup of light Vegan Canola mayo
2 Tbs. Apple Cider Vinegar
2 Tbs. mustard of choice

Boil potatoes until tender. Drain and run under cold water to stop the cooking process. Transfer to a bowl. Drizzle Apple Cider Vinegar over potatoes. Mix in the herbs, mustard, and mayo! Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.

One cup serving:

Nutrition Facts potato salad 8/12
Serving Size: 1 serving
Amount Per Serving
Calories	206
Total Fat	7.2g
Saturated Fat	0g
Trans Fat	0g
Cholesterol	0mg
Sodium	504mg
Carbohydrate	31.9g
Dietary Fiber	3.1g
Sugars	1.4g
Protein	2.9g
Vitamin A 0% Vitamin C 34% Calcium 1% Iron 3%

(courtesy of www.myfooddiary.com)

New Potatotes!

Yippee! The potato plants are browning and withering, which means they are ready to be harvested. Today, Andy shoveled up a handful of potatoes to be used within in the day as "new potatoes." What are new potatoes you might ask? Well, new potatoes are basically fresh, out-of-the-dirt potatoes. The skins are super delicate, so much so that one must wash them by gently rubbing them with only his/her fingers under cold water. Any hard pressure will take the skin right off. New potatoes have a creamy texture and are considered a delicacy to some.

These "new potatoes" could have been put in the sun/greenhouse for a few days to harden the skins up for longer storage (thereby creating your basic grocer-type potato). Or the tops of the plants could be cut down a week or so ahead of the harvest in order to toughen the skin up a bit. We decided that the first potato harvest of the year demanded fresh use! Plus, we thought eating them immediately would be a good personal test for our first potato harvest.

Most of our potatoes are still in the ground; we plan on using them throughout the month before making one final, large harvest.

Tonight, we paired Herbed New Potatoes with local Natural Casing Wieners (for the carnivores) and Tofurky Brats (for the vegetarians). A perfect picnic pairing!

Carnivore's Delight!
(all local ~ within 15 miles of our house)

Herbed New Potatoes
1 - 2 lbs. of new potatoes
2 Tbs. butter
a minimum of 1 clove of garlic, chopped
1/4 c. fresh parsley (mixed with other herbs if you have them ~ thyme, oregano, etc.)
2 ounces Parmesan or similar-style cheese, shredded

Using a heavy pan/pot or Dutch oven with accompanying cover(s), melt butter over low heat. Put in whole or quartered potatoes (depending on size). Dump garlic and herbs over the potatoes. Cover and cook for 25 minutes on low, shaking the pan periodically to avoid sticking. After 25 minutes, remove from heat and sprinkle shredded cheese over potatoes. Cover and let stand for five minutes. Serve hot! Makes four servings.

Nutrition Facts herbed new potatoes
Serving Size: 1 serving
Amount Per Serving
Calories	280
Total Fat	9.8g
Saturated Fat	5.4g
Trans Fat	0g
Cholesterol	27mg
Sodium	750mg
Carbohydrate	40.8g
Dietary Fiber	3.9g
Sugars	1.7g
Protein	9.1g
Vitamin A 4% Vitamin C 44% Calcium 1% Iron 3%