Week 2: The rising potato tide
The second installation of Week Two includes more easy potato favorites. (Confidence is mounting. Maybe he was right, should I have splurged on 100 kilos?!?) At the same time I am beginning to get a bit nervous about those two crates of dirty carrots down there… If you have any great carrot recipes, please send them our way!
On the menu:
Rosemary-roasted Potatoes
Tuna croquettes
Rosemary-roasted Potatoes
This recipe is an enigma. It’s the story of the loaves and fishes, only in reverse. Each time I make it, I double the number of potatoes and there still aren’t any leftovers. Last week, 5 potatoes. This week, 10 potatoes. … If there is one recipe that is going to get us through those 50-lb sacks anxiously waiting for me every time I go down into the cellar, it’s this one.
Plus since I made it up myself, there’re no finicky measurements, so it’s reasonable to attempt to prepare it while at home alone with young children.
Potatoes, as suggested, twice as many as last time you made it
Olive oil, reasonable amount
Rosemary
Salt
Pepper
- Wash, peel (always optional chez Maureen), and slice the potatoes.
- Combine with olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper.
- Into a hot oven (around 400°F/200°C) for, um, just check on it every 10 minutes or so. Or more precisely: put them in the oven, completely forget about them while reading The Gruffalo, when you start to smell something burning, run over in a panic (burned the potatoes again!?!?), sigh of relief (just the back row…), move them around, back in the oven, forget about them again while building a Duplo fortress, burning smell, panic, back to oven…(those really dark crunchy ones taste the best anyway, right?) The recipe ends, without fail, in Franziska running to the door as soon as Jan arrives home to announce that Mama made the potatoes “black” (again).
Rosemary-roasted Potatoes
Ingredients
- Potatoes as suggested, twice as many as last time you made it
- Olive oil reasonable amount
- Rosemary
- Salt
- Pepper
Instructions
- Wash, peel (always optional chez Maureen), and slice the potatoes.
- Combine with olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper.
- Into a hot oven (around 400°F/200°C) for, um, just check on it every 10 minutes or so.
Tuna croquettes
Another great recipe from The Baby-led Weaning Cookbook. Be warned that it produces quite a few dirty dishes so if the house fairy has the day off, serve leftover Tartiflette instead.
*This isn’t a parenting blog but for those of you who are curious, baby-led weaning is great. it saved us from months of blending perfectly decent food into unidentifiable mush. The website has a lot of good advice and I refer to the cookbook quite often.
Potatoes, lefttover mashed ideally. If you’re starting from scratch, 2-3 large ones.
Tuna, 1, canned, drained and broken up
Lime, juice of 1
Butter, 2 Tbsp (30 g)
Breadcrumbs or other crumbly substance of similar consistency depending on the current fads and your dietary restrictions, 1-2 oz (30-50 g)
- Peel the potatoes, cut into small pieces and put them on to boil. (Ah ha! That’s how you cook them quickly!)
- Preheat the oven to 400° F (200°C).
- Lightly grease a baking sheet.
- When potatoes are cooked, drain and mash them.
- Add the tuna, the lime juice and the butter. Mix well.
- Here it would be prudent to let the mixture cool a bit but I have already grossly under-estimated my potato cooking time and Noah’s standing impatiently at the refrigerator repeating “cheese, cheese” so I sacrifice my finger tips and dive into the hot mash.
- Shape into small sausages. Roll each sausage in breadcrumbs. Put on baking sheet.
- Bake 20 minutes until browned.
- Serve warm. Serve leftovers cold for a delicious and healthy afternoon snack that the kids will definitely not like. Reheat a few for Jan for dinner. Refrigerate remainder. Forget about them until cleaning out the refrigerator a few weeks later.
Tuna croquettes
Ingredients
- Potatoes lefttover mashed ideally. If you’re starting from scratch, 2-3 large ones.
- Tuna 1, canned, drained and broken up
- Lime juice of 1
- Butter 2 Tbsp (30 g)
- Breadcrumbs 1-2 oz (30-50 g)
Instructions
- Peel the potatoes, cut into small pieces and put them on to boil.
- Preheat the oven to 400° F (200°C).
- Lightly grease a baking sheet.
- When potatoes are cooked, drain and mash them.
- Add the tuna, the lime juice and the butter. Mix well.
- Shape into small sausages. Roll each sausage in breadcrumbs. Put on baking sheet.
- Bake 20 minutes until browned.
- Serve warm.
