Purple Potatoes!

Posted from 08/14

Let's talk more about appreciation for growing your own food. Why? Because I want to and you're my blog hostage. Blogstage?.. Ignore that.
Really though, today I went straight for using food from my garden. Those awesomesauce purple potatoes. If you'd like to learn a little more about purple potatoes you can Here.

The basics of purple potatoes for those of us who don't click links, is that they aren't really any different than any other potato. They can be used like a red or a white, best for roasting and frying but can be used for mashing. Then there's some stuff about color and antioxidants, but let's be real, I grew them because they're pretty.

I mean really, look at these beasts. Glorious! I did have a little trouble peeling these due to their size. They're similar in size to a red potato, so I used my handy dandy thumb claw and stabbed in to the potato to keep a grip and not peel my fingers. I came across this little cutie while peeling.

Looks like a little animal face!

So this is the bunch all peeled. When they're sliced, they're absolutely beautiful, I mean as far as produce goes. I suggest using them in a better way than me. Today I'm mashing, but these would be stunning sliced in scalloped potatoes or frying into chips.

Now I've made mashed potatoes from scratch before so I think I've got this covered. However, if you live in Basictown like me, there are a few things to note.

• Peel and wash your potatoes (peeling optional). Cut them to be all about the same size
• Start your potatoes in COLD water. This will prevent the outside from quickly cooking and turning to mush while the inside is still uncooked
• SALT your water. Just do it. I promise. I'll skip the science of starches, just know your potatoes will soak up the salt and you really really want that
• Bring them to a boil and then drop down to a simmer. Cook until you can stab them with a fork and they fall apart
• If possible use room temperature butter and milk. Again, the starch thing.

Fun fact! While peeling the potatoes won't stain your fingers, it will change the color of the water you're boiling. That's a pretty blue but I have yellow lights on my stove so it looks Rio Olympic pool green, but still awesome.

I've cheated and thrown in some frozen chicken breasts into the stove while I'm doing this. Can we all stop and not beat ourselves up for this, though? Most people don't raise their own chickens. If you do, wonderful! That's great! Maybe one day I can too if I have the desire to. We're about honesty here, so I have no problem admitting I'd rather watch Master Chef and Hotel Hell than go feed or wrangle chickens. Sorry, Gordon! The chicken I should note, I threw in a small roaster while frozen, covered them liberally with chicken seasoning and cooked for an hour. Tasty and simple like I like it. Not a ticket to win competitions, but super satisfying. I asked if Tony wanted a side like corn or green beans and he opted for no, so we had chicken and home grown, homemade mashed purple potatoes for dinner.

Today's enterprises succeeded.