Russet potatoes were one of the things that made my $40 a week budget possible earlier in my marriage.
Growing up we pretty much had them baked or if we got real fancy we did home made mashed potatoes, but that was only on holidays.
My mom did have some recipes she started using in my later years and I now use one, but baked and mashed is what I grew up with.
Jon likes mashed, especially home-made with the skins, though I’m not so keen on skin unless it’s red or golden potatoes. We do have baked, but very seldom. I learned different ways to cook them, some more time intensive, like twice baked, but I usually stuck to the easy stuff, like on the stove top with chicken broth, onion, garlic etc.
When I was pregnant with Eden I became a potato snob. I disliked russet potatoes. Recipes I use to love disgusted me if they were made with russet and one is still unappetizing with red or golden potatoes because the memory of russet is just too strong.
I’m not sure what happened but baked russet or mashed with no skin is the only way I like russet potatoes now. The skin is just too thick for me to eat and the thought of chewing it makes my stomach churn. The texture even gets to me a little, hence why some recipes I won’t eat with russet because I find them to grainy.
So enough already with russet potatoes and why I don’t like them.
I now only buy red and golden potatoes and I often forget that I have them or for some reason I don’t want to make them. But lately I’ve been wanting soup and I’m happily anticipating the tuna chowder I’ve made for tonight. (I’m waiting for Jon to come home.)
It’s so easy but very good.
Tuna Chowder- from Arthur Schwartz “What to cook- When you think there’s nothing in the house to eat”
(And only one of the two recipes I use from the book and I have changed it just a little to what I do. Also if you don’t like tuna it still makes a nice potato chowder, though the tuna adds a lot of flavor. It’s kinda a simple comfort food.)
2 Tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, chopped (2/3 to 3/4 cup)
~ 2 1/2- 3 cups potato cut into 1/2 inch dice
2- 2 1/2 cups milk
1 6 1/2 ounce can of tuna, drained.
Salt and pepper to taste
1. In a small saucepan, over medium heat, melt butter and saute onion until golden.
2. Add the diced potatoes and milk to the amount of liquid desired. (It will thicken slightly as cooked.) Bring to a boil, turn down to medium heat and cook until potatoes are done or about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add tuna and then season to taste with salt and pepper.