Monday, October 22, 2007

Spuds and lots of them!


Surprise, surprise an Irish guy talking about potatoes. Who'd have thought?
I was at the Santa Monica Farmers market yesterday and met a friend of mine, Denis who works for Weiser Farms. They produce some great sustainable root vegetables, potatoes, carrots, onions.
They have about 10 different varieties all of which have distinct qualities. If you're looking for a mashing potato for instance, the German Butterball is the best along with the French fingerling. A lot of the fingerling varieties are great for roasting as you can roast them whole and they look and taste great. The fingerling potatoes are generally more expensive though, as they have to be hand picked. Check out the Purple Peruvian fingerling and the All Blue for something a little different. Although not related they're similar in color and texture and look great. Sometimes when I do buffets I roast a few different varieties of fingerlings which look brilliant together. I like to keep it simple, especially with great ingredients, just olive oil, S&P and garlic and they're delicious.
The great thing about going to these farmers markets is that the vendors love to talk about their products and it's a great place to learn and see new varieties.
At least we don't have to worry about parking!

2 comments:

Amanda Nicole Dugan said...

Ok - this is looking GREAT!!! Nice job guys! BTW I just made "fries" by slicing up the Blue PEruvians, baby red and white potatoes and cooking them with a touch of olive oil and S&P & Garlic and roasting - YUMMY! I am going to keep coming on here for recipes!

The H.I. said...

Thanks a lot.You've gotta trust an Irishman when it comes to potatoes!