You say potato

In this clip from the first episode of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution he goes into a first grade classroom and asks the kids to identify various vegetables and they don’t know any of them: they don’t know what a tomato looks like, let alone a cauliflower or an eggplant (“egg…salad” one guesses tentatively).  I was shocked and saddened by that clip.  But I also realize that beyond the basics my own vegetable recognition abilities have a long way to go.  Its only in recent years at the farmer’s market that I’ve discovered the amazing fractal romanesco broccoli, until quite recently I didn’t realize that brussel sprouts grew on long veggie laden stems, and I had never heard of my now beloved ramps or garlic scapes.  And when I need potatoes I write just ‘potato’ on my shopping list without differentiating between Purple Peruvian Fingerling Potatoes and Green Mountain Potato.

When I do try the amazing and unusual potatoes available at the farmer’s market it is always such fun.  I love the colors and the varieties of flavor: some a little nutty, some so creamy.  Unlike thetypical supermarket vegetables which have been bred for ease of transport, long shelf life and standardized sizing, these little farmers market gems are meant to taste really good – and they do.  I need to do a better job of remembering them by name and knowing which is which.  Deborah Madison recently had a blog post that discussed the importance of names – she p0inted out that if you discover an especially lucious type of peach its a lot easier to ask the farmer for it by name then to try and describe the taste you remember from a year ago and hope you can find the right fruit again.  And by asking for the vegetables by name we help keep demand for them alive.

Fortunately there are also organizations dedicated to preserving the rich varieties of fruit and vegetables that are being threatened by industrialization.  The Ark  of Taste is a program by Slow Food USA which aims to catalog and promote foods in danger of extinction.

For my part, I decided to cook this trio of potatos as a tribute to the amazing variations that exist.  Noerah and I had some fun with the plating having read that food stylists often use colored mashed potato to simulate icecream in their photo shoots we decided to scoop luscious balls of our mashed potatoes and keep everybody guessing. Each of the trio is flavored differently: there is my mascarpone whipped potato, the red potato is a garlic mashed version, and there is the luxe blue fingerling pototoes with truffle oil.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

• 2 lbs potatoes, peeled and cut into even chunks, about 1″ long
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Put the potatoes and garlic in a pot of cool salted water and bring to boil, cook until potatoes are fork tender then drain well.  Mash with a potato masher or ricer until smooth, add the cream, butter, salt and cheese and blend well.

Truffle Oil Mashed Potatoes

The secret to making truffle oil mashed potatoes that will make your knees weak is to save the oil to pour over right before serving!

• 2 lbs potatoes, peeled and cut into even chunks, about 1″ long
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 2 tsp chopped black truffles (optional)
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 Tbs truffle oil (or more to taste)

Put the potatoes  in a pot of cool salted water and bring to boil, cook until potatoes are fork tender then drain well.  Mash with a potato masher or ricer until smooth, add the milk, butter, salt, truffles and 1 Tbs of the truffle oil and blend well.  Pour the rest of the truffle oil onto the potatoes right before you start to eat and let the smell seduce everyone completely!

–By Talia