Dressing Up The Plain Potato —

Southland Times, Issue 23852, 24 June 1939, Page 17

Dressing Up The Plain Potato —

However much we pretend to despise the homely potato, we all have a fondness for so valuable a stand-by, and recipes such as these take it out of the “homely” class into the more exciting realm of prepared dishes. POTATO SAUSAGES Take 111 b potatoes, IJoz butter or margarine, 11 tablespoonfuls chopped parsley, 11 tablespoonfuls chopped nuts, salt, cayenne pepper, a little fine oatmeal, pinch of mace, frying fat, milk. Boil the potatoes, strain them, and after mashing them add the parsley, nuts, butter, seasoning to taste, and a little milk. Make the mixture into sausage shape, roll'in oatmeal, and fry in boiling fat until a golden brown. TO FRY POTATOES' Potatoes should be fried in plenty of fat; the deep method is the best for this purpose. They can be cut into various shapes—balls, strips, chips, and ribbons. For the balls a vegetable cutter will be necessary. The strips should be cut very finely. To cut the chips, cut round a potato first, then cut it across into very thin slices. To cut ribbon potatoes, choose nice round potatoes and peel them evenly so that you have a smooth surface, then cut

round and round into ribbons. The potatoes should then be soaked for a time in cold water, then drained well and dried in a cloth. To fry them, wait until a faint smoke rises from ths fat, then put the potatoes into a frying basket, stand it in the deep pan of fat, and fry them until golden brown. Drain on paper and serve. If fried in batches, put them in again altogether at the last for a few seconds to crisp them, then drain and serve. Be very careful when deep frying not to fill the pan too full so that the fat overflows. DUCHESS POTATOES Take 1 dish mashed hot potatoes, 2 eggs, 2 to 3 dessertspoonfuls flour, salt, pepper, grated nutmeg to taste. Mix all ingredients well together until you obtain a smooth paste with no streaks of egg in it. Shape into nests or oblongs by squeezing the mixture through a forcing pipe on to a greased tin or baking sheet. A better way to cook the nests is in fireproof individual dishes, in which they are to be served. These nests make good containers for creamed fish, meat, mushrooms, or sliced hard-boiled egg in cheese sauce. Use the oblongs for garnishing any meat dish that requires to be browned under the griller.

You can also force this mixture round shells or ramekins containing fish with cheese sauce, and then bake till potato is browned.

To make a potato ring, pack the prepared potatoes into a buttered crumbed ring mould. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes. Pack the potato paste into a buttered, grooved pudding mould or a border mould, cover with a buttered paper, and steam for one hour, and serve filled with creamed meat or fish. QUICKLY BAKED POTATOES Old potatoes. Scrub the potatoes well and put into a saucepan of salted water. Boil for 10 minutes. Take out of the water, pierce the skin with a fork or knife, and put into a hot oven to bake for about 15 to 20 minutes. POTATO CAKES Take Jib mashed potatoes (floury), Jib flour, loz butter, J gill milk, pinch salt.

Rub the butter into the flour, stir in the mashed potatoes and salt and mix well. Stir in the milk and make a stiff dough. Roll out dough about half an inch thick on a well-floured board. Cut into shapes and bake in a quick oven. Serve plain or split and buttered and very hot