We have made homemade french fries, donuts and polish cookies, but we have never tried potato chips.

We took about 5 medium sized baking potatoes and used a mandolin to slice them thin. We left the skins on just so they would be easier to deal with and it turns out that the flavor was great.

Method

Slice the potatoes thin with a knife or mandolin. Rise in water and then pat dry.

Bring about a quart of vegetable oil to 375 degrees F.

In small batches fry the potatoes for about 3 - 4 minutes, or until golden brown. Lay them out on a sheet pan with some newspaper or paper towels to absorb any excess oil.

As soon as they are removed from the oil add a good amout of seasoning.

Seasoning

In a food processor, or mortal and pestle grind together the spices until they are fine.

5 medium potatoes makes about enough to fill a 6 quart bowl - At least a big bags worth. 

Inspired by salt and vinegar potato chips, these salt and vinegar grilled potato slices have a similar taste, but a more substantial texture. If you're thinking about doing something interesting with potatoes, that also encompass a grill, then this is definitely the thing to do. The taste of the potatoes is really interesting; the large potatoes are sliced into ½ inch slices and then boiled in white vinegar. This thoroughly infuses them with a distinctive vinegar taste which is both unique and refreshing when it comes to soft potatoes. Once they are almost cooked through we remove them from the vinegar, dry them, brush them with oil, sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper and place on a hot grill, a couple of minutes on each side.

The result? A vinegary taste, a soft texture in the middle and a bit of a bite at the surface. To boil the potatoes in vinegar is really a pretty cool idea. The flavor comes through strongly which is really tasty, however if you want a touch less vinegary potatoes, then you could always use two thirds vinegar and one part water when you parboil the slices.

Now wouldn't this be a nice dish to serve at a buffet or at your next bbq party? It's certainly unexpected and when people try these potatoes they will display both surprise and delight.

If you're looking to serve something a bit different, then these vinegar and salt grilled potatoes would be perfect. And the leftovers? These potatoes are perfect to cut up the next day and make hash browns with or put in an omelet.

Hash browns almost seems like the forgotten comfort food. Maybe because really good ones are difficult to come across, or at least they can be tricky to make yourself. If you don't take your time, they won't cook properly; if you cut them too large they'll take forever; if you utilize a skillet or cast iron pan and skimp on the fat, they will stick... There is an art to something as simple as hash browns!

We like our hash brown very crispy and cut in small cubes - not grated. They are so tasty when golden and crunchy and flavored with thyme and topped with a fried egg.

This is How we make Hash browns:

For 4 small portions start with around 4 small potatoes, a mix of red and white works best.

Dice the potatoes into small cubes, smaller cubes work better, so you should take your time. After that we have found that placing your potato cubes in a covered bowl with water for a few hours reduces the surface starch and improves the result. (For easy preparation, you can cut your potatoes and leave them in water overnight - they'll even last 2 days in the water.)

Drain the potato cubes well and use around 1 teaspoon of salt.

In a cast iron skillet, or non-stick fry pan, put in a tablespoon of olive oil in the pan on medium heat. If you use a cast iron skillet, you might need to add a little more fat...

You'll want to keep the heat on medium to medium-low for around 15-20 minutes. Every few minutes stir and let the potatoes brown evenly.

We have found that the seasonings that work best are lemon pepper and thyme. We use them liberally while the potatoes are in the frying pan.

Once they are done, plate the potatoes and fry the eggs in the same pan. Use one egg per person, season it with salt and thyme. When the egg is almost done, flip it over for just a second, then place it on top of the potatoes. This method will ensure that your yolk is still loose but all the egg whites are cooked.

Serve immediately.

This casserole incorporates thin potato slices, red peppers, tomatoes and onions as well as flavorful chorizo sausage into a delicious and substantial dish. Don't be afraid to use plenty of oil when making this dish – first we fry the thin potato slices quickly in oil on the stove to halfway cook them and give them some color, next we use oil for frying up tomatoes, peppers and canned onions along with spices such as chili pepper, cumin and paprika ( themes that show up again from the chorizo) and it all comes together very nicely.

Another way to think of this is as a spicy lasagna with potatoes instead of pasta and no cheese – however this dish would probably be even better with some ricotta cheese, so that wouldn't be a bad idea.

If you happen to have a lot of potatoes on hand, then you can't go wrong with this dish, and of course you could vary what type of sausage you use, we happen to really like chorizo because it comes with a lot of flavor, however you could certainly mix it up a bit.

6-8 servings

Ingredients:

• about 3 lbs potatoes, sliced into ¼ inch slices
• olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 red peppers, chopped
• 1 large 28 oz can diced tomatoes
• 5 garlic cloves, chopped
• Some oregano, fresh if you have access to it
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 pack of chorizo, sliced very thinly (as thin as you can and still get slices)

Method:

Put the oven on 375 degrees. In a generous amount of oil, fry up the potatoes in batches, a couple of minutes on each side. Once they are a touch brown, distribute them in a 9x12 pyrex dish. Continue frying up all the potatoes and place in the dish.

When all the potatoes are fried up, add onions and peppers along with some salt, and fry for about 10 minutes on the stove.  Add the spices, stir a bit, then add diced tomatoes, the garlic and the oregano and let simmer for a few minutes.

Pour the pepper tomato sauce on top of the potatoes and distribute evenly. Lastly, place the sliced sausage all across the top of the dish. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes or until it's completely cooked through.

Baking potatoes is one of the most simple ways to prepare a meal Simply stick them in the oven and let them bake until they’re done. Baked potatoes are great with broccoli and cheese, next to a piece of meat, or simply with some butter.

The perfect baked potato is crispy on the outside, yet light and fluffy on the inside. In order to achieve that you want to oil the skin of the potatoes and cook them in a hot oven.

How to make a perfect baked potato

First of all, you want to use a baking-style potato such as a russet potato. Save the smaller waxy ones for potato salad and other dishes - when making baked potatoes you want large, starchy potatoes.

Wash and scrub the potatoes well, then pat dry. Coat the potatoes with some oil such as canola or vegetable oil. You don’t want to use butter here because it would burn in the oven, oil has a higher smoking point. Poke the potatoes a few times in order to let steam escape during the cooking process. Bake the potatoes in a 425 degrees for about 45 min to an hour, or until soft.

Serving
When you are ready to eat the potatoes, cut across the potato with a sharp knife and pinch on each end towards the middle.

Great Baked Potato Toppings:

• Butter
• Sour cream
• Bacon bits
• Cheese
• Broccoli
• Soft garlic cheese

Tip! If you want the potatoes to stay hot for a long time after they’re done, then you can wrap them in foil before you put them in the oven. The potatoes will stay hot for a long time as long as they’re in the foil, however the skin will not turn crispy.

As a side dish to our blackened salmon we wanted something with a lot of flavor.

We had about 1 ½ pounds of fingerling potatoes and sliced then into 3 pieces, not too thin otherwise they would break apart in the pan. Adding a little chopped rosemary really adds a lot of flavor to otherwise flavorless potatoes, but don't add too much or you won't taste anything else.

Cook for 15 - 20 minutes over medium-low heat, deglaze with vermouth if necessary.

Near the end of cooking throw in about 3 or 4 cloves of chopped garlic and a little extra virgin olive oil, serve.

Mashed potatoes is perfect to make next to a variety of dishes. Around the holiday with your turkey or next to your meat loaf, nothing beats homemade mashed potatoes.

To make really smooth and creamy mashed potatoes as opposed to chunky mashed potatoes, we prefer to use a potato ricer. Once you have pushed all the potatoes through the ricer, you will have a very fine mesh that will turn smooth once you pour some hot liquid on it and stir it together. If you don’t have a ricer on hand, you could always mix the potatoes well with a hand mixer and make sure to work out any chunks.

We like to use baking potatoes, or other hearty winter potatoes in order to make creamy mashed potatoes, smaller potatoes are too starchy. Usually 1-2 large potatoes per person is enough, although mashed potatoes are perfect left-over food since it can be utilized in a variety of dishes, so it doesn’t hurt to make a little extra.

Very creamy mashed potatoes, as opposed to chunky mashed potatoes usually require a little extra liquid. Don’t skimp on the amount of milk/cream that you add and a little extra butter never tastes bad either.

4 servings

Ingredients:

• 6 large baking potatoes
• about ¾ cup of milk or cream
• 2-3 tablespoons butter
• 2 teaspoon salt (to taste)
• freshly ground pepper

Possible flavorings:

• pressed garlic
• freshly ground nutmeg
• shredded cheese (preferably sharp, flavorful cheese)
• herbs

Method:

Boil the potatoes in liberally salted water, either skin on or skin off. We prefer to boil the potatoes with the skin on, as it will prevent the potatoes from becoming too liquidy.
Boil the whole potatoes until they are ready (when a toothpick can easily go through it). You don’t have to worry too much about over-cooking the potatoes since they will be mashed anyway. Peel the potatoes if you boiled them with the skin on.

Utilizing a ricer, press each peeled potato through until it’s finely pressed. Otherwise, mix the potatoes well with a hand-mixer. Heat the milk/cream up. If you are adding garlic, then it’s a good idea to add the raw garlic to the milk as it heats up, the heat will limit any bitter garlic taste.

Add the milk/cream, the salt, the pepper and possible flavorings to the pressed potatoes, stir well until well incorporated. Serve right away.

These twice-baked potatoes are easy to make and absolutely delicious. They are perfect plain with some sour cream and salsa for an appetizer (in which case they go perfectly with some crispy bacon bits), or as a side dish next to a piece of meat or fish.

These potatoes are also easy to prepare in advance. You can make them up to step 4 and then bake them once you’re ready to serve them.

If this is a meal and not a side dish, then this recipe is perfect for 4 servings.

Ingredients

4 large russet potatoes (2 pounds)
4 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded (1 cup)
½ cup sour cream
½ cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons butter
3 scallions, sliced thin

Method:

1. First bake the potatoes. Scrub them well and heat the oven to 450 degrees. You can either bake the potatoes right in the oven, they will take over an hour to cook. Or, you can first cook the potatoes in the microwave on high for 6 – 12 minutes, turning them halfway through. Then the potatoes only need to cook for about 20 minutes in the oven.

2. Lower the temperature to 350 degrees. Cut the potatoes in half, and scoop the insides into a bowl, leave about ¼ inch thick shell. Place the empty potato shells upright on a baking sheet. Bake them for about 10 minutes, until crispy.

3. Mix the potato flesh with the cheddar cheese, sour cream, buttermilk, butter and sliced scallions. Add salt and pepper to taste.

4. Remove the shells from the oven, and increase the temperature to 500 degrees. Divide the potato mixture into the empty shells. Bake for about 15 minutes, until nice and browned.

5. Let cool for about 10 minutes before serving. Sprinkle each potato with cooked bacon bits if you want. Serve with sour cream and salsa.

These Polish pancakes are great to have anytime. There are as many recipes as there are Polish grandmothers. This recipe is just something we came up with because apparently those Polish grandmothers do not write anything down.

Makes about 20

Ingredients

• 5 pounds baking potatoes
• 1 large onion
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 tablespoon salt, approx
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic

Method

Assembling - Peel the potatoes. In a food processor with the shredding dish, or using a box grater, shred the potatoes.

Remove the shredded potatoes from the food processor and place in one large, or two smaller white onions. Pulse until the onion is puréed. Remove from the food processor.

At this stage try to remove as much water from the onion and potato as possible. We use a cheese cloth.

Take half the shredded potatoes and the puréed onion, and place them back in the food processor and purée them together.

Remove the mix from the food processor and place in a large work bowl. Add the remaining shredded potatoes and mix together with a large spoon. Add the salt, the flour and the egg.

Once the batter is formed, let rest for a few minutes.

Frying - Heat a cast iron or heavy bottomed sautee pan with about 2 cups canola or vegetable oil.

Be careful not to get the oil too hot.

Ladle in a large spoon worth of the batter. About 1 minute each side.

Pull them out of the pan and place on a wire rack over a sheet pan (pictured right). Sprinkle a little salt over each cake.

Eating - These pancakes go great with apple sauce, or why not sour cream and smoked salmon!