yumm

I know more than a few girls and women that feel the need to avoid delicious foodstuffs such as breads and potatoes. Now that is a bummer. Those are two of my favourite meal time essentials and I pity you if you are missing out on them for any non-life-threatening reasons.

As soon as winter hits, I consume copious amounts of potatoes. You do know they contain more vitamin-C than an orange (as well as more potassium than a banana and more fibre than an apple), right?

Here is a super easy and super scrumptious (yep, I said it) way of preparing potatoes.

SCOTCH STOVIES

1 onion, peeled and finely sliced
butter
olive oil
fresh thyme (dried is always a substitute)
sea salt
freshly ground pepper
2-3 floury potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
a handful of celery leaves, chopped (if you want the recipe to be something a little special, the celery leaves are pretty essential)

Very slowly fry the onion (over low heat) in butter with a touch of olive oil (to keep the butter from burning), thyme and a little salt and pepper for 10-15 minutes until lightly golden and soft. Add your potato chunks and a little less than 250ml of water. Simmer with a lid on and stir occasionally until the potatoes have gone mushy. Stir and scrape any sticky bits off the bottom of the pan and mix them in. You can mash the mixture if you like, or leave it as it is with bigger and smaller lumps. (Leaving the lumps is best). Correct the seasoning to taste then stir the celery leaves throughout the mash and serve.

Connor and I had these potatoes with a whole roasted free-run duck from a local, organic farmer.

Recipe adapted from "Scotch Stovies" in Cook with Jamie: My Guide to Making You a Better Cook by Jamie Oliver. New York: Hyperion, 2007.