NOW CLOSED: Calling all spud lovers - tell us how you would customise these potato recipes and win a Love2Shop voucher

[AnnMumsnet]

This month - the Many Faces of Potatoes campaign is offering a £50 Love2Shop voucher to MNers offering a tip or spin on the November recipes - see this link for recipes and info

This thread is for the 15 MNers who are trying out potato recipes for the "Many Faces of Potatoes campaign" over the next few months. Each month they will be sent a new family favourite recipe which can be prepped and on the plate in under 30 minutes. The MNers will add their feedback to this thread.

Below are some questions for the Councillor's to answer each month - please feel free to add additional comments.

If you're not a tester but have any queries feel free to ask and maybe a Councillor will answer, or if not one of the MNet campaign team will.

Please state recipe name (if possible add a link from the above website):

~ How long did it take you to cook the recipe?
~ Did you and your family enjoy the recipe?
~ Will you be cooking it again?
~ Any other general comments about the recipe?

Two more general questions -
~ Since taking part in this activity have you found anything surprising about potatoes that you were unaware of before?
~ Any other general comments about potatoes?

Thanks
MNHQ

Letter here too - also sausage and mash well swede/ carrot and potato mash which i kind of do anyway but will do as per the instructions and add in the mustard which i dont normally. I will be poised to do this next Monday. Oooo steak and chips sounds good lol

no letter here

but we do have a hopeless postman, and only seem to get post on 2 days a week , so I look forward to my letter whenever the postman deigns to deliver it

We just had Mexican Wedges.

~ How long did it take you to cook the recipe?
About 30 mins

~ Did you and your family enjoy the recipe?
It was OK. When I dished it up, I thought 'oh crikey, it's just a pile of greasy potatoes and peppers' but it tasted fine and the girls liked the meatballs. Son (tater hater) nibbled a bit of wedge.

~ Will you be cooking it again?
I don't know. It was a bit bland and uninspiring. I cook wedges and roasted peppers/veg anyway - they are a tasty accompaniment to roast chicken legs. Perhaps a sprinkling of parsley and a crisp Greek salad would have perked the dish up a bit.

~ Any other general comments about the recipe?
I used 4 medium potatoes but the dish was still mostly potatoes, with hardly any meatballs. I wasn't sure if the garlic should go in with the mince or with the spuds (I put it in the mince). I used 2 baking sheets but it was all still a bit soggy - 3 would have been better to crisp the potatoes.

Two more general questions -
~ Since taking part in this activity have you found anything surprising about potatoes that you were unaware of before?
My son still won't touch them.

~ Any other general comments about potatoes?
Deffo my tuber of choice.

Hello all.

I've uploaded the recipes to our pages - see links below.

Also - If you are not a Potato Councillor - the Many Faces of Potatoes team is offering a prize of a £50 Love2Shop Voucher to any Mumsnetter, who adds their own best potato tip, or best way of diversifying one of the recipes this month.

This month's recipes are:

Pork Sausages with mash

Mexican Wedges with meatballs

Cajun steak and chips

Thanks all.

I was allocated the Pork Sausages with Swede and Potato Mash ( I used Asda Pork and Chilli sausages which were really nice, not too spicy)- I hit a stumbling block before I had even started cooking. Neither Tesco's, Sainsbury's, M&S, Lidl, Iceland or my local corner shop sold Swede(or turnip). I ended up adding in some Tomato Pesto to make it a similar colour and it was still yum !

~ How long did it take you to cook the recipe? It took the time stated on the recipe which was about 45 mins for the potatoes and veg to cook.
~ Did you and your family enjoy the recipe? Yes although it would have been better had I been able to get some swede.

~ Will you be cooking it again? Yes I would try it again

~ Any other general comments about the recipe? It was a very simple and easy recipe to follow.

Cajun-style steak and chips.

~How long did it take you to cook the recipe?
About half an hour. It only took a couple of minutes to prepare the potatoes and once they were in the oven I had plenty of time to prepare the salsa and a salad. It was 20 minutes for the potatoes and I had to wait for them to finish cooking before I could grill the steaks (another 10 minutes to cook) as I don't have a separate grill and oven. Otherwise it would only have been 20 minutes in all.

~ Did you and your family enjoy the recipe?
I loved it. DH wasn't that fussed by it but he is hard to please :/ He wanted a sauce to go with the steak but made no effort to make one for himself.
The cajun chips were really nice and will definitely do them again for myself. They cooked perfectly in only 20 minutes which is a lot less than the frozen ones I usually buy.
The salsa was really nice too. I usually wouldn't have eaten any as I didn't think I'd like it but thought I'd better give it a try as I was giving feedback and I'm glad I did! It was perfect to cool down the spice from the cajun seasoning (I'd bough an extra spicy one).

~ Will you be cooking it again?
Yes, definitely.

~ Any other general comments about the recipe?
It was so so simple to make, totally fool proof and looked impressive on the plate!

Cajun-style steak and chips.

~How long did it take you to cook the recipe?

25 minutes to cook, about another 5-10 for preparation. Think the chips needed a wee bit longer than stated in the recipe, I actually normally cook chips this way, and would par-boil them for a couple of minutes first.

~ Did you and your family enjoy the recipe?
DH and I both loved it, in fact we made the chips again the next night with piri piri seasoning to go with some chicken breasts. Really very easy to make, and a much nicer alternative to frozen chips. Nice treat to get steak too! I wouldn't normally have served salad and a salsa with a steak, but it worked really well.

~ Will you be cooking it again?
Already have! Really delicious recipe.

~ Any other general comments about the recipe?
Totally yum, very easy, a quick effortles dinner that felt like it took more effort than it actually did.

One point, I think they could do with maybe specifying type of potato, e.g. thi worked well with floury potatoes such as maris Pipers, Roosters, or king edwards etc...

(not a potato councillor but) I was just wondering why none of the recipes seem to specify a type of potato? It's particularly weird given that the point of the exercise is to better publicise the versatility and diversity of potatoes. Surely it makes a huge difference what kind of potato you use in each recipe.

I had the pork sausages with swede and carrot mash,
ease of cooking - very easy, boiled it all up together and mashed it as per the instructions with a knob of butter and dash of milk - recipe did not specify potatoes so used the regular white potatoes that come in a big mixed bag in aldi, as luck would have it they had a veg mix for 99p which had swede and carrots in it and the aldi ashfield pork sausages were also on offer and suprisingly nice. Anyway i digress slightly.... It took me 5 mins to prep the veg and 15 to boil it before spending 5 mins to mash it and serve it with the sausages. I was not sure about adding mustard to the gravy and should have trusted my instincts as it made the gravy vile bleurghh but i put a brave face on so as not to distract the dc. Dh enjoyed the recipe and dint mind the mustard twist, i didnt like the gravy and the mash thing was ok but reminded me of weaning the children when all the veg would be mashed into one. DS enjoyed the mash aspect and hoovered it all up - dd who is our mash hater tried a tiny bit and declared it vile - oh well you cant win them all! I woudl cook it again but i definitly would not add mustard to my gravy. No other comments to make really but looking fwd to next months and hoping we can convert ourpotato haters soon.

We had Mexican wedges with meatballs.

~ How long did it take you to cook the recipe?
About 45 mins - I didn't think the wedges would be cooked in 30 mins and they weren't, despite me turning the oven up! The meatballs and peppers were a bit overdone by that time. Prep was really quick though and It was good to have it all in one pan.

~ Did you and your family enjoy the recipe?
Yes. very popular with my 3 kids even veg hating 12 year old. He and dd ate it all. DS2 picked out the peppers but said teh wedges and meatballs were briilliant. DS1 even said it was tasty and thanked me for cooking it! He did say meatballs were a bit dry but the salsa meant this wasn't a problem. Me and DH enjoyed too even though we had to top up with sausages (see below)

~ Will you be cooking it again?
Yes. Really easy and popular! A hit.

~ Any other general comments about the recipe?
I used spray oil to cut down on general greasiness and would do so again. Because we were eating at different times tonight I cooked thewedges for me and DH separately from the kids and added some cajun spice which wroked well. Also meant we could spread it out on 2 baking sheets which helped crisp things up. Main comment - nowhere near enough meatballs! 3 kids ate them all and wanted more. Me and DH made do with sausages which actually worked really well too (thrown in with wedges just like the meatballs). Next time I'd make double meatballs and give the wedges 10 mins cooking before adding the other bits.

This was a pretty economical dinner - esp as peppers and spuds both on offer in Tesco!

Looking forward to next recipe!

Bangers and carrot and swede mash

How long did it take? About 30 minutes all in.

Did you and your family enjoy the recipe?
Well, it was OK, but pretty standard fare. I think they were a little perplexed why I was asking for a 'review' of it!

Will you be cooking it again? I suppose it's one way of getting a variety of different veg into the mix, but I'd much rather do a swede mash on its own, with carrots separately - it's an either/or mash, potato or swede, and I don't think I'd choose to do the mix again. There's nothing like the joy of straight up bangers, (potato) mash and gravy!

Any other general comments about the receipe?
Was hoping for a bit more 'different from the norm' than the recipe that I had this time - holding out hope for next time.

Sausages with Swede and Carrot Mash here

~ How long did it take you to cook the recipe?
30 mins

~ Did you and your family enjoy the recipe?
ITs a regular in our house, although I don't normally mash the potato and veg together, so I did SOME of it and not all, as I know my DD2 isn't keen.
The mustard mixed in didn't add much other than a few faces being pulled and "euw whats wrong with this mash" :o

~ Will you be cooking it again?
I'll do my version again ie mash the carrots/sweede together and the potato on its own and no mustard :)

~ Any other general comments about the recipe?
I baked my sausages in the oven as we prefer them that way, I think they are niced too and then you can use the "juices" for yummy gravy!

Two more general questions -
~ Since taking part in this activity have you found anything surprising about potatoes that you were unaware of before?
Nope not yet!

~ Any other general comments about potatoes?
NO, I still love them! Have to say, completely coincidentally, my DS now eatas mash, which was his most hated food until recently....

This is a 'random' potato recipe. I make jacket pots in the microwave, then open them up and put a bacon and cheese sauce mixture inside them and bake in oven for a bit till they've crisped up. My ds2 who will not eat potato in any form other than chips (boiled new, roast, mash) will eat pots like this and enjoys the crunchy skin. You can also do with leftover chilli as you need less meat than you would serving with rice (I think!).

My customisation for the mash recipe would be to bake the potatoes, then cut them in half and put them through a ricer (you can then pull the leftover skins out, and use they for something else). Throw in plenty of butter, some seasoning and mix. You get lovely, soft, delicious, creamy mash. Yum. I use Vivaldi potatoes, usually.

Can we have some exciting potato recipes we might not already know about next?

Hi, just to let you know i will be making my potato recipe (mexican wedges) for tea tonight, haven't forgotten! Will post comments later

I'm not a councillor but did the steak and chips recipe

www.mumsnet.com/Recipes/i/5546-CAJUN-STYLE-STEAK-AND-CHIPS

I enjoyed it. Cooked it for myself as neither dd or dh eats meat. However they did both have the chips which we all enjoyed. I hadn't realised you could do chps straight in the oven without having to parboil them.

I didn't do the salsa as it seemed a bit fiddly to bother for one person for a midweek meal. Instead I basted the steak with a splash of red wine vinegar and balsamic vinegar mixed together. I did some mushrooms in the grill with the steak. I used the George Forman grill so I could do the steak at the same time as the chips.

Damsel, what's a ricer?! Is it really easier mash than peeling and boiling?

A potato ricer is like a big garlic press, but for potatoes. It makes smoother mash than a normal masher. You can put the potatoes in with their skins on, squash them and then remove the skins from the ricer (just like garlic in a garlic press). You don't have to bake the potatoes to use one (you can use it with boiled potatoes, peeled or not) but baking them gives them a great texture. It also means you can put more butter in.

Thanks! Hmmm...maybe for xmas! Baked pots are apparently higher GI than boiled...but we're not too strict on all that in our house.

They're cheap. We got ours in ikea for not very much at all.

Great, need to go soon. Sorry thread hijack, but it is relevant!

Mexican wedges with meatballs

How long did it take you to cook?

The preparation time was about 20-25 minutes as i decided to par boil the wedges before i put them in the oven. Earlier in the day i made a tomato based sauce with carrot, celery, onion, tinned toms and some fajita spice powder to serve with it as i thought it looked a bit dry.

Did you and your family enjoy the recipe?

It was on the whole an ok meal but only because i made the sauce to go with it that we dipped the meatballs in, also we had some sour cream to dip the wedges in and that made the dish in my view! With these additions i quite enjoyed it. DH however was not impressed with it at all, he felt the meatballs were tasteless and the overall dish uninspired and bland. My oldest son who is 4 quite enjoyed the wedges and ate one meatball. The baby wouldn't eat any of it and had some of the sauce i had made with pasta. I did really like the taste of the roasted peppers and onions and this is something i could do again.

Will you be cooking it again?

I would cook the potatoes, peppers and onions again but serve maybe with a stuffed chicken breast (with blue cheese wrapped in bacon maybe) and also would make a sauce to go with it.

Any other general comments about the recipe?

I was honestly quite surprised by the blandness of this recipe. It doesn't feel quite worked out as it doesnt all go together very well and the flavours aren't strong enough. Dh says it felt like a mish mash!

Have you found anything about potatoes that you were unaware of?

No, not yet. Having said that i hadn't ever thought to roast peppers and onions in the same tray in the oven before (with the potatoes)

Any other general comments about potatoes?

Nope!

i am not a potato councillor but my best tip is for making beautiful crispy jacket potatoes.

you need to prick the skins a few times & rub a little oil on them. then rub in some sea-salt. bake for 1 1/2 - 2 hs (depending on size)
the result is delish