Root crops of enlightenment

“There are products with a faded image, and even with a damaged reputation. For example, potatoes. They say about her that this is the second bread, well, or harmful starch. In both cases, you can hardly wait for a lively reaction. Perhaps, only in the role of the killer of all living things is she still able to interest someone. This is outrageous, especially since the potato is a food that has been eaten by American Indians for thousands of years and has been eaten in the Old World for three and a half centuries. Against the backdrop of, for example, the Moscow ecology – just an elixir of health. Well, it tastes good if you know how to use it.

There are two must-try things to try: real potato chips and mashed potato and leek soup. It is also called vichyssoise: its common version happened at the beginning of the last century, during the period of French culinary modernism.

Vichyssoise is a story about tenderness, about how the taste of a product is revealed thanks to cream and butter, how perfectly matched ingredients, leek and potatoes, play on each other, and lilies (from onions to garlic) play along with them. And how a simple mechanical intervention of a blender seals this connection with the seventh seal. The story of the triple chips is a story about the dissection of the essence of the potato, the potato soul. About how to make starch work for you, make the perfect crust and achieve the same ideal internal content. How to get a supply of super-cooked French fries in your freezer, so that you only need to throw them into hot oil for a minute – and you have a delicacy on your plate. Just remember to dry the chips before throwing them on this plate – after that they will become almost a dietary product.

Vichy

For 4 persons

Preparation: 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 400 g potatoes
• 2 stalks leek
• 1 bulb
• 4 garlic cloves
• 50 g butter
• 150 ml cream 33% fat
• 1 l chicken broth
• 30 g Gruyère cheese
• 20 g green onions
• 20 ml olive oil
• Salt, ground white pepper – to taste

Preparation

Melt butter in a saucepan with olive oil and fry chopped onion in a mixture of two oils. Not to color, but only to softness, to sweat beads that will appear on the surface of the bow in 3-5 minutes.

After that, add chopped leek and, stirring, simmer with onions over medium heat for about 5-7 minutes, until the leek is soft and sweaty – just like onions before.

Next, you need to add finely chopped garlic to the leek and fry together with two types of onions for about a minute. Now it’s time to add the potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes, to the onions and garlic; salt, pepper and, stirring, simmer for 2-3 minutes, making sure that the mixture does not burn.

It remains to add the broth and cream and cook for 15 minutes over medium heat, pour in the grated cheese and mix with a blender into a homogeneous substance.

Serve hot or cold. With green onions, shrimp, any fish – for example, smoked salmon will be great.

Triple Potato Chips

For 4 persons

Preparation: 2 hours

Ingredients

• 1 kg of large potatoes
• 40 ml olive oil for baking
• 600 ml cooking oil for frying
• Salt, ground black pepper to taste

Preparation

Peel the potatoes and cut into thick equal bars. The larger the potatoes and the larger the bars, the greater the subtlety of texture and taste can be achieved. Potato cuts can be used to make mashed potatoes or soups. Dip the potato wedges in cold salted water, bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes, then drain the water. Cool the potatoes in the refrigerator, sprinkle with olive oil, put on a baking sheet and put in the oven for 15 minutes, preheated to 180 ° C, then place in the freezer.

After an hour, take out the potatoes, heat the vegetable oil to a boil and fry the potatoes in it until a crispy beautiful crust.