Potato, greens and cheese bake
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Many years ago, I fell out with potatoes. A pregnancy health complication meant I had to limit my intake of starchy-slash-carby foods, so potatoes were moved to the ‘avoid’ list. At the time, I wasn’t sad about it. I had become so obsessed with eating only the foods which would not harm myself and my unborn child that I didn’t even lament the loss of this glorious nightshade.
I gave birth to a healthy child and so I was given the green light to resume eating as usual. But during my short few months of carb avoidance, I had unwittingly established a new ‘usual’, which included an unhealthy fear of potatoes. Over the ensuing years, I ate very little of them and when I did, it felt like I was either cheating or indulging. Those who own my first two books - Community and Neighbourhood - will notice that there are very few potato recipes in them.
My potato reconciliation came while I was working on my third book Family. That book focussed upon creating healthy-ish vegetarian comfort food for my young-at-the-time-kids, and in the process of developing the recipes, I rediscovered the power and versatility of potatoes in everyday cooking. I remembered the buttery and fluffy whole baked potatoes that I ate for lunch while I lived in London, the potato pizza I tried when I was six after I gatecrashed a teen party as my older sister’s tag-along, and the smooth and savoury potatoes that my mother' served with her juicy Cantonese pork chops. Since that time, potatoes have slowly become more prominent in our weeknight repertoire. As evidenced in the potato chapter of Tenderheart, potatoes are an excellent way of adding heft, bulk and simple indulgence to everyday cooking. They are also economical and easy to store.
Last winter, I started cooking with two simple ingredients which got me through to the end of the season – potatoes and greens. I used the duo in soups, curries, on pizza, even on a sandwich! What I enjoyed about the two basic ingredients together is the contrast, starchy heartiness alongside hardy greenness. Peak satisfaction. It’s a combination I’ll be turning to again and again this season, so expect more of it here.
During the winter especially, I like to stock up on bunches of greens because they can be easily added to repertoire meals like soups or pasta, effortlessly upping the vegetable component in the dish, with minimal fanfare. My body craves dark leafy greens during the cooler months, usually a sign that my body needs more Vitamin C or iron.
Potato, greens and cheese bake
© Hetty Lui McKinnon for To Vegetables, With Love
