Here we go folks with another client request.
I love asking people what their favorite foods are because it’s a conversation starter that can drop you both into a world of culinary theory and history. See, we’re all food nerds, self-proclaimed or not. You don’t have to love spending your weekends perusing the pages of Bon Appetit or the isles of Sur la Table to have a valuable food discussion.
The foods we grew up with are just are as much a part of our history as our ancestors line of work or region of residence. Culture is what you do as a group of people and food is culture at its rawest form. Learning about people’s favorite foods gives me a glimpse into their culture. I get the same pleasure and value from talking with someone’s grandma about how she makes her tamale casserole as I do in learning the best technique for evenly cooking duck breast.
Remember the simpler times in life when Saturday morning cartoons and what’s for dinner occupied the the lions share of your brain waves. Somewhere in that list of foods you considered to be the pillars of health was probably this weeks recipe. I’ve said before how much I like figuring out how to make completely delicious foods a little more healthy. Here’s another way to have your cake and eat it too. I hope you enjoy eating this as much as I enjoyed making it.
Let’s cook
Tater Tots
Ingredients
- 3 large russet potatoes
- Salt
- Pot to boil potatoes
- Cookie sheet
- Parchment paper
- Cooking spray (I like avocado oil)
- Cheese grater
Method
- Peel the potatoes then place them whole in the pot
- Add water to cover potatoes
- Add enough salt to make the water really salty like 1/4 cup for per quart of water
- Heat pot to a boil and cook potatoes until barley just barley fork tender. Your fork should not go in the potato easily but with pressure. This should take about 10-15 minutes boiling but watch it closely
- Remove from heat immediately and run cold water over the potatoes while they are still in the pot until they are just warm
- Drain the water and refrigerate the potatoes in a covered container overnight
- When ready to cook heat your oven to 375 if you have a convection oven or 400 if you don’t.
- Cover the baking or cookie sheet with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray
- Using a cheese grater, grate all the potatoes into a big bowl. Taste the potatoes. If they need more salt add a little to the bowl and toss with a fork
- Grab a small piece of the potato shreds and form into a small log shape in the palm of your hand. Place the tots on the sprayed cookie sheet with a little space between them
- When you have all the tots shaped and on the sheet spray them generously with the cooking spray
- Bake on the middle rack for 20 minutes
- Pull the oven rack out and spray the tots again with cooking spray. Rotate the sheet 1/2 turn and continue to cook for 20-25 minutes. The tots should be starting to turn golden an the tips should be getting dark but not burned. The bottoms should be golden brown
- Pull out to cool for a few minutes and dust with a light shake of salt and pepper if you desire
- Enjoy