Lately I work nights in a restaurant, at least three and up to five a week. I usually come home to my boyfriend Mac making dinner for himself. Most likely just putting his potatoes to roast in the oven. He uses the Heston Blumenthal-inspired technique of boiling before roasting (some recipes will have you toss the potatoes around so they are craggier, this is not necessary). Potatoes take longer to boil than you think on our rental apartment stovetop. For me, this is my favorite time of day. I have a glass of wine with him, whatever he is drinking, it always feels perfect. Of our house, away from my wine job and I don’t have to imagine all of the ways someone else might interpret this wine. No teaching or convincing, it’s just the two of us. We catch up on our days, we talk about the wine, the potatoes come out of the oven. I sit with him for 20 more minutes during his meal and have another glass of wine and almost all of the potatoes. I’ll then eat his leftovers for lunch the next day.
Cooking so little these days, and having so little interest in thinking about food outside of thinking about food, I was imagining the good life. In the freezer: quart of beans, steak, loaf of bread. In the fridge: at least one good cheese, whole boiled potatoes.
The potato thing is newish for me, likely inspired by some sort of British locavore cosplay. In Jeremy Lee’s wonderful cookbook Cooking: Simply and Well, For One or Many he references almost 20 different potato varieties and what they are appropriate for. Under “steaming, boiling” he actually lists four and follows it with “all the other earlies”. Where I shop there are: yellow potatoes, red potatoes, Yukon Golds, Idahos, and then 2 different bags of potatoes which are just uniformly small. On Monday I stood there, thinking about the book, my desire for boiled potato not waning. I grabbed about 10 smallish yellows to serve that night with pork loin and salad.
When you’re hosting it’s nice to be able to cross something off a list. I remember a dinner party I threw at 25 where I cooked about 7 dishes and they *all* required a last minute sauce. We ate late that night. If you want to serve boiled potatoes you can make them any time. When i got home I just peeled them, plunged them in the bubbling water, and they were ready in about 20/25. Yes, I stuck a knife through to check. They cool and right before they hit the table (hours later) I cover them with olive oil or melted butter and the crunchy salt. But really they could be eaten tomorrow*, turned into potato salad, smashed in a pan or given to Mac to roast as a replacement for those that I ate the other night. Elegance for the working woman.
*Important to note that Tamar Adler says that potatoes don’t recover from time in the fridge and if your kitchen is cool enough should be left out overnight. This is probably true but if you are going to add vinegar, roast them, or are eating your first dinner at 11 PM should be fine.
