Hi! How's your Sunday going? How did the big wedding went yesterday?
I hope you're relaxing and enjoying your break! Im spending one lucky weekend alone at home, and enjoying my own company, in weekends like this i find myself trying to cook a little more elaborate than usual, making sure i get close to having every color on my plate and pretending like it's balanced
Im making smashed potatoes with scrambled eggs and a tomatoes and celery salad. Any advice for a perfect smashed potatoes?
Hey my friend! Thanks for sending along a note! My Sunday was really nice. I spent most of it on the couch working on my original work, filling some plot holes in the later parts of it, working out some issues I was having, and it's the first time in a long time I was able to get my brain to do it! It was delightful. I require a lot of rest right now which I hate because I couldn't be more restless, but I have no energy and my brain does nothing when I want it to. It's driving me nuts. Chloe and I had a nice time discussing our various autoimmune brain fog issues and fatigue symptoms, and while I hate that we both deal with this, it is kind of nice to share it and fully understand one another.
(If you are just tuning in, my wife has Lupus and I have Ulcerative Colitis).
Colors aren't always what balance a dish! Sometimes it's texture and taste, so put whatever makes you happy on the plate.
I'm way too late cause it's Tuesday now and you were making food on Sunday, and I hope it was delicious! I spend a lot of time thinking about time-temp-texture with potatoes. I don't make smashed potatoes often (when you boil them first, then smash them on a sheet pan and bake, right?), so I don't have too many tips.
In general, as one who has worked in many commercial kitchens and restaurants, I can say you almost always need more fat and more salt than you think. A big part of why restaurant food is so good is because it has tons of butter, oil, and tons of salt. We joke at work all the time that the secret ingredient in all of our dishes is Maldon Salt (finishing salt). Our food is on the line of too salty, and that's the goal. From raw fish to cooked meats, we salt the shit out of it.
I have been in more wedding and event photos than I'd like to recall doing the Salt Bae move just throwing salt across tables of platters, and it's how we're trained. When new cooks hesitate or aren't sure how much, I tell them "Go hard, full Salt Bae, and if you think it's too much, put a little bit more."
I also remind cooks, home cooks, new cooks, etc, that the fat is part of the process. You want oil or butter or something on stuff getting roasted. A light coating on potatoes or veg in the oven will cook more evenly and have a richer flavor. The heat cooks the oil, the hot oil cooks the food, think about the whole process. I might be too tired to explain this correctly, but I am now thinking passionately about potatoes and oil and salt, and it's nice.
I was doing this thing for a while where I was boiling my potatoes in vinegar before roasting or frying, and they were awesome. I should make some soon.
I hope you're eating good, my friend! And having a good week!
