Potatoes like you've never seen

Oh yes, with a title like "Potatoes like you've never seen" it was impossible to not click on this blog post. Right? Of all the truly riveting subjects this world has to offer, a new form of potato certainly had to be addressed. When you've got last minute company and still need something delicious to serve, you might have a box of dehydrated potatoes lurking in the back of your pantry. On last Sunday's VTE, Evergreen member, Margret I. from Salt Lake City, UT shared her secret weapon.

Now that you're on the edge of your seats...

Margret made a breakthrough discovery: there's more to dehydrated potatoes than meets the eye. A true inventor at heart, Margret came up with two new applications for hashed dried potatoes.

Crispy Hash Browns

You can make delicious crispy hashbrowns using a waffle iron! Who would have throught?! It's like woven potatoes. At first pass, it looked like knitting. We're changing the very fabric of civilization here, people!

Ingredients

1 Box Idaho Spuds hashbrown potatoes

2 Tbsp. Olive oil for whole box. Or just 1 Tbsp. for 1/2 box.

Ketchup

Cooking spray

1 egg

Salt & pepper

1 cup boiling water - use an electric kettle for ease

Instructions

Now that you've got your ingredients, follow these simple steps for a true crowd-pleaser.

Open the carton of dried potatoes. Boil one cup of water in an electric kettle and pour it into the carton.

Close the carton and let sit for 12 minutes.

   

After 12 minutes, open the carton and drain off any excess water.

Then determine if you'd like to use the whole box or just half. In this case, Margret used half the potatoes for hashbrowns and saved the other half for another (upcoming) recipe.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk the egg, salt, pepper, and 1 Tbsp. oil.

Add the potatoes to the bowl and mix well.

Preheat your waffle iron. Spray with plenty of cooking spray so the mixture doesn't stick. 

Margret recommended having the waffle iron right nearby the breakfast table so that guests can make their own or at least be "in" on the process. It's fun and entertaining. Also, when the hashbrowns are done cooking in the waffle iron, it's then easy to slide it right on to the guest's plate.

Crank the heat up to the highest setting. "I'm feelin' hot hot hot!"

Spoon in the mixture with a large spoon. Be sure to evenly distribute the mixture as best you can. Unlike runny waffle batter, this mixture will not do quite as much self-leveling, so help it along a bit by getting it even in the first place.

Cook the hashbrowns until it's not producing steam anymore. The crispier you want 'em, the longer you leave 'em. Just try to not burn the house down.

Using a plastic fork, lift the hashbrown out and on to the first hungry Evergreener's plate. Watch them ooh and ah over your genius method of preparing hot crispy totally original hashbrowns. 

 

Serve with  ketchup for savory fans, or maple syrup for those with a sweet tooth. This is great along with scrambled eggs and a fresh fruit salad. You could even take it up a notch on the gourmet scale with grated parmesian cheese, fresh cracked black pepper, and drizzled with a balsamic glaze.

Mind blowing recipe #2: Potato Salad

As if using a waffle iron and dried potatoes to make hashbrowns wasn't enough, Margret further impressed the group by providing another dish!

So remember from the recipe above, we only used half the box of potatoes to make the hashbrowns? This is what we were saving the other half of the box for!

Ingredients

1 Box Idaho Spuds Hashbrown Potatoes (or the remaining premade half from earlier)

1-2 sticks Celery diced

1 small Onion diced

1 hardboiled egg sliced - pictured above with white egg slicer

3 Baby carrots diced

1 scoop Pickle relish

1 squirt Yellow mustard

1 blob Mayonaise

1 dollop Plain Greek Yogurt

Instructions

If you're starting with a new box of dried potatoes, follow the instructions from earlier: boil a cup of water, pour it in the box, let it sit for 12 minutes, drain excess water. Voila!

Place all diced ingredients in a medium sized bowl: Carrots, onion, celery, hard boiled egg, relish. Mix them together.

Then add in the box of potatoes. Please note that this will work better if the potatoes are not hot any more. It's best to let them cool to room temperature before incoorporating them.

Lastly, add the wet ingredients like the mustard, mayo, and Greek yogurt and mix until they're fully combined. Add salt and pepper to taste. In the image below, Margret even used paprika on top as a garnish to dress it up a bit. 

Set in fridge to chill.

Serve

You can serve this with potato chips or Fritos as a side to BBQ, chicken, or fish.

Who's hungry?! Thanks Margret for sharing these great ideas with us!

See y'all soon

Join us next week for another fun filled VTE with your Evergreen family. We meet every Sunday night at 7:00pm EDT. We share unexpected recipes like this one, travel tips and slide shows, and socialize with the members of this unique and wonderful travel club for awesome people over 50.