I seem to have created a bit of a potato pile-up on nigella.com this week! We’ve had Colcannon as Recipe of the Day, the Ottolenghi Test Kitchen’s Roast Potatoes with Aïoli as Guest Recipe of the Week and, for a hat trick, CookbookCorner boasts The Potato Book by Poppy Cooks (thus bringing you another 101 recipes!). But how can that be anything other than a Good Thing?
Poppy O'Toole came to my attention with her first book The Food You Need, when it was revealed to me that she had been a TikTok sensation with her potato recipes during lockdown. Although I think I do have a TikTok account, I have long since forgotten my password (and there are only so many social media platforms I can take on) so I’m very happy these (and more) recipes have found their way to printed form. If there’s a potato recipe you want, here’s where to come! Just to give you an idea, I should let you know what her book covers by giving you the chapter titles, namely: Mashed Potatoes; Roast Potatoes; French Fries, Wedges and Hash Browns; 15-hour Potatoes; World Classics; Baked Potatoes and Skins; Potato Salads; Easy Potato Bakes; and Extra Crispies. It’s written in her characteristic high-octane style, matched by super-exuberant, bright photos, and even if you are of a more muted disposition, the recipes will make you excited to cook and desperate to eat. And the recipe I’m profoundly glad to be sharing with you today is Poppy’s take on that emblematic Canadian take on chips and gravy, the purringly good Poutine!
Extract taken from The Potato Book by Poppy Cooks (Bloomsbury, £22 Hardback).
Photography © Ellis Parrinder.
