Potato Dishes

Pebble asked me for some old potato recipes (from Europe/the British Isles) so I thought I'd start a new thread and hope that we'll get lots of ideas from all over the world regarding what to do with all those potatoes we are about to harvest. She asked for the irish and Scottish recipes I mentioned, first.

From Ireland - Stelk

2lb potatoes
2 oz butter
bunch spring onions
milk
salt and pepper

Peel potatoes thinly and boil in salted water until cooked. Drain and mash with the butter and keep hot.

Meanwhile, chop the spring onion and cook until tender in a little milk.

When these are tender, add to the potatoes, with the milk they were cooked in and beat until fluffy.

Pile on to plates and make a hollow in the middle and put a good lump of butter to melt in it. The idea is to get a forkful from the outside and dip it in the melted butter.

Now from Scotland: Rumbledethumps
(rumble means mixed and thumps means bashed together)

1 lb mashed potatoes
1 lb cooked, shredded cabbage
2 oz butter
1 med onion, chopped finely
2 - 4 oz grated cheese (amount varies from recipe to recipe)

Melt the butter in a pan and fry the onion gently for about 5 minutes, without browning. Add the potato and cabbage, and a few chopped chives, if you like, and mix together. Season well and pile into an ovenproof dish. Cover with the cheese and put under the grill, or into a hot oven, until the cheese has melted. Eat hot.

These are both very old recipes and reflect a time when there wasn't much money and there were hungry mouths to fill. They still make a nice change from the pasta, pizza, curries and stir-fries we live on nowadays.