One Potato, Two Potato: 300 Recipes from Simple to Elegant-Appetizers, Main Dishes, Sidedishes, and More

If this is the kind of book an editor of other food writers can give us, then I wish more of these largely invisible literary yeomen would take up the pen to do their own material more often. This is an excellent example of my favorite kind of book. It deals exclusively with recipes based on a single main ingredient. This makes it the book to go to when you have that last pound of spuds in a ten pound bag or you need some starch recipe to round out a meal and you can't face another rice dish, or you just want to do something a little different for mashed potatoes. Therefore, I am always inclined to give a good rating to this kind of book as long as the authors don't drop the ball between the kitchen and the word processor. These authors, Roy Finamore and Molly Stevens, have kept a firm grasp on the ball throughout the game.It is not entirely true that the book deals exclusively with recipes containing potatoes, as it also contains recipes for sauces, dips, and fillings for potatoes. One way or another, every recipe supports a course with a potato dish.The book is divided up into chapters which suit it's star player and the list of chapter titles shows just how versatile our little spud can be. The chapters are:Appetizers and First Courses with roasted and dressed potato skins with appropriate fillings, dips, spreads, and sauces. It also includes the famous Spanish tapas called tortillas plus potato stuffed pastries such as knishes, samosas, and pierogies.Soups with all the usual potato and leek soups and recipes for various stocks. It also contains several chowders and potato soups with other root vegetables.Salads include just about every kind of potato salad you can dream of. As one of my favorite types of spud dishes, salads are one of the things potatoes do well which simply can't be matched by it's starchy competitor, rice.Main Dishes includes potatoes joined up with some form of protein. Some dishes are famous such as corned beef hash and shepherd's pie and gnocchi. Some dishes are obscure, but no less interesting.Mashed Potatoes contains 29 recipes for mashed white and sweet potatoes, but other chapters include additional recipes for mashed potatoes such as Colcannon, which is listed under baked and roasted recipes.Fried Potatoes gives another host of recipes, which cannot be matched by rice. All the favorites such as French Fries, Home Fries, Hash Browns, Potato Pancakes, and potato chips are here.Baked and Roasted Potatoes contains all the usual classics for both white and sweet potatoes, including oven fries, pommes Anna, candied sweet potatoes, and roasted potatoes with other root vegetables.Gratins and Scalloped Potatoes is another of my favorite spud styles. This is one of the few corners of the book where I find a recipe missing. There is nothing similar to the Sicilian potato gratin made with chicken stock and olive oil rather than with cream.Boiled Potatoes includes a lot of sauces to `kick up' the bland boiled spuds and includes

I'm not one of those who collect cookbooks, although I do love foodie-reading. When cooking, I usually rely on a few stand-bys - The Silver Palate cookbooks, for example. I rarely buy or read specialty (one food, one ethnicity) cookbooks. But I made an exception for "One Potato, Two Potato". Initially drawn in by the fact that I'm of Irish heritage and like my "taties", I was also attracted to the book because I have celiac sprue, which means I'm allergic to gluten, which means I can't eat wheat, barley, oats, millet, rye, blah, blah blah. Huge drag. Consequently, I am always looking for alternative dishes that I CAN eat - and, luckily for me, potatoes are okay. (I'm also deeply grateful that grapes made the cut, which means I can enjoy wine. Don't miss beer at all.) "One Potato, Two Potato" has an astounding number of potato recipes. Reading the recipes , I raced to put four russets in to bake, to satisfy the craving the recipes and photos induced. And I loved the authors' writing style, in one recipe admonishing: "Listen to me on this - do NOT remove the fat from the proscuitto!" I'll be giving this cookbook as a gift to my foodie and Irish tatie-loving friends. Great find!

Well organized, practical and very comprehensive, this paean to the lowly spud, by cookbook editor Roy Finamore and "Fine Cooking" contributing editor Molly Stevens, balances elegant and simple, fussy and fast, unusual and traditional. Prefacing the 300 recipes, a concise introduction explains waxy, starchy and "all-purpose" potatoes and provides advice on cooking, storing, and handling.From appetizers (skins, crab puffs, potato porcini fritatta) to desserts (sweet potato chocolate cake, potato doughnuts) the recipes are invitingly clear. There's a chapter for every course and separate chapters for mashed (basic, French with cheese, sweet potatoes with balsamic), fried, baked and roasted, gratins and scalloped, braised and boiled. Salads include grilled, roasted, Sicilian, German, Nicoise and lobster as well as Mom's; there are three versions of Vichyssoise and a fancy soup made with grated potatoes and tiny meatballs. Eclectic main dishes range from the homey (shepherd's pie, Hungarian potato stew) to company elegance (sweet potato ravioli with chive butter, red snapper with potato crust, venison and potato stew cooked in a pumpkin). From last minute suppers to major productions, this is a book that should get lots of use.

This book makes a terrific gift for anyone who loves the ultimate comfort food -- POTATOES! It encompasses recipes for all sorts of delicious dishes, from the simple (Homemade Potato Chips) to the extra-fancy (Sweet Potato Ravioli with Chive Butter). The book is divided clearly and logically into 12 sections, from Appetizers to Desserts. With both Meat and Meatless dishes, "One Potato Two Potato" is comprehensive without trying to be all things to everybody.Author Roy Finamore and Contributor Molly Stevens start the book with 15 pages of "Potato Principles." This introduction to the humble potato is wonderful for both the beginner and the experienced chef. Think of it as a Potato ABCs. You will learn how to choose 'em, buy 'em, peel 'em, boil 'em, bake 'em, garnish 'em, etc. My favorite part of the book, besides the luscious pictures, is the homey touch Roy and Molly have given the recipes. Each recipe begins with an anecdote or a helpful tip or a bit of trivia. We learn alot about the Authors' families and cooking habits in these elegant intros! Even though some recipes look difficult at first, Roy and Molly put you at ease with their confidence and their attention to detail, especially about alternate ingredients. All the recipes I tried came out looking great and tasting better; no doubt this book will be one of my kitchen's most smudged and stained inhabitants, right up next to Uta Hagen's "The Love For Cooking" and Margaret and Franco Romagnoli's "The Romagnoli's Table."The most important things are: have fun reading the book and do try some of the more interesting recipes, such as Potato & Chorizo Stew, Potatoes in Wine, Colcannon (make sure you try this delicious Irish recipe) or, our favorite, Farmhouse Chocolate Cake. (I won't tell you how the potatoes figure in, you will have to read the book!)Happy Cooking!

This is a sensational cookbook -- beautiful, exhaustive in its scope, and a sheer pleasure to read. I've already found dozens of recipes sure to become staples in my kitchen, from soups to fries to gratins to salads to(yes)potato desserts.One Potato, Two Potato is The Joy of Cooking for spuds. Don't pass it up.