You Say Potato; I Say "Okay!"

About author / Sarah Christine Bolton

Coffee addict; professional food writer; food fusion. Her slow cooker recipes go above and beyond your normal crockpot fare.

Ah, the potato. That glorious starchy tuber that is remarkably diverse. It can be baked, fried, shredded, diced, blended, whipped, and served whole.

Whenever I was sick and had a fever as a kid, my mom didn’t let me eat hard foods. I could drink soup broth and juice and water and tea, but not anything that would interfere with my fever sweating its way out.

The best moment ever was whenever my fever broke. My mom shook out the thermometer, took my temperature, and declared that I could now eat solid food.

The first thing she cooked for me after a fever was a baked potato, hot and steamy with a tiny bit of melted butter, salt and pepper. After a day or two of fasting on just broth and juice, that baked potato was like manna from heaven. Even today, a baked potato has almost spiritual connotations for me.

During our honeymoon in Salt Lake City, my husband and I decided to check out the Family History Library that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has compiled from sources around the world. We spent several hours on the computers, pausing only to whisper our excited findings to each other.

My husband was able to trace his family line all the way back to the early 1500s to a duke or earl in England. He also found that his family name (Hickok) went back to Wild Bill Hickok, the notorious sheriff of the wild, wild west.

Meanwhile, I was tracing back my family line, but got stuck at a young girl named Annie. She had come to the United States in the mid-1800s from Ireland, married my great-great-grandfather, and never looked back. Beyond her, I wasn’t able to find any other records. I suppose I would have to go to Ireland and search for records in the county of Barry (where Annie came from).

I might not know about Annie’s parents or her family back in Ireland, but I can bet that she ate some potatoes in her lifetime. Potatoes with corned beef and cabbage. Potatoes hard and cold the day after they were cooked. And maybe, she even made batches of potato bread, soft and white and warm.

When the potato was introduced to Europe, it became a very important food staple for large numbers of the population. The main reason for this was because one acre of potatoes could provide sustenance to nearly 10 people.

By the mid-1800s the Irish were so dependent on potatoes that when the great potato famine hit, over half of the entire population died or immigrated. I don’t know the exact details of why Annie, my Irish ancestor, left the country, but it could have very well been related to the famine.

Since I very proudly claim my Irish heritage, I suppose I have to claim a certain fondness for potatoes. These days, potatoes aren’t vital to my survival, but I definitely enjoy roasting some red ones with onion, garlic, and olive oil on a baking sheet in the oven. Once and a while, my husband can talk me into making him some mashed potatoes, although I cheat, and substitute olive oil for butter and soymilk for regular milk (Don’t tell him…he doesn’t know the difference!). And as much as I abhor fast food, I will sneak a French fry here and there.

In honor of the brave young woman who crossed the Atlantic from Ireland to America to make a better life for herself, I am cooking potatoes in my crockpot. They don’t have cabbage or corned beef, but they are most definitely potatoes. And we’ll see…maybe I can feed 10 dinner guests with this one dish!

Serves/Makes: 4

• 5 potatoes, washed and cubed
• 1 1/2 cup cubed cooked ham
• 1 can (15 ounce size) whole kernel corn, drained
• 1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 1/4 cup minced white onion
• 1 can (11 ounce size) condensed cheddar cheese soup
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3 tablespoons whole wheat flour