Meat and Potatoes 52 Recipes, from Simple to Sublime

Chapter 1 Introducing Meat and Potatoes Admit it, when you're hungry, you want meat and potatoes! Put the two together and you need very little else to make a meal; their synergy in a dish always promises sustenance and comfort. But although comfort food was what I was after as I set out to collect recipes from America's finest chefs, I soon learned that the pairing of meat and potatoes goes way beyond the homey and nourishing-it provides a feast for the imagination. The chefs who contributed to this book work their magic with beef, lamb, veal, and pork, and combine these meats with both white and sweet potatoes (including boniatos, which are a bit of each). The meats are grilled, roasted, braised, fried, or sauteed; the potatoes-whole, sliced, chunked, diced, or mashed-are braised, fried, sauteed, boiled, or simmered. The results are such creative leaps as Slow-Braised Veal and Vanilla Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie (Gerry Hayden); Beef Short Rib Hash with Sunny Eggs and Balsamic Syrup (Deborah Stanton); Potato-Crusted Lamb Cakes (Daniel Angerer); Indian-Spiced Rack of Lamb with Potato Tikki and Mint Yogurt (Thomas John); and Roasted New Potatoes with Bacon, Chive Flowers, and Green Tomato Dressing (Ilene Rosen). Much of the time, at home and in restaurants, meat and potatoes are cooked separately and presented together at the table. Grilled steak, for example, is just plain wonderful served with a creamy, herbal potato salad or beside a rich gratin that accents its simple perfection. But when meat and potatoes are married in the pot, the finished dish is even more complex and nuanced, as with rib-eye steak that is oven-roasted over a bed of potatoes so that the savory and herbal flavors of the meat and its seasonings permeate the potatoes (Mitchel London); mashed potatoes that are formed into crusty cakes and stuffed with chili-spiced, braised short ribs (Andrew DiCataldo); diced potatoes combined with chorizo and layered over tortillas, to make crisp quesadillas (Sue Torres); and jalapeno-spiked mashed sweet potatoes that stuff a tender pork roulade (Glenn Harris). Cook them separately or cook them together-both approaches show how meat and potatoes can work with one another, each highlighting the qualities of its partner. The final harmonious dish can be hot or cold, spicy or mild, sentimental or cutting edge. Just as macaroni and cheese is always greater than the sum of its parts, so is meat and potatoes. A few words of advice: Although some of the dishes can be cooked relatively quickly, most of these recipes are not instant. Braises and roasts will require prep time and cooking time, and you should read each recipe carefully and plan ahead. But the good news is that nothing smells as wonderful as meat and potatoes that are gently simmering or roasting along with aromatic vegetables and herbs, wafting an atmosphere of well-being and plenty through your kitchen. Such cooking embodies the best qualities of slow food, whose preparation is a calming and gratifying activity-more pleasure than work and offering rewards you can taste. Nevertheless, to make them more manageable, many recipes can be broken down into components that are made and refrigerated ahead and combined just before serving. A number of dishes can be cooked ahead and reheated later, and their flavor will deepen and mellow. And the bonus is that when you cook and later reheat, you get to enjoy the sensual experience (but not the work) twice. As you become acquainted with these recipes, they will feed your own creative talents. Once you feel comfortable with the mechanics of braising, slow-roasting, and grilling, it becomes easy to choose a cut of meat and a variety of potatoes and pair them with the appropriate method. You can invent a recipe from scratch or deconstruct one of ours and reshuffle components to come up with a spontaneously delightful meal. Meat and potSchwartz, Joan is the author of 'Meat and Potatoes 52 Recipes, from Simple to Sublime' with ISBN 9780812966640 and ISBN 0812966643.