My Grandmother's side of the family hails from Virginia. As a result, potatoes were incorporated into a lot of our meals. She was a post depression baby, so she told me a lot of practical tips for making meals stretch. She told me to always keep a 5 lb bag of potatoes in the pantry. She also said if times were hard we'd always have potatoes. They are such a versatile vegetable. She used to whip up a batch of home fries for us whenever we wanted.
She told me a story of when she first was married & living from paycheck to paycheck in the 1950's. It was the day before payday & the cupboard was practically bare, save for potatoes & onions. She prepared homefries as she had done many times before. There was an unexpected knock on the door. Their insurance salesman had come buy to pick up a payment. He commented on how delicious the steak smelled.
After he left, she & my grandfather laughed & laughed.
INGREDIENTS
Canola or Olive Oil
3-5 lbs of White Potatoes (you can use any type)
1-2 Yellow Onions
1-2 fresh pressed Garlic Cloves
a bunch of fresh flat leaf parsley (if desired)
Seasonings
My grandmother just used salt & pepper. I've tweaked her recipe.
Seasoning Salt
Black Pepper
Chives
Parsley Flakes or Fresh Flat Leaf Parsley chopped
Old Bay Seasoning
DIRECTIONS
Quarter the potatoes & slice them. Place them in a bowl of cold water.
Drain them and dry excess water with a towel.
This will help to remove some of the excess starch which could cause them to burn.
Quarter & slice a couple of onions.
Press a couple of garlic cloves. Chop some fresh flat leaf parsley if desired.
Heat oil in pan. Add potatoes. Add Onions & Garlic.
Stir. Add seasonings.
Stir again to distribute seasonings.
Cover on low heat. Using a pancake turner, scrape the crusty side of the potatoes from the pan. Flip them over. Cook until desired crispness.
I love my homefries with hot sauce and ketchup. How do you like yours?
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2 comments:
I love love love homefries and french fries with a lot of ketchup. It has to be heinz though. I am rotf at your "steak" story because my grandma used to tell the same type of stories. My grandma was from North Carolina. She said people would never know you were low on food or hungry when you were steaming up some onions and to always keep potatoes and rice, and she always did. Rest her soul :)
@ Mz. More, Yes, I love some homefries too! My hubby's fam is from South Carolina. He has to have rice with like almost every meal. It took some getting used to. We just made the family transition to brown rice. I had to buy Success to ease him into the idea. He's been cooperative so far. It hasn't been easy. I was raised VEGAN, so real brown rice was always a staple. We didn't get that down home food until we went over my grandmom's. I miss my grandmom too!
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