It is no accident that the annual cultivation of potatoes has entered the Russian tradition. This is the most affordable product for Russians, it is in fifth place in calories after wheat, corn, barley and rice. They say that more than a thousand dishes can be prepared from potatoes.
Judge for yourself: potatoes can be fried, cook, baked, stew, and each time it is supplemented with different ingredients. You can cook casserole, cutlets, pancakes from the same chopped potatoes. And raw potatoes are rubbed on a grater, and tasty casseroles and pancakes are obtained from the resulting mass. The potatoes are boiled in uniforms and served with salted cucumbers, sauerkraut, herring, pieces of salted fat.
The popularity of potatoes is explained by its versatility. It is combined with meat, fish, mushrooms, milk and sour cream. Dishes from it can be watered with any sauce: white, red, cheese, with spicy herbs, etc. P. And traditional salads for the festive table: “Olivier”, “Mimosa”, “Venegret”, “herring under the fur coat” without potatoes cannot be prepared without potatoes.
Big potatoes are most useful for health. We often take this root crop when we go on vacation to the forest, to the river, to the country. But you can bake potatoes at home. It is enough to simply wash the small potatoes, strip them with a fork and bake them in the oven at 170 degrees for about an hour. Cut the finished potatoes into quarters, pour your favorite sauce and let stand a little under the lid.
And for the holiday, potatoes are baked in foil, wrapping each separately. When the potatoes are ready, each is cut off the upper part along with foil (from the side where it is whole). They take out a baked pulp, knead with butter, egg, salt and pepper, the finished mashed potatoes are placed back in the peel, sprinkled with cheese on top. Foil glasses with potato contents are again placed in the oven for several minutes. As a result, silver cups with a lush golden hat made of cheese and delicious filling will stand on the festive table.
And if the guests unexpectedly came or just need to cook something very quickly, then the fried potatoes help out. And you can fry it with eggs, mushrooms, meat, tomatoes, herbs.
Add to all of the listed soups: borsch, cabbage soup, pickle, etc. P., which, by tradition, do not do without potatoes. A full -fledged dish can be stewed potatoes with pork ribs or baked in a pot with lamb, pork, chicken and even fish.