A recipe that utilizes every part of the humble potato with luxurious results

Cucina povera is a style of cooking invented by Italians during a time of austerity where every scrap of food was valuable and forbidden to waste. Today we live in a world where food is regularly thrown in the bin and many ingredients have lost their value.

Famous dishes such as ribollita and panzanella came about by combining whatever ingredients were accessible and available at the time. Both recipes use stale bread to bulk up the soup and salad and make for a hearty satisfying meal.

Crispy Potato Skin Chips — Potato skins ready to be roasted and turned into chips

Eating from root to shoot

It’s quite common nowadays to peel vegetables such as carrots, potatoes and onions of their skin and throw them in the bin. However, all these ingredients contain flavour and nutrients that are worth keeping and turning into something edible.

Onion skin: Onion skin is a wonderful additive to a vegetable or meat broth. Not only adding flavour, it also add colour to the stock.

Carrot, parsnip and turnip skins: Also valuable for cooking stocks and soup bases, carrot skins can also be included in vegetable bakes, pasta sauces and gratins.

Potato skins: Potato skins are one of the best peels to create flavour with. Rubbed with oil and roasted with parmesan and salt they turn into delicious crunchy chips to be enjoyed on their own or as a garnish to other dishes.

Parmesan Roasted Potato Chips — Parmesan roasted potato skins

Perfect Creamy Buttery Mash

The secret is to cook peeled potatoes in chicken or vegetable stock. Add your favourite powered chicken or vegetable stock to a pot of water with a pinch of salt. Stir to combine and then add potatoes. Always add potatoes to cold water and allow them to come to a boil rather than dropping them into already boiling water. Cover and simmer until soft when poked through with a fork.

Is milk or cream better for mash potatoes?

Both! Here equal parts of milk and cream are whipped into the mash along with butter and seasonings of onion and garlic powder. The mash is then transferred to the stovetop to gently heat whilst whipped with a wooden spoon until soft and fluffy.

Crispy oven-roasted potato skins

What makes this recipe so special is a topping of parmesan roasted potato skins. Used as a garnish over the perfect mash, each mouthful is soft, buttery, earthy, creamy, salty, crunchy and completely comforting.

If you liked this recipe you may also be interested in:

Wasabi Mash with Crispy Chilli Oil

Perfect Mash with Potato Skin Chips

Print Recipe

A recipe that utilizes every part of the humble potato with luxurious results. Creamy buttery mash topped with oven-roasted parmesan-crusted potato skin chips. Pure pleasure from beginning to end.

Author: By Justina Sullivan
Prep Time: 5 Minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Yield: 4 1x
Category: Vegetarian
Method: mashing and roasting
Cuisine: British

Ingredients

Scale

680g potatoes, skin on* (see notes)
Powdered chicken stock
120ml heavy cream
120ml milk
2 heaped tbsp butter
1 tsp onion powder
½ tsp garlic powder
Sea Salt Flakes
Ground black pepper
1 tablespoon of melted butter for garnish

Parmesan Chips

Reserved potato skins
Oil for roasting
Salt flakes
Grated parmesan

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Instructions

Start by washing and peeling the potatoes. Place all the potato peel into a bowl and reserve for later.
Chop potatoes into medium pieces. Place inside a saucepan and fill with cold water, at least one inch above the potatoes. Season the water with powdered chicken stock and a little salt.
Once boiling, reduce the temperature to low and simmer for 15 – 20 minutes or until you can easily poke the potatoes through with a fork.
Heat oven to 230°C. Add a little olive oil and salt to the potato skins and combine well. Lay skins onto a roasting tray and bake for 8 – 10 minutes or until browned and crispy. Remove and whilst hot sprinkle each skin with grated parmesan and return to the oven for another 1 -2 minutes to crisp.
Drain potatoes and return to the pot. Add milk, cream, onion and garlic powder, and butter. Mash until smooth. Return pot to stove top over medium heat and using a wooden spoon continually beat for 1 – 2 minutes until potatoes are smooth and creamy. Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper.
To serve: Transfer mash to a serving bowl. Drizzle with some melted butter and top with crispy parmesan potato skins.