What to cook with potatoes: 18 recipes

How to choose and store potatoes

Pick firm potatoes with smooth skin, no sprouts, soft spots or green patches. Green areas and sprouts should be cut away generously; if a potato is very green, throw it out. Floury varieties make the fluffiest mash and cream soups; waxy ones hold their shape in salads like Olivier and vinegret, and in soups.

Store potatoes in a cool, dark, airy place in a paper or cloth bag, not in the fridge and not next to onions, which make them sprout faster. Light turns them green, so keep them covered.

Young potatoes in early summer need only a scrub, not peeling, and are lovely simply boiled with dill and butter.

Tips that make potato dishes better

• Start potatoes in cold salted water so they cook evenly from the outside to the centre.
• Warm the milk for mash and mash the potatoes while hot; cold milk makes it gluey and lukewarm.
• Never use a blender for mash: it turns potatoes gummy. A masher or ricer is enough.
• Boil potatoes in their skins for salads and cool them completely before dicing, so the cubes stay neat.
• Roast in one layer. For roast chicken and potatoes, crowded potatoes steam instead of browning.

A potato week: what to cook

• Sunday: roast chicken and potatoes, one tray, no extra side needed.
• Monday: creamy mushroom soup, thickened with potatoes.
• Wednesday: mashed potatoes with cutlets or fish.
• Friday: boil a pot in their skins for vinegret over the weekend.
• A hot day: okroshka with kefir.

Leftovers, kids and budget

Boiled potatoes keep for two to three days in the fridge and go into salads, soups or a quick fry-up with onion and egg. Leftover mash can be shaped into small patties and browned in a pan. Potatoes in soup keep well, but mash and potato salads are not good for freezing.

Mashed potatoes are a classic children's favourite. Potatoes are among the cheapest foods, and a big bag, stored properly, lasts a family for weeks.