Saturday, November 13, 2010

GTTC - blue potatoes and introducing...new challenge!

This week I made 2 versions of potatoes, tapas style. I worked on these one at a time, and after devouring the second version, the family asked what the third version would be. Well the potatoes don't just come out of the magic oven in different variations all day long! Below, you see the beautiful (right?!) blue potatoes from the farmer's market. I roasted the blue potatoes with the complimentary gold potatoes.



Below, roasted blue and gold potatoes with rosemary-shallot butter. Right now, I'm down to picking herbs and I'm so glad I planted a little herb garden late this summer.


Below, blue and gold potatoes with roasted garlic aioli. I love the festive touch that chopped parsley (gorgeous in the garden right now!) gives to any dish.What are you still harvesting/buying fresh/eating fresh this week?



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I think I've reconciled my feelings on giveaways and contests. I think that as long as participants have a fairly random way of winning, I can have a clear conscience. So, in the spirit of "blogger bonding" as Autumnbelle describes it, I've thought of another contest for anyone who wants to play along with me over the fall/winter/early spring. It's pretty convoluted, but as I imagine it in my head, potentially fun.

THE PRIZE: ½ of the seeds from my spring seed order! (I think this is a pretty nifty prize)
HOW TO WIN: Collect the letters G-T-T-C. If by the time my spring seed order comes, no one has collected G-T-T-C, then the person who has come closest will win. If there is a tie, I will choose randomly.
HOW TO COLLECT LETTERS: I have made a list of (my zone) cold season (fall/winter/early spring) fruits, vegetables, and herbs. I have put them in a random ranked order. Each week, I will award 1 letter to the person who features the vegetable/fruit/herb highest on the ranked list. By feature, I just mean to have some sort of mention in the post. For example, in my post above, I mentioned parsley, even though it's not a main ingredient, so that counts. If I don't mention parsley specifically in the written part of my post, but cite it the recipe, it doesn't count.

Here's an example. Say I've made a randomly ranked list of summer veggies: 1. Tomatoes 2. Green bell peppers 3. Basil 4. Cucumbers. Ria posted about the cukes she turned into pickles and Ricki posted about her green peppers in the gumbo she made. Since the green bell peppers are higher on the randomly ranked list, she gets the letter G, and then green bell peppers is taken off the list. The next week, everyone has the opportunity to earn another letter. If Ria wins again, she gets a T. Once she collects GTTC, she wins half my seed order.I hope this makes sense!! And if it doesn't, just play along and you'll see how it unfolds.

***Though I've encouraged people to use what they've grown from their own gardens, this is not feasible for many of us, so please use what is seasonally fresh. For the purposes of this contest - I'm only counting what is seasonal in my part of the world. Bloggers in other parts of the world can perhaps buy in supermarkets if they want to participate in the contest - or just keep posting just to join in - despite the contest. Non-bloggers or bloggers who don't blog about food can also participate by leaving their post equivalents in the comments section. For example, my sister, who does not blog, can participate by leaving a comment about the salsa she made, listing the recipe or telling us more. But hopefully she would say more than, "I made salsa today - it was yummy" b/c that's a little half-hearted.OK, hope this keeps things exciting while we hibernate with a mug of hot cocoa and seed catalogs!




10 comments:

  1. Yum.....I love blue potatoes....and when they are mashed into a traditional mash potato dish, they are stunning. People will wonder what happened....you see them in Peru all the time:)I have the same issue....I cook them up and wolf down the first batch. I'm more of the fruit type gardener, but the issues are the same....my kumquat can't produce fast enough....I walk past it and eat whatever is ready:)

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  2. Beautiful blue potatoes! Looks yummy!

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  3. I love blue potatoes. I want to grow some next year!

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  4. Those blue potatoes are gorgeous! The parsley is perking up just now in our garden, and we're still getting some chives, rosemary, oregano, sage (the last two for drying), plus radishes, mustard, purple scallions, a bit of lettuce and arugula.

    A week ago while I was so sick I sent F. out to pick the very last cucumber, plus a handful of cherry tomatoes, a teensy underripe eggplant, and the remaining Hungarian Wax and cayenne peppers before the killing frost could get them.

    Love your new series, Wendy!

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  5. I don't think those blue potatoes could ever make a person blue, only happy. I grew purplish ones and they were pretty tasty.
    What a great idea for a contest!

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  6. Beautiful potatoes, I bet they were fantastic with the herb butter and garlic. It is so nice to see that there are others that like such dark colored vegetables. Everyone we know shies away from anything blue or purple when it comes to food...of course we are in Idaho after-all.:)

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  7. Blue potato looks strange to me. If I see one here, I will definitely try it. Btw, very well thought contest and a very good prize :-D

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  8. Too busy this week to get creative in the kitchen, but I'll be back next week. R has something against planting potatoes (must be a childhood trauma in there somewhere), but farmers' market, here I come.

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  9. What a great contest to get people gardening .. and cooking. I'll have to study the rules once over again (I am on an overload challenge this morning;)

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  10. Blue potato is new to me. I've seen pink ones. I usually buy US potatoes because they are huge and delicious. Perhaps someday in the future, I may participate in your games. They sound really interesting. I do grow herbs but I have no cooking skills nor recipes. I just eat fresh leaves, tomatoes or throw a few stuff in one pot. My poor kids have to bear with this terrible cook. Fyi, it's very easy to purchase cooked food in Malaysia.

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My awesome gardening friends...thanks for leaving a comment! I don't typically repond here, but I love knowing who you are so I can visit your blog as well.

btw - if you're trying to show me nude Miley Cyrus photos, sell me nikes or viagra or antibiotics, or encourage my lovely garden readers to visit your site on solar panel construction, or seo-whatevers, sorry, but I'm not publishing your comment. If you want to moderate my blog - well, I can't keep you too busy, and the pay would be horrible. And lastly, no. I'm not interested in Club Penguin cheat codes. Thanks anyway.

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