Crushed Potatoes

I have this weird thing about certain foods. Potatoes are one of these foods. If you ask me to list the food that I'm not fond of potatoes rank highly on the list. I think this is because I just don't enjoy plain boiled potatoes or baked potatoes. Give me creamy mash or crsipy roasties however, and I adore them.

Another type of potato dish I adore is crushed potatoes. I get a bit upset when people say that they are the lazy person's mash. They're a completely different thing. The tanginess of spring onions and olive oil permeates though the potato, while it still manages to have a bite and texture.

Tonight crushed potatoes made the perfect accompaniment to my summery grilled sausages and tomato salad with some homemade onion marmalade. It even stopped me being jealous of the people downstairs who have a garden, BBQing all kinds of lovely things, with the smell wafting up to my flat all day. Well I got over my jealousy for a little while at least.

CRUSHED POTATOES (serves 2)

Ingredients
- 2 generous handfuls of new potatoes
- 3-4 spring onions
- Olive oil
- Salt
- Coarsely ground black pepper

How to...

1. Slice the spring onions. Normally I'd say stop after the white bits, but in this case chop up some of the green bits too, to add a bit of colour.

2. Either boil the new potatoes, or bung them in the microwave covered with cling film and a couple of dribbles of water for about 6 minutes (or however long it takes them to cook through). Meanwhile soften the spring onions in olive oil over a low heat. Be generous with the olive oil. I use a couple of tablespoons worth.

3. Add the new potatoes to the pan with the olive oil and spring onions. Use a fork to crush the potatoes into the olive oil and spring onions. Make sure it gets nicely mixed up. Don't be tempted to over-crush or you'll end up with a not too pleasant mash with bits in.

4. Add a pinch of salt and a generous amount of fresh coarsely ground black pepper.

5. Eat and enjoy!

Today while cooking I was listening to: Someday by The Strokes.