Ireland still loves the spuds!
By Finnian Cox
While one of Cork’s favourite chipper sadly closed last weekend, last Friday was National Potato Day!
As a result, Bord Bia asked the people of Ireland to fire up their air fryers to celebrate it. National Potato Day encourages the population to revisit the humble spud, and appreciate its versatility, nutritional quality, and importance in the Irish identity.
This year, An Bord Bia is encouraging people to revisit traditional recipes with the use of more modern cooking methods such as air fryers, as well as encouraging the use of more exotic ingredients.
Bord Bia’s Potato and Fresh Produce Sector Manager Lorcan Bourke described the vegetable’s universality as a goal of the campaign.
He explained that this year, An Bord Bia aims to encourage home cooks to “revisit the traditional potato recipes but with a modern twist”.
“The air fryer, and other methods of convenient cooking, have made preparing these much-loved dishes even simpler,” said Mr Bourke.
“Potatoes remain one of the best value-for-money ingredients and the starting point for many tasty, balanced meals,” he added.
Spuds are a superfood in their own right - albeit less glamourous than an avocado, they are a naturally occurring carbohydrate and are completely fat and gluten free.
They are instead filled with vitamin C and fibre, the latter of which is increased when the skin is left on.
Their neutral taste means that they are great as a base for any meal, one that can be combined with a host of flavours.
The selection of recipes chosen for the day include Irish garlic potato farls, feta and spinach rösti with roast tomatoes as well as potato pancakes with smashed avocado and smoked salmon.
The recipes can be found online on An Bord Bia’s website.
Additionally, they are encouraging consumers to share their own recipes online, using the hashtag #NationalPotatoDay.
The day also sees the return of potato ambassadors Karol and Gina Daly, aka Ireland’s King and Queen of air frying, with the duo once again exploring the nation’s fixation with the vegetable.
Karol and Gina Daly are bestselling cookbook authors, with their collaboration ‘The Daly Dish Cookbook’ named Ireland’s bestselling recipe book of 2020.
Posting videos to An Bord Bia’s social media, the pair spent last week in Temple Bar’s The Boxty House restaurant with owner and head chef Pádraic Óg Gallagher.
The video saw them learning how to cook some classic potato-based recipes in an air fryer, as well as how to experiment with different flavours.