NOW CLOSED: Tell us what you think of James Martin’s recipes and win a £50 Love2Shop voucher

[AnnMumsnet]

This month, Celebrity Chef James Martin has sent our Mumsnet Potato Councillors the choice of two of his exclusive recipes that he has made for //www.manyfacesofpotatoes.co.uk. The Councillors are to make one of them for their families and feedback their thoughts on this thread.

The recipes are Goat's Cheese and Potato Tart and Chicken and Potato Kebabs - both can be prepared in around 30 minutes. Photos on my profile

We want to give all of Mumsnet the option to try these two recipes, so feel free to try them this week and add your feedback on this thread - do tell us: how easy it was to cook, whether your family enjoyed it, and if you included your own twist? Everyone who does so will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £50 Love2Shop voucher.

James has also given us his top potato tips; see below:

If you can add to them or suggest any other top potato tips such as cooking, chopping or slicing potatoes then share them on this thread with the community and you will also be in the running for the £50 voucher that is up for grabs this month.

If you have any further questions on potatoes, feel free to post onto the thread and we?ll endeavour to answer them asap.

James Martin top tatty tips

1 Baking small new potatoes and stuffing them with cheese and crispy bacon makes a great canapé for a party
2 Always store potatoes somewhere dark and cold as this will make them last longer
3 If your curry is too spicy when cooking, add a potato as it will take out some of the heat
4 Peeled potatoes can be stored in cold water in the fridge for up to 24 hours before cooking
5 Use up leftover cooked potatoes in an omelette or frittata

In addition, for 100s of 30 minute recipes or if you would like more information on which varieties of potatoes are best used with specific meals then go to
//www.manyfacesofpotatoes.co.uk.

James is also helping manyfacesofpotatoes search for Britain?s Best Potato Recipe for full details and to enter see //manyfacesofpotatoes.co.uk/competitions

Thanks, MNHQ

[OracleInaCoracle]

marking place

[Tee2072]

I love James Martin. Just thought I'd say that.

[LovesBeingWearingSkinnyJeans]

No I love James Martin . And his beef and ale recipe is amazing.

My top tatty tip? Buy a sack of spuds. Works out so much cheaper. And alway make extra mash and freeze it for your own cheats ready made mash.

[lubeybooby]

Ooh marking place. Shopping tomorrow so will make sure I can cook them :)

[whomovedmychocolate]

My top potato tip is that if you are going to the trouble of making Heston's triple cooked chips, make three times as many, they last in the fridge before the last cooking bit and you will want more and more of them. Also they take three hours to do properly FFS, so you want to eke out as many dinners out of them as you can.

Also, add potatoes to bread recipes to make super soft, super yummy bread.

[noyouhavehadawee]

Well i did ours tonight - we had the chicken and potato kebabs. We did it exactly as instructed and served it up with leafy salad, cucumber and toms as per the instructions. This was probably the most expensive of our potato dishes so farand the ingredients were not my usual stock so i was glad to have my shoppig delivered to save me the hassle.

This dish was really easy to prepare though when i was blitzing the marinade i was dubious about it and the dc declared it looked like bogey snot which kind of set the mood.......... Anyway it didnt take long to prepare at all and i did cut my new potatos in half as the ones Asda sent me with my weekly shop were a bit on the large size. Alas i par boiled them for about 8 mins and when it came to whacking them under the grill it was more like 30 minutes as oposed to 15 mminutes to cook and they probably could have done with a tiny bit longer to be honest.

Did my family like it? Well i did - it was my kind of thing, dh declared it was dry as sticks and the dc were not over keen either so i had rather a lot in the end. I would do this dish again but probably with a different marinade more spicy perhaps and owuld probably bang some toms or onions on the skewer also to add some moisture.

The only thing i can say abotu potatoes is unless your boiling them to death for a recipe im finding the cooking time needs to be longer or the potato slices/ cubes need to be smaller.

Wow is next month the last one??

Enjoy

[noyouhavehadawee]

I have loads of potatoes as well left so im going to give some curried potato a go...... just for the craick.

[NettoSuperstar]

I'll try these, I love trying new recipes.
Also, DD and I saw James at the BBC Good Food show last year, and he was really hot funny and I would entertaining

[crikeybadger]

I'm gonna give the tart a try as I'm a veggie. Would like to have suggestions for the variety of potato though as I get a bit confused between them all.

Oh and won't soaking the potatoes as per James' tip just eradicate all the vitamins?

[GossipMonger]

marking my place too

[gazzalw]

I'm going to try the tart too because ever since I went to that yummy Goats Cheese Cooking session I have been meaning to cook with goats cheese but the DCs seem to eat it all before I get that far.

I already have an idea of how to make the recipe my own so watch this space!

[acsec]

I'm going to try the tart, it sounds great!

[roquefortlover]

Will be making the tart too but we are away till the weekend so will be a bit late posting...

[Fillybuster]

Going to give the tart a go if I get the chance (and have a working oven) next week....a friend gave me James Martin's dessert book last year and its surprisingly excellent, reliable and non-faffy. Ta for the link :)

[TheTempest]

I really like James Martin. My only potato related tip is that if you put a potato in your fruit bowl, it keeps the fruit fresher for longer :)

I properly love potatos and definitely giving the Goats cheese tart a go (although I'm not a Councillor )

[iseenodust]

Just saw James' name so popping in. DS has been so thoroughly indoctrinated on Saturday mornings that he just refers to him by first name if we are discussing food. Love it when he puts cream in the desserts and the Amercian actresses have to hide their horror.

I like to put cubes of potato in a fish curry for texture .

[MandyT68]

Potato tip. If you accidentally make soup or a stew too salty, put a raw potato in for a while and it will absorb the salt.

[FoofFighter]

I will try out the kebabs tomorrow and report back :)

My potato tip is for extra crunchy roasties, parboil for ten mins, drain, cover with a tea towel and pop lid on for 5-10 mins, then shake to ruff them up, toss in dry seasoned semolina - I tend to use Schwartz Season-All for this - and then whack into a hot tray of smoking hot fat and roast for 45 mins or so.

Delish!

[rosie17]

Rightyo, going to try the Chicken and Potato kebabs tonight.

[mamij]

We had the chicken and potato kebabs for lunch. DD1 loved watching me prepare it, but when it was done, she wasn't keen on them at all as it wasn't saucy/moist enough (she usually loves chicken!). I had to tempt DD1 with ketchup and mayo to get her to eat more.

I added cherry tomatoes and courgettes to try and get more veggies into this recipe. Will definitely try again with a different sauce.

Mashed potatoes with milk and butter/cheese. Makes the potatoes nice and smooth, and gets in your calcium too!

[aristocat]

will try the kebabs tomorrow and come back with my views ......

best potato tip is to oven bake them on a skewer they turn out delish!

[mamababa]

I would leave home for James

[AlwaysWild]

James Martin who thinks it's funny to run over cyclists? I think I'll give his recipes a miss thanks.

[LovesBeingWearingSkinnyJeans]

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