After recently admitting that I abhor raw potatoes in my kitchen, a situation presented itself for me to confront this fear. As mentioned once, a long time ago, I crave chicken pot pie in the autumn the way birds crave to fly south. And after having the perfect frozen vegetable blend in France, I was unhappy with the selections here. (Not to mention – the quality of frozen vegetables from Picard shames all others. I will never be satisfied with frozen American vegetables again.) Which meant I had to use fresh, which meant I had to purchase – and use – potatoes. REAL potatoes.

I selected Yukon Gold for this pot pie, although I think red ones would work nicely too. I used the same vegetables as the frozen blend I found in France, except this time I kept the onions out and sautéed them like the original recipe. (I actually almost carmelized them, as I was distracted by a crust problem, so the flavor was really nice.) I still didn’t get enough pepper in – it’s really hard to measure from a grinder! – but the overall result was pretty delicious.

But the point is, I have now used real live potatoes and lived to tell about it. I have a few left, though, so I am quite anxious to use them ASAP.

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