Yesterday I shared my various riffs on a British classic, mashed potato. Today I’m going to talk about repurposing leftover cooked potato and the all-important baked potato skins – lowkey it’s the best bit, the perfect potato ‘spoon’ to be filled with whatever extra-curricular delights you fancy. In the food truck I used to work on with a friend and previous mentor and boss, we would deep-fry these, give them a liberal sprinkle of house rub on their way out, and load them up with ludicrous concoctions. Brisket, BBQ pork ribs, ox cheek, pig’s head, duck, pulled pork, Scotch eggs, chorizo, arancini, Cornish mackerel, fried chicken, pork belly have all been topped with precarious stacks of all kinds of mayonnaise, kimchi, pickles, ketchup, BBQ sauce, cheese, jalapenos, crispy onions, togerashi and anything else we could find. In another life, we would pair these scooby snacks with the most out-there drinks we could find at the campsite shop – a Basset’s liquorice allsorts flavour milkshake is still the one to beat. Good times.
I’ve scaled back the naughtiness a bit here and added a few more plants, but these potato ‘tacos’ are still pretty mega. Affordable, quick, simple, and a real crowd-pleaser, a game-changer at your next barbecue.
King oyster mushroom and frijoles tacos (makes 2 potato shells)
Frijoles refritos means refried beans, a really easy way to use leftover cooked beans and a component of dishes all over Mexico and California, most notably as a filling in tacos and quesadillas, or to accompany rancheros. I prefer the recipes from the area around the port of Veracruz or the central region of Yucatan, with less lard and more chilli. You can add a few roughly torn mint leaves to the beans too, as they do in Yucatan.
- Baked skin of 1 potato – you should have 2 halves
- 100g king oyster or chestnut mushrooms, sliced
- 1 tin of black beans, with the water or 225g leftover cooked beans
- 2 fresh or 2tbsp pickled jalapeno chillies, diced
- 1/2 an onion, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2tsp Mexican oregano (regular dried oregano or a bit of chopped fresh marjoram is fine)
- 2tbsp olive oil
- Salt and pepper
Heat 1tbsp olive oil or lard (I like using beef fat here, but lard is traditional) then add the onion and chillies, and fry over a medium heat for 1 minute. Add the beans with their cooking liquid and fry over a fairly high heat, mashing the beans to a coarse puree as you go, about 15 minutes until crispy around the edges. Keep warm while you cook the mushrooms. Heat the other 1tbsp olive oil over a medium heat and fry the mushrooms with the garlic, paprika and oregano for 4-5 minutes until golden-brown. Meanwhile, lightly brush the potato skins with oil and grill for a couple of minutes until crispy and warmed through. To serve, layer each taco with the refried beans and mushrooms, then top with your choice of pickles, sauces, a little goats’ milk feta if you like and a squeeze of lime.
Feel free to switch up the vegetables, in fact this is encouraged to suit the seasons and what you have to hand. I had some great tacos recently with roasted squash with a sunflower seed and raisin salsa matcha or cauliflower with green jalapeno salsa, feta and lime.
‘Cheesy’ bean quesadillas (serves 2, or 4 as a snack)
Einkorn is an ancient grain grown since before the Neolithic agricultural revolution and one of the first crops selectively bred in ancient Mesopotamia. It’s a survivor, having been bred across millennia for disease-resistance, as well as being nutritionally superior; with significantly more protein and nutrients than common wheat and a lower gluten content. The lower gluten content makes it an ideal British-grown substitute for masa harina, made from corn, for soft tortillas.
- 200g leftover cooked potato, mashed
- 200g white einkorn flour
- Frijoles refritos, as above
- 50g vegan ‘cheese’ sauce
Mix the potato and flour in a large bowl with 1-2tbsp water to bind it together and knead into a dough. Divide the dough into 6-8 small balls, and leave on a tray in the fridge to rest for about 30 minutes. On a lightly floured surface, roll out each ball until it is nice and thin, about 15cm across. Brush a preheated griddle pan with oil and cook the tortillas in batches for a couple of minutes each side until no longer doughy. Keep warm under a tea towel so they stay pliable. Spread each tortilla with a little of the bean mixture and cheese sauce. Fold the tortilla in half to make a half-moon shape, then return to the griddle pan with a little more oil and cook for 2-3 minutes each side until golden and crisp. Serve with broad bean guacamole or hot sauce for dipping!
You can add a little grated carrot, sweetcorn or chopped red peppers too if you like for extra nutrition.