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Potatoes and Promises

Sep 26, 2013

By Laura Andrews

I was talking to someone yesterday about this year’s potato harvest. It must’ve been a good year for spuds — she had more than she knew what to do with. So do we. For some reason, my husband likes to plant piles of potatoes every spring in our garden north of Yankton. I don’t know why — he doesn’t even like potatoes.

Well, the joke was on him. This year, they ALL produced, giving him and the old potato fork both a good workout. I think we could’ve supplied Clark Potato Day with all the spuds they needed last month. Garden City potato farmers would be jealous of our bountiful harvest. We’ve given away buckets and buckets, eaten mounds of new potatoes, French fries and home fries, and I think there’s more lurking out in the field waiting to be unearthed.

We gave my father, Lewis Johnson, a sackful so he could recreate a taste from his boyhood near Volin. His Grandma Johnson had a delicious method for making Swedish creamed dilled potatoes. She wasn’t a recipe user, but Dad had found a similar recipe in one of his Swedish cookbooks that he was going to get to me right away. Just as soon as he got home. Honest.

Ja, sure, Dad. Three months and several promises later, no recipe. I figured I’d have to wait until he was dead and gone — perhaps bury him in a potato mound as revenge — then go through his recipes. If father’s anything like daughter, the dirtiest, messiest, stickiest pages would mark the most beloved recipes. 

I decided to give Lewie one last chance. For once, it worked. It only took one more phone call to get a recipe to share with you this week. Dad says, “They’re just the way I remembered them growing up.” He says they'd be good with dried beef or rullepølse. (I'll explain what that is some other day.) 

If you’re feeling decadent, make dilled potatoes the way my great-grandmother would have — use all cream instead of a cream and milk mixture. “I’m sure Grandma never read the damn recipe — she probably just dumped all cream in because it was easier,” he says.

Creamed Dilled Potatoes

From Splendid Swedish Recipes

10 medium potatoes
2 teaspoons butter
1 1/2 cups of half and half, or use half cream and half milk
1 1 /2 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup finely chopped dill 

Peel the potatoes and dice into small cubes. Melt the butter in a pan. Briefly sauté the potatoes. Pour half and half or milk/cream mixture over the potatoes and add salt. Cover and cook over low heat until potatoes are soft. Add dill and serve. Serves 3-4