Welcome back to What's Cooking, Metro's food series, taking a peek inside the nation's kitchens. This week, we’re at home with Michelin-trained chef Poppy O’Toole, who you might recognise from social media as ‘the potato queen’.
Poppy has a whopping 1.4 million followers on Instagram, where she regularly shares potato recipes, and her food is so beloved that she’s recently teamed up with Bill’s restaurants to serve it nationwide, with a limited-edition menu to celebrate the chain’s 25th anniversary. But if you’ve ever wondered what the 32-year-old really likes to eat when she’s not roasting, mashing, and frying potatoes, we’ve got the answer.
First, tell us a secret. What’s your most unhinged snack obsession?
I absolutely adore frozen peas; I eat bags of them. Sometimes I’ll put them on top of cream cheese or cottage cheese, but I also just scoop them into my mouth straight out of the freezer. My husband thinks it’s mental, but I love that it’s like ice, but it’s also food.
Which dish always transports you back to your childhood?
My mum’s lasagne. She used to make individual ones so everyone could always get the crusty bit around the edge, which is the best bit. That, with some garlic bread and a side salad, takes me straight back.
Now, we’ve got to ask… What’s next for potatoes?
Goodness me, that’s a big question and one I ask myself regularly. I think barbecuing potatoes is going to be a big trend this summer – it’s on the verge of having a moment. I’ve actually started making potato skewers on the barbecue. You take baby potatoes, very lightly parboil them with loads of aromats, so you’ve got some stock in there, some bay leaves, and peppercorns for flavour, skewer them on metal skewers, and add veg in between each one, just as you would a kebab.
The key is to make a really beautiful glaze for them. I’m using clarified butter, and you can add whatever herbs you want, but I’m going for a bit of paprika, cumin, coriander, chilli, and lemon juice. Mix that up and then cook them low and slow on the barbecue, and you glaze the potatoes every 10 minutes or so, for about 40 to 50 minutes, turning and glazing as you go, until you get these charred, beautiful, potato kebabs that are perfect on top of a yoghurt dressing.
Name one thing that’s always in your fridge…
I’m a savoury girl, and I love pickles, but they have to be cold, sweet, and sour. Currently, I’ve got Sainsbury’s own-brand gherkins, and they’re so good – they’ve got some mustard seeds, caraway seeds, onion and a bit of pepper in, and I’m eating that as well. I’ll also drink some of the pickle juice.
What about in your store cupboard?
Potatoes are the obvious answer. That’s a given. But I also always like to have some Worcestershire Sauce in the cupboard, and it has to be Lea & Perrins. I’ve tried other brands, but that’s the one I always end up going back to.
And in the freezer?
Bags of frozen chopped garlic and ginger. They’re so easy, and really convenient because I always forget to buy garlic, so having that in the freezer is such a useful backup.
Is there anything you can’t resist splurging on at the supermarket?
I love sourdough bread, and I’m realising it’s getting more and more expensive. My go-to is Jason’s number 11. I’ll also splurge on a really good block of butter, whichever looks posh and has salt crystals in. A fiver for butter is just ridiculous, but I love proper butter.
What do you prefer to get the cheap own-brand version of from the supermarket?
Ice creams. We had Magnums the other week, which are very nice, but they’re so much smaller than I remember them being, and it’s so expensive for three of them. So now for anything ice cream or ice lolly related, I just buy own-brand ones.
Is there anything you won’t eat?
I have an unhinged fear of jelly. I can’t eat it, I can’t even look at it, it makes me feel physically sick. I take it off my pork pies, and if I have a terrine or anything like that, it has to be removed. I can’t have anything set in gelatin, but it’s so sad because I’m desperate to eat trifle – it looks like the most beautiful thing in the world.
How does it feel having your dishes on the menu at Bill’s?
It’s been incredible, as this is the first thing I’ve ever done where a lot of people can try my food. There are three items – my ultimate smash burger, loaded tater tots, and a crispy smashed potato salad. The burger is amazing, it’s got a hash brown on top, red onions, as well as caramelised onions, and it’s a big boy. I’ve also got a hyper fixation on tater tots at the moment, and these have hot maple feta and bacon, which is a winning combo. It’s potato perfection.
I’ve been there literally like three times in the last month; it’s ridiculous how many times I’ve been to eat the burger.
Finally, what’s been cooking lately?
A few weeks ago, we didn’t have a lot in, just some mince and some chips in the freezer, so I fried off the mince with a bit of onion and garlic, and loaded it up on top of chips. It wasn’t saucy, just slightly dry, which I know doesn’t sound very good, but trust me, it was delicious. It’s now become one of our weekly go-tos for dinner.
