SMSU Prepping Stuffed New Potatoes

Southwest Minnesota State University

Prepping Stuffed New Potatoes

Mardi Gras Gala

Mustang Homecoming Tailgate Festivities

October 7- 9, 2009

I thought that my Stuffed New Potatoes would be one of the most sought after hors d'oeuvres because who in the Heartland of the USA doesn't like potatoes?? My plan, make 'em Louisiana style!! Amanda Paine, with the student newspaper "The Spur" liked the recipe and published it in her column "Paineless Cooking". She sent me a signed copy of her column!! YES, I now have been published!

I changed up the recipe a bit (Go Figure!) When we cook these potatoes in Louisiana they are normally boiled along with the shrimp or crawfish. To to get that flavor of seafood I added a pound of Shrimp Base to the boil! YES!!!

OF course, I used Zatarain's Liquid Crab Boil and some of their dry bagged product for the boil. Executive Chef Dennis Nord of Aramark allowed us to use his 200 quart steam kettle to boil all of the potatoes in one batch! Boy did that save some time!!

The students got to work prepping the potatoes. This is a labor intensive process that requires flattening the bottom (so it sits upright and doesn't roll around the serving tray), removing the top, then hollowing out the insides!

We made three different stuffings, a minced Tasso, White Lump Backfin Crab (I brought the crabmeat up with me fresh from Louisiana as checked luggage!) and a Vegetarian Cheese. The students then re-stuffed the potatoes. THEY DID over 800 of them!

NEXT: Soft-Shelled Crawfish!

Thanks to Jim Tate and Michael Cheng of SMSU for taking and supplying many of the above pics!!

Check out many other pics on Michael Cheng's Facebook Photo Album

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