Potato Basket

A garnish-course potato dish from the era when vegetables were expected to be architecture as well as food. The whole thing stands or falls on how dry the potato is.

• Dry the potato firstA pint of mashed potato that holds any steam or milk will slump the moment it hits the oven. Rice or mash floury potatoes, then return them to the dry pan over low heat and stir a minute or two until the surface looks matte before adding the yolks.
• MeasuresA pint of mashed potato is 2 cups, which will take somewhere around a pound to a pound and a half of potatoes before cooking. No butter or milk is called for in the paste, and none need be added; the yolks are the only binder.
• Oven heat"Brown in oven" gives no temperature. A hot oven is the sensible reading, since a slack one dries the baskets out before they colour; watch them rather than trusting a clock.
• Onion juiceGrate a peeled onion on a fine grater and press the pulp through a sieve, or squeeze it in a cloth. A teaspoonful of juice, not chopped onion, keeps the paste smooth enough to shape.
• Forming the baskets and the handleTwo tablespoonfuls per basket gives small cases; hollow each with the back of a wet spoon, or pipe them onto a greased sheet. The recipe assumes a handle but never says to make one; one workable approach is to roll a thin strip of the same mixture, bake it separately, and set it in place afterwards rather than risk a raw arch sagging.
• Egg wash"Brush with egg" is unspecified; beaten whole egg, thinned with a little water, does the job. The two yolks are already in the mixture and are not meant to be stretched to cover this as well.
• Button radishesSmall red radishes, trimmed, boiled 8 to 10 minutes until barely tender, then drained well and tossed with butter, salt and white pepper. They lose most of their bite and turn a pale pink; drain them thoroughly or the potato base goes soggy.
• Yield and timingA pint is about 32 tablespoonfuls, so at two tablespoonfuls a basket the mixture makes something like sixteen small cases. Fill them at the last moment and serve at once, since the shells soften as they stand.