Potatoes de John Spottiswood

America's most popular vegetable, potatoes can be boiled, baked, fried, microwaved, steamed, or roasted, with or without their peels. They're often paired with butter, sour cream, or oil, but left to themselves they're quite low in calories and loaded with nutrients.Store them in a cool, dark, dry, well-ventilated place. Don't refrigerate them--doing so converts some of the potato's starch to sugar. And don't expose them to direct sunlight, which turns them green and makes them bitter. Scrape away any sprouts or green spots, since they might contain a mildly toxic compound called solanine.