Pamela and I have been working since at least last summer on bringing some of her older works back into print ourselves.
It’s finally happening. We’re calling the operation Blaisdell Press, and our first products will come out March 1st—paperback and electronic editions of Pamela’s 1998 novel Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary.
We expect to go on to publish The Dubious Hills, and possibly a standalone electronic edition of “Owlswater” (a trade paperback of something that short would have to be kind of expensive per word, but we might try that too to see if people want to buy it).
And then—we plan to publish the first edition of Pamela’s new novel Going North.
So this arrived today. Actually published towards the end of last year.
I had nothing to do with the text—but they asked me to use my photo on the cover, and I agreed, so that is my photo (from Midamericon, the 1976 Worldcon in Kansas City).
I kept seeing complicated recipes that would be more trouble than they were worth. I eventually worked out a very simple one that I find satisfactory.
Makes one large serving.
To make multiple servings, I’d use a larger pan, and I’d try making the patty thicker (cooking covered should cause the part not in contact with the hot pan to still cook by steaming).
Ingredients:
1 medium russet potato
1 pat butter
1T olive oil
salt and pepper
Grate coarsely
Method:
Scrub, remove eyes and anything else you don’t want to eat, and coarsely grate the potato.
Butter should sizzle in pan
Pre-heat a cast-iron skillet of suitable size (I find 8″ works well for one serving). Must have cover. On my particular stove the cooking setting is #4 on the left rear burner, and I pre-heat at 6 or 8 because I’m impatient. I might call that “medium” heat?
Add butter to pan. It should sizzle a bit, right away, but not burn. Also add olive oil.
Flatten potato shreds in pan
Dump the potato shreds into the pan, and arrange them flat over the entire bottom of the pan. Pressing down a little doesn’t hurt.
Cover and cook
Cover the pan and cook for 5-7 minutes (depends on heat, size of potato, etc.).
Flip the patty
Flip the patty of potato. It should stick together well, not stick to the pan, and the bottom should be medium brown to golden. Push down all over.
Grind some pepper and shake some salt over the cooked side.
Cover the pan again, and cook this side for 5-7 minutes. If you think it ends up too moist, omit the cover for some or all of the second cooking period.
