Mixed Mashed Potatoes

Okay, this is too simple to bother posting, but since it had never occurred to me to mix potato types in my mashed potatoes, I thought it might not have occurred to you either.


Mixed Mashed Potatoes
1 large sweet potato
4 small/medium red potatoes
4 small/medium white potatoes
2 tblsp butter
1/4 cup whole milk (or more depending on desired creaminess)
Peel potatoes and cut them into 2" cubes. You might want to keep the sweet potatoes a bit larger since they cook faster than the others. Cover potatoes with cold salted water and boil until fork tender. Drain and mash with butter and milk.

Janis' Potato Bar

This is not so much a recipe as it is a place to help me remember this was a fun party dinner. Plus, I figured I would take the opportunity to ask for additional suggestions. 


I wanted to make something for my MIL for her birthday, but I have never really figured out what she likes to eat. I thought a baked potato bar would be nice so that people would have options and could just skip whatever they didn't like. I went with some basic stuff (listed below), but really wished I could have thought of something a little unusual. Any thoughts? What do you like on your baked potatoes? I'm partial to turning them into tacos. I'm thinking I'd like to do a sweet potato bar sometime as well, so I'd love your sweet potato ideas as well. 


Baked Potato Bar
Baked potatoes
Turkey chili
Garden salsa
Grated cheddar cheese
Plain Greek yogurt
Bacon crumbles
Steamed broccoli

Gnocchi

Another score for Mark Bittman! This gnocchi was much lighter than I've ever had in restaurants and, for that, I was very thankful since I could score some seconds and not feel horrible afterwards. Since I used Bitman's recipe, I'm not posting here. I made a simple garlic and olive oil sauce to go with it.


Garlic and Oil Sauce
1 cup olive oil
3 tblsp garlic, minced
1 tblsp fresh oregano, chopped
1 tblsp fresh basil, chopped
1 cup chopped tomato
salt
red pepper
Saute all ingredients together until the garlic is lightly browned.

Po-chilis?

We've always made potacos, but it's equally delicious to slop up a potato with some leftover chili as well. It's lacking in the cute nickname department... Kevin calls them phillies, but that reminds me of cheesesteaks, so it's not really working.


Po-chilis
4 baking potatoes
olive oil
salt
4 cups warmed leftover veggie chili
1 tblsp butter
1 tblsp flour
3/4 cup whole milk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
plain yogurt
Poke potatoes repeatedly with a fork or knife. Microwave on high for 15 minutes. Coat with olive oil and salt and place in 400 degree oven or toaster oven for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, melt butter in a small saucepan. Add flour and bring together a light roux. Whisk in milk and heat over medium heat until milk thickens. Remove milk from heat and stir in cheddar cheese. Cut open the potatoes, top with chili, cheese sauce, and yogurt. 

Vinegar Smashed Potatoes

This recipe is from our friend Grant. It's a nice change for standard mashed potatoes. This makes enough for three servings.


Vinegar Smashed Potatoes
3 white potatoes, cut into 1" squares
salt
2 tblsp melted butter
3-4 tblsp red wine vinegar
Just cover potatoes with cold water and salt. Bring to boil and cook potatoes until fork tender. Drain potatoes, return to pot, and add melted butter and vinegar. Mash potatoes to mix, but leave them on the chunky side.

Cheesy Veggie Casserole

As usual, during the early days of summer as the CSA season begins, I find myself with a bunch of greens and no ideas. Tonight I decided to combine it with potatoes, turnips, and cheese sauce - you can't go wrong with cheese sauce! The only bummer was that the greens are a little too wet and caused the sauce to separate a little. Oh well. Still tasted great.


Cheesy Veggie Casserole
4 cups mixed greens, chopped (I used broccoli, chard, and mustard)
3 medium potatoes, sliced
3 medium turnips, sliced
1 tblsp butter
1 tblsp all purpose flour
1 cup whole milk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 handful fresh parsley, chopped
breadcrumbs
salt and pepper
Boil greens in salted water for about 15 minutes. Drain. Melt butter in saucepan. Add flour and cook until lightly browned. Add milk and cook over medium heat until thick. Add cheese and parsley, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook for about 10 minutes. Layer potatoes, turnips, and greens in a greased casserole dish. Top with cheese sauce and breadcrumbs. Cook in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes or until top is lightly browned.

Twice Baked Potatoes

This recipe is based on a recipe I found on eatingwell.com for loaded twice baked potatoes. I was really hoping Natty would like this one since he was recently spotted eating mashed potatoes, but he wouldn't try these at all. This child will drive me crazy with the vegetable thing... I served these with broccoli mac and cheese so that I would have something to give to Natty, but the potatoes could have stood alone as a meal.


Twice Baked Potatoes
4 large russet potatoes
2 cups broccoli, chopped and steamed
1.5 cups plain yogurt
1.5 cups shredded cheddar cheese
salt and pepper
Microwave potatoes on high for 15-20 minutes or until cooked through (don't forget to poke holes in them before you start!). Cut tops off of potatoes and set aside. Scoop out insides into a medium bowl. Add broccoli, yogurt, 1 cup cheddar cheese, and salt and pepper to the potatoes. Mix/mash together. Stuff each potato shell with mixture and place in a baking dish. Top with remaining cheddar and put in toaster oven/oven/microwave to melt cheese.


Notes for next time: I had a heck of a time scooping out the insides of the potatoes without breaking the skin. Next time, I am going to try baking the potatoes in the oven to see if the skins remain a little stronger.

Oven Fries

This doesn't count as a recipe post since I have been wholly unsuccessful at making oven fries, leaving me with nothing to post. Rather, this is a plea for help. Do you have any tips on oven fries? I feel like it should be easy. Potatoes, oil, salt, bake. Right? Mine never brown, but stick like crazy to my pan. What am I doing wrong? I've tried extra virgin olive oil and regular vegetable oil. I've cooked them at 400, 425, and 450. I've cooked on aluminum foil and straight on the pan. Same thing every time. They taste good, but look awful - pale on one side, almost burnt on the other. Any tips? Do I need to soak the potatoes first? Should I not salt them until they're done? Is there a particular potato I should be using? Any hints you have would be greatly appreciated!

Potato Leek Soup

This soup is crazy easy. I can't believe I never tried it before. And for all you onion naysayers out there, leeks are onions for people who don't like onions. Just give it a try. I made this for meat free Monday dinner, but if I were making it on any other day of the week, I would have started with a little bacon. As a bonus for me, the kid even ate a little bit... Okay, he dipped his bread in it and then ate the bread, but I'm counting it as vegetable consumption!


Potato Leek Soup
1 tblsp butter
1 tblsp olive oil
4 leeks, whites and greens, sliced thin
4 white potatoes, peeled and chopped into small chunks
1 turnip, peeled and chopped into small chunks
1 quart vegetable stock
1 cup water
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
Melt butter in pan with olive oil over medium heat. Add leeks (if you don't know how to clean leeks, see below) and cook until tender. Salt and pepper cooked leeks. Add chopped potatoes and turnips and stir to combine. Add stock and water and salt the broth. Cook until potatoes and turnips are fork tender. Using a stick blender, blend soup until smooth. In a separate small saucepan, slowly heat milk and heavy cream, but don't boil. Add milk mixture to the soup and stir to combine. Serve with crusty bread.


On cleaning leeks. Leeks are layers and layers of sand and dirt trapping goodness. For this application, the easiest way to clean them is to slice them in half lengthwise, then slice each half into thin slices. Put the leeks in a large, deep bowl filled with water. Swish the leeks around and then walk away. Let them sit for 5-10 minutes and then skim the leeks off the top of the water with a mesh scoop. 

Kevin's Breakfast Potatoes

This recipe has been contributed by guest blogger, Kevin Holler, my loving husband. He’s been working on this recipe for years. Literally. It’s taken a lot of work, so I should be understanding about the length of his post, but really? Did it need to be this long? It takes longer to read than to cook and eat the potatoes. What a dork! ~J

I’ve been on a breakfast potato quest for many years now.  Really an embarrassing amount of years.  And I make potatoes every weekend.  So really I should have had a perfected recipe after about 8 weeks, right?  My problem is a combination of wild technique changes, and poor (or no) record keeping.  I also concentrated on ease of preparation, which isn’t always helpful.  I also experimented with par-boiling for a while, and decided that it is unnecessary.  Makes for yummy potatoes, but very mushy.  This recipe is good - maybe even really good -  but for as long as I have been working on it, they should really be the world’s best potatoes.  Honestly though, the best potatoes can be purchased at Ms. Shirley’s on Cold Spring Lane.  I don’t know what they do there, but I am a big enough man to admit they are better than mine.  I am also a big enough dork to admit I have contemplated getting a job there, just long enough to learn how to make them.  It finally took a pow-wow with a professional cook to figure out the last couple of “tricks” I needed in my recipe, so thanks to him.  Also, he recommended a “drawn” (or clarified) butter-margarine mix, and they’re probably even better that way, but I haven’t tried.  My second favorite (also better than mine) potatoes are McDonald’s.  I swear. They’re amazing.

 Anyway, onto the recipe!  (I have duplicated these consistently, so I feel comfortable with the recipe and process.)

Breakfast Potatoes

Equipment  and ingredients:

Round breakfast skillet, I use cast iron

Two baseball sized white potatoes (you know the ones, not russet, but more or less the same shape as a red potato, but not red). Other potatoes can be used, but the results are a little different, not better or worse, just different.

Bowl of salty water

Salad spinner or colander

One med-large onion

2 TBS Butter

Delicious fat from breakfast meat

Peanut oil as necessary

Salt and pepper

Spatula that you know and trust

Shred potatoes into salty water, and let soak, anywhere from 1-15 min, I don’t think it makes much difference. Drain, rinse well, and drain again. Spin with a salad spinner if you have it, but squeezing out into a colander works well, it’s what I did this morning.  This step is important, because it removes some of the starch from the potato.  Not doing this step yields really tangy, weird, and not so good potatoes.  You can do this right before you cook, or any time before. (Refrigerate or freeze if you do it more than a few minutes before.)

Cook whatever breakfast meat you are cooking and leave the grease in the pan. Add two tablespoons of butter and enough peanut oil to completely coat the bottom of the pan.  If the butter does the job, no additional oil is necessary.  Chop more onion than you think is necessary.  Add to the fat/butter mixture. Add a heavy pinch of salt and cook on low until the onion is soft and lightly  browned.  I think of this as flavoring the fat as much as cooking the onion. Remove the onion from the pan, but leave as much fat as possible. Turn the heat up to medium.  Mix the onion into your shredded potatoes. The oil is ready when you drop one shred of potato in and it immediately starts sizzling. Drop your potato and onion mixture right into the middle of the hot oil, and enjoy the sizzling deliciousness for 2 seconds, then gently spread the potato out so it completely covers the bottom of your pan.  Wait a beat or three, then use your spatula and pull the edge in all the way around the rim of the pan, about an inch or so, until you have a more or less a round patty of potatoes.  I’m always impressed with how perfect of a circle this makes. Pinch of salt and grind of pepper on top, to taste. 

Flip the potatoes when the bottom is a beautiful golden brown.  Try to flip this perfectly - like a pancake.  If you pull this off kudos to you - I never do. I always end up flipping one half at a time.  Reassemble as gently as you can back into a patty.  Salt and pepper this side also.  When the second side is golden brown, you are finished.  I usually take a couple of sample tastes before I remove, to make sure I have the crunch-to–soft potato ratio right, as well as enough salt.  Take a few more bites that you pretend are test bites, then remove and serve.  

If you try this recipe, let me know how it turns out for you!

Mmm Mmmm... Shepherd's Pie

I don't know what the policy is on reposting recipes created by known chefs, so I will abstain. But, I will direct you to go to the Rachel Ray daytime talk show site and search for the stretch a buck shepherd's pie. You will not be sorry. Especially if you are feeding an army! It literally overflows our large cast iron pan and makes enough for us to eat it at four different dinners.

Cheesy Potato Sticks

These were supposed to trick Natty into eating something, but they didn't work. Luckily, they are tasty, so we'll just have to eat them with dinners.

Cheesy Potato Sticks

2 large potatoes

milk

butter

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 egg yolk

pinch coriander

flour (for dusting)

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

Peel potatoes, cut up, and boil in salted water until fork tender. Mash potatoes, adding milk and butter to taste. Add cheese, egg yolk, and coriander and mix. Turn out onto floured surface and flatten to about 1". Cut into finger width strips. Flour hands. Pick up each piece of potato mixture and form square. Coat in breadcrumbs and place on lightly greased baking pan. Cook in a 400 degree oven until lightly browned.

So That's What a Turnip Tastes Like

In my mission to try more things from the farmer's market, I picked up turnips this week. I had to do a little research to figure out what to do and it turns out you can pretty much treat it like a potato or just eat it raw. I did try a bite raw, but with no salad greens available, I opted to cook all the turnips I picked up.

Mashed Turnip and Potatoes
3 turnips
4 medium potatoes
2 tblsp butter cut into chunks
1/4 cup half and half
4 pieces crispy bacon chopped
salt and pepper
Peel turnips. Cut turnips and potatoes into 1" chunks and place in medium saucepan. Cover with cold water. Add a generous amount of salt and bring to boil. Cook until potatoes and turnips fall off the fork. Drain and return to saucepan. Add butter, half and half, bacon, and pepper. Mash to desired tenderness.

Potato Topped Tilapia

So, the plan tonight was to make fish cakes from one of the baby cookbooks I was given as a gift and have not yet used. However, a series of events involving getting home late from work, a screaming hungry baby, and a husband that was not home when expected resulted in something a little different. This serves two. It uses tilapia because my original intent was to share with Natty and mild fish is easier to get a baby to eat. If I had been making it for just me and Kevin, I would have used a fishier fish (salmon, trout, etc).

I would have served it with a salad and steamed broccoli, but I was hungry and it was getting late, so I scrapped it. Hmm.. Next time, maybe I'll put the broccoli in with the potatoes...

Oh, and if anyone can give me a tip on how to peel potatoes without either a) potatoes slipping out of your hand and into the trashcan or b) accidentally peeling my fingers in the process, go ahead and lay them on me!

Potato Topped Tilapia
2 tilapia fillets
4 medium white potatoes
3 cloves garlic
2 tblsp butter
1/4 cup milk
1 small bunch scallions (whites and 1" of greens)
1 tblsp chopped chives
1/4 cup cheddar cheese
salt and pepper

Peel and cut potatoes into 1/2" chunks. Place them in medium saucepan with three whole cloves of garlic and cover with cold, salted water. Bring to a boil and cook potatoes until they fall off the fork. Drain potatoes and return to pot. Add butter, milk, scallions, and chives and mash to desired consistency (I like lumps).

While the potatoes are cooking, sprinkle salt and pepper on tilapia and place under broiler for 10 minutes or until flaky. Place a mound of mashed potato on top of each fillet and top with cheddar cheese. Put the fish under the broiler until cheese is lightly browned.

Pesto Steak and Smashed Chive Potatoes

Last night I pulled a steak out of the freezer with no plan. I also have a basil plant in my garden that has turned into something of a monster. I decided to put them together and see how it went. I got a bit lazy with the pesto because it was getting late and I had a baby and a husband to feed. And what goes better with steak than potatoes?!

(Measurements are estimates. I'm not big on measuring when I cook.)

Pesto Steak
four single serving pieces of skirt steak
1.5 cups basil
2 tbsp parmesan cheese
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper

Salt and pepper steak and place on hot grill pan. Cook for four minutes on each side to medium. While the steak is cooking, put the basil, cheese, olive oil, and a pinch of salt and pepper in a blender and combine. Add olive oil as necessary to reach a paste consistency (or whatever consistency you like). Serve steak topped with a generous dollop of pesto.

Smashed Chive Potatoes
6 medium potatoes - skin on (I used a mix of red and russet)
3 tbsp butter
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup chopped chives
salt

In a large saucepan, boil potatoes in salted water until they fall off the fork when poked. Drain and return potatoes to saucepan. Add butter, milk, and chives. Smash to desired consistency (I prefer a lot of chunks).

I served this dinner with a tomato fresh from my garden and fresh mozzerella. As a side note, I realized while we were eating that this dinner was totally local (well, I guess mostly local because of the salt, pepper, and butter).