RSS

Category Archives: Potatoes

Thanksgiving Planning: Baked Ginger Sweet Potatoes and Mashed Butternut Squash

Since I won’t be cooking the actual Thanksgiving meal myself this year, I thought I would get the month started early and try to make a bunch of Thanksgiving side dishes all month long so you have some new things to choose and try for your Thanksgiving meal this year. I recently made two side dishes that would be perfect to use for Thanksgiving. The first is a very simple baked ginger sweet potatoes dish that I got from Chow.com. it is very simple to make, with a wonderful glaze that adds some great flavor to the potatoes.

Baked Ginger Sweet Potatoes

3/4 cup apricot preserves

1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (from 1 medium orange)

3 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon peeled and grated fresh ginger

1 tablespoon kosher salt

4 pounds medium sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/2-inch rounds

Heat the oven to 425 degrees and arrange an oven rack in the middle position of the oven.

Place the apricot preserves, orange juice, butter, ginger and salt in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a simmer, stirring occasionally, and cook until the butter and the preserves are melted and smooth, about 6 minutes.

Place the sweet potatoes in a large bowl and drizzle them with about 1/3 of the apricot mixture, and, using your hands, toss the potatoes to coat them well with the mixture. Shingle the slices in a 13-by-9-inch baking dish. Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 25 minutes.

Remove the baking dish from the oven and remove the aluminum foil. Drizzle the potatoes with another 1/3 of the apricot mixture and bake the potatoes uncovered for 10 minutes. Drizzle the potatoes again with the remaining 1/3 of the apricot mixture and bake uncovered until the sweet potatoes are tender and the glaze has thickened, about 10 minutes more. Transfer the baking dish to a wire rack and cool for 10 minutes before serving.

The sweetness of the potatoes is enhanced even more by the apricot preserves and orange juice and the ginger adds a nice little bite of spice to the dish. It’s a great tasting dish that goes well not just with your Thanksgiving meal but with any weeknight meal of something like chicken or pork chops.

The second side dish I had made recently is another orange vegetable that is perfect for your Thanksgiving table. It is a very simple mashed butternut squash recipe that I got from Cook’s Country that has a great earthy flavor thanks to the spices it uses in the recipe.

Mashed Butternut Squash

4 pounds butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch pieces

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

Salt and pepper

4 tablespoons butter

2 apples, peeled and shredded (about 2 cups)

1 onion, chopped fine

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

3 tablespoons maple syrup

Adjust an oven rack to the upper-middle position and heat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Combine the squash, vegetable oil, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper in a bowl. Spread the squash out evenly on the prepared baking sheet. Roast the squash until it is tender and starting to brown, about 40 to 50 minutes, rotating the sheet halfway through the roasting process.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a Dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add the apples, onion, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt and cook, covered, until the apples are soft, about 5 minutes. Uncover the pot and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the apples and onion are golden brown, about 5 to 7 minutes longer. Add the garlic, cumin, coriander, cinnamon and cayenne pepper and cook until the mixture is fragrant, about 30 seconds. Remove from the heat, cover and set the pot aside while the squash finishes roasting.

Add the roasted squash and maple syrup to the Dutch oven with the apple mixture. Mash the mixture with a potato masher until it is mostly smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.

The mashed squash has great consistency and flavor and will go well with your turkey and other side dishes if you want to make something a little bit different. The apples really help to add some great depth of flavor to the dish and the maple syrup just gives it a final touch that we all really enjoyed. I actually served this with the slow cooker pepper pork chops I made the other night and the whole meal was fantastic.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for some more recipes. I have lots more ideas for your Thanksgiving side dishes, a good turkey recipe, a wonderful lemon cake I making for Michelle’s birthday, a great burger recipe we tried yesterday, some simple battered shrimp and a whole lot more. Until next time, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

2 Comments

Posted by MikeG on November 4, 2013 in Cooking, Holidays, Potatoes, Side Dishes, Vegetables

Tags: baked ginger sweet potatoes, Chow.com, Cook's Country, mashed butternut squash, sweet potatoes, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving meal, Thanksgiving side dishes

Breakfast For Dinner Redux – Pancakes and Hash Browns

08 Aug

One of the favorite meals around our household is the breakfast for dinner concept. I have posted different breakfasts we have used on here before, and one of the most common things we eat are pancakes. Of course, there are varied ways and recipes you can use to make pancakes, including using tried and true methods such as Bisquick to help you along way. There’s nothing wrong with Bisquick; we use it around here when we feel like having some easy pancakes or biscuits without any fuss. That being said, there is nothing quite like having some homemade pancakes that are cooked just right. You love them when they are fresh off the griddle with a little bit of butter and lots of syrup. I love fruit pancakes like blueberry or banana, but this time we kept it simple with just some regular pancakes.

Pancakes

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

3 tablespoons butter, melted

2 cups buttermilk

1 to 2 teaspoons vegetable oil

Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees so you have a place to keep your pancakes warm while you cook more. Set a wire cooling rack over a baking sheet and set it aside.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, melted butter and then the buttermilk. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, pour the buttermilk mixture into the well, and whisk very gently until the buttermilk mixture is just incorporated. A few lumps should remain in the batter. Be careful not to overmix the batter.

Heat a large, non-stick skillet over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes. Brush the bottom of the skillet with 1 teaspoon of the vegetable oil. Using 1/4 cup of batter per pancake, add the batter to the skillet. Only 2 or 3 pancakes are likely to fit in the skillet at one time. Cook until large bubbles begin to appear, about 2 minutes. Flip the pancakes and cook until they are golden brown on the second side, about 1 to 2 minutes longer. Spread the pancakes out over the wire rack on the baking sheet and hold them in the warm oven. Repeat the process with the remaining batter, remembering to brush the bottom of the skillet with oil for each batch you make.

Pancakes freeze pretty well, so you can make a big batch and have them as leftover breakfast during the week if you like. Just defrost them overnight in the refrigerator and throw them in a 350 degree oven for 5 minutes and you can have them for breakfast. They should last for about a week in the freezer.

Since we had pancakes already, I wanted something extra to go with it since this was dinner. I have had a hankering for some hash browns lately and I saw this simple recipe from America’s Test Kitchen and decided to give it a try. This was much easier to do with the food processor, but if you don’t have one, you can use a box grater (just watch your knuckles!).

Hash Browns

1 pound russet potatoes (2 medium potatoes), peeled

2 tablespoons grated onion

1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley (optional)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1 tablespoon butter

Grate the potatoes using either the large holes of a box grater or the shredder attachment of a food processor. You should end up with about 1 1/2 cups of shredded potatoes. Wrap the grated potatoes in a kitchen towel and squeeze thoroughly of any excess moisture, then toss the potatoes with the onion, parsley (if using), salt and pepper.

Melt 1/2 tablespoon of the butter in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat until it begins to brown, swirling to coat the entire pan. Scatter the potatoes evenly into the skillet and press down on them firmly to form a cake. Reduce the heat to medium and continue to cook the potatoes until they are dark golden brown and crisp on the first side, about 8 minutes.

Slide the hash brown cake onto a large plate, then invert it onto a second plate so that the browned side is facing up. Add the remaining 1/2 tablespoon of butter to the skillet and melt, swirling to coat the pan. Slide the hash brown cake back into the pan, browned-side up, and continue to cook it over medium heat until the second side is also golden and crisp, about 5 minutes longer. Slide the hash brown cake onto a plate or cutting board and cut it into wedges.

Using a non-stick skillet here really makes a big difference in making your life easier and flipping the hash browns over. With this method, they come out crisp and delicious and are easy to serve and they have great flavor. I also had some sausage links we made to go along with everything.

That’s all I have for today. Check back to see what recipes come up next. We’ll be out for the evening tonight, so no cooking for me, but I’ll be back with some more recipes to try out, including a hot dog recipe with onion sauce and pepper relish, lemon icebox pie, Tar Heel pie, roasted chicken from Marc Murphy and more. Check back and see what is next. until next time, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

3 Comments

Posted by MikeG on August 8, 2013 in Breakfast, Cooking, Dinner, Potatoes

Tags: americas test kitchen, breakfast, breakfast for dinner, hash browns, homemade pancakes, pancakes

A Batch of Beer Battered Fish (and Roasted Fries)

07 Aug

This recipe is actually one that Sean picked out a while back and had not had the opportunity to make it until just a few days ago. It’s not often that he picks out a fish recipe for us to try, so I was more than willing to give it a shot, especially because I had just picked up some cod on sale. The timing for it was perfect and the recipe, from Bobby Deen, is actually one that is lighter than what often comes from Deen family recipes. This one uses very little oil in cooking and roasts the fries instead of frying them in oil.

Beer Battered Fish and Roasted Fries

Roasted Fries:

4 medium sweet potatoes, skin-on, cut into French fry strips

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Zest of 1 orange

Beer Battered Fish:

One 12-ounce bottle beer

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 1/2 pounds cod fillets, skin and bones removed, cut diagonally into 4-inch long, 1-inch wide strips

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1/2 teaspoon salt for sprinkling (optional)

For the fries: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the potatoes in a medium bowl. Whisk together the vegetable oil, paprika, salt, pepper and orange zest and toss with the potatoes to evenly coat. Place the potatoes in a single layer on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and roast until the potatoes are tender and starting to brown, about 40 to 45 minutes.

Turn the oven up to 450 degrees and continue roasting until the potatoes get crispy around the edges, about another 5 minutes longer. Reduce the oven temperature to 200 degrees and hold the potatoes in the oven to keep them warm while you prepare the fish.

For the beer battered fish: Pour the beer into a large bowl. Sift the flour over the beer, whisking gently until it is just combined. Pat the fish fillets dry with paper towels and sprinkle on both sides with the salt, garlic powder and pepper. Coat the fish in the beer batter.

Heat the vegetable oil in a large, non-stick skillet until it is very hot. Remove the fish from the batter using tongs and allow any excess batter to drip off. Place the fish in the hot oil and fry it in batches so as not to crowd the pan. Fry the fish until it is a deep golden brown and cooked through, turning once, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer the fish to a paper towel-lined baking sheet and keep it warm in the oven. Repeat the process with the remaining pieces of fish. While the fish is still hot, sprinkle it with salt, if using, and drizzle with a little fresh lemon juice (optional). Serve with the roasted sweet potato fries.

It is a very simple and light meal that tastes great. I would recommend using a light-colored or light beer for the batter. This way the beer itself will not impart any flavors directly onto the fish (unless of course you want that and in that case you may want to choose a stronger flavored beer). The fries were perfectly cooked and tasted great. They would be an excellent side replacement for French fries with any sandwich or meal. Sean and Michelle both loved the lightness and crispness of the fish as well. I’ll be glad to make this one again for dinner anytime as it was easy to make and everyone liked it. One thing to remember is that you don’t want to cook the fish too long. Fish takes just minutes to cook and will get very rubbery if you overcook it, so be careful.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for some more recipes. I do have one I tried last night when we had breakfast for dinner for pancakes and homemade hash browns. I also have one for tonight that we are trying from Bobby Flay for New York-style street hot dogs with onion sauce and a pepper relish that promises to be tasty. There are lots more to come, so keep checking back. Until next time, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

Leave a comment

Posted by MikeG on August 7, 2013 in Cooking, Dinner, Potatoes, Seafood

Tags: beer battered fish, beer battered fish and roasted fries, Bobby Deen, roasted fries, roasted sweet potato fries

Tantalizing Tuscan-Style Steak with Crispy Potatoes

25 Jul

There are few things better than having a nice steak on the grill. This recipe, from Williams-Sonoma gives you a chance to make a basic steak and potatoes meal with some nice seasoning and not a lot of effort on your part. There are only 8 ingredients in the whole recipe and it doesn’t take much longer than 30 minutes to make the whole meal.

Tuscan-Style Steak with Crispy Potatoes

1 1/2 pounds baby waxy-skinned potatoes, such as Yukon Gold, scrubbed but skins left on, halved

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 teaspoons red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon minced fresh hot chile or a generous pinch of dried red pepper flakes

3 small fresh rosemary sprigs

2 bone-in Porterhouse steaks, about 1 pound each

Put the potatoes in a large saucepan and add water to cover the potatoes by 1 inch. Bring the water to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium-high and cook until the potatoes are almost tender, about 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.

In a large fry pan over medium heat, warm 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. When the oil is shimmering, add the potatoes and toss gently to coat them with the oil. Cook the potatoes without turning until they are nicely browned on the bottom, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and pepper to taste, turn and cook, again without turning, until the potatoes are browned on the second side, 5 minutes longer. Stir and cook for a few more minutes to finish browning the potatoes and crisping the edges.

Meanwhile, prepare a fire in a charcoal grill or preheat a gas grill to high. In a bowl, whisk together 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the red wine vinegar, lemon juice and chile. If you are using charcoal, spread the hot coals across one half of the bottom of the grill and leave the other half clear to create a cool zone.

Tie the rosemary sprigs together at one end, using kitchen string, to make a brush. Using the rosemary, brush the marinade all over the steaks on both sides. Sprinkle both sides of the steaks with salt. Arrange the steaks on the grill directly over the heat and sear for 2 minutes. Turn the steaks and sear for 2 minutes on the second side. If you are using charcoal, move the steaks to the indirect heat. If you are using gas, reduce the heat to medium and grill for about 8 minutes longer for medium-rare, turning once or twice and brushing again with the marinade as they cook. Transfer the steaks to a cutting board, tent with aluminum foil and let rest for 5 minutes. Divide each steak into two pieces and arrange on dinner plates with potatoes around the steak and serve.

Just a couple of things about this recipe. I did make a couple of substitutions and I think they both worked out well. I did use strip steaks instead of Porterhouse since there is a big price difference between the two. I also used a bundle of basil leaves instead of the rosemary since Michelle and Sean do not really eat rosemary. I liked the flavor that came from the fresh basil anyway. I also made a quick tomato salad to go along with the meal. Finally, I added some mushrooms and shallots to a small pan and sautéed them with a little bit of the leftover marinade to use to top the steak and it turned out great. It was a very quick meal that you can do any night of the week.

That’s all I have for today. We are going away to Saranac Lake for a few days so I won’t be back on until Sunday, so check back then for some new recipes. I am bringing some of the homemade bagels and some baked sausage and peppers with me for the weekend for everyone to have. Until next time, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

Leave a comment

Posted by MikeG on July 25, 2013 in Beef, Cooking, Dinner, Grilling, Potatoes

Tags: crispy potatoes, Tuscan steak, Tuscan-style steak with crispy potatoes, williams-sonoma

Fine Food for Father’s Day, Part 1 – Strip Steak with Brandied Mushrooms and Sweet Potatoes

17 Jun

Father’s Day dinner is always treat. Michelle and Sean get to do all the cooking and I get to pick out what I would like to have for dinner. I picked something simple this year since it was just the 3 of us. Michelle had picked up some New York strip steaks and we had some other things around the house that could make for a simple yet elegant meal. We thought about using the grill, but the weather was kind of iffy at the time we were eating dinner so we thought on the safe side we would just do it inside. The recipe for the steaks comes from Tyler Florence.

New York Strip Steak with Brandied Mushrooms and Fresh Thyme

4 New York strip steaks, each about 1 1/2 inches thick
Extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 pounds mushrooms, trimmed, brushed clean with the towel and stemmed
Leaves from 2 sprigs fresh thyme
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup brandy
1/2 cup heavy cream

Remove the steaks from the refrigerator and allow them to come to room temperature. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat until smoking. Sprinkle the steaks all over with salt and pepper. Put the steaks in the pan and cook, turning to brown all sides completely, until medium-rare, about 8 to 10 minutes depending on how thick the steaks are. Remove the steaks to a platter with tongs and cover loosely with a tent of aluminum foil to keep the meat warm while you make the sauce.

Put the sauté pan back over medium-high heat and add 1/4 cup olive oil. When the oil is smoking, add the mushrooms and cook, stirring, about 10 minutes, until golden brown. Add the thyme and the garlic, and season well with salt and pepper. Toss a few more times to cook the garlic, then dump the mushrooms out onto a platter. Take the pan off the heat, add the brandy, return the pan to the heat, and cook until almost evaporated. Add the cream and cook that down to 2 to 3 minutes until reduced by about one half and thickened. Return the mushrooms to the pan with whatever juices have collected on the platter and simmer the entire thing another 2 minutes until thickened again. Season with salt and pepper. Slice the steaks thin against the grain. Taste the sauce for salt and pepper and serve.

I loved the mushrooms sauce that came with the steaks. The steaks were cooked perfectly and the sauce added just the right amount of flavor with the mushrooms and the brandy. We did not have to pounds of mushrooms on hand, so we actually ended up about halving the recipe and cut down the amount of olive oil used to about 2 tablespoons and cut the brandy down to about 1/8 of a cup and the heavy cream to about one-fourth.

Besides making some corn on the cob to go with the steaks, we also used a recipe from Bobby Flay of the Food Network for grilled sweet potatoes with lime and cilantro. Even though we didn’t actually grill the potatoes, I think they still came out pretty nicely for indoor cooking. It’s very easy to make this recipe and takes next in no time at all.

Grilled Sweet Potatoes with Lime and Cilantro

3 sweet potatoes, unpeeled
Kosher salt
2 teaspoons finely grated lime zest
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1/4 cup canola oil
Freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro

To par-cook the potatoes, place the potatoes in a large pot of water and boil until fork tender, about 8 minutes. Allow the potatoes to cool completely. Slice each potato lengthwise into eighths.

Preheat the grill to medium or place a cast-iron grill pan over medium heat. Mix 1 tablespoon of salt, the lime zest and the cayenne pepper in a small bowl and set aside.

Brush the potato wedges with the oil and season well with salt and pepper. Grill the potatoes until they are golden brown on all sides (including the skin) and just cooked through, about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes per side. Transfer the potatoes to a platter and immediately season with the salt mixture and sprinkle with cilantro.

We simply made the potatoes in the cast-iron pan instead of dragging the grill pan out and I think they turned out just as well. Par-cooking them is really necessary here because you want to make sure the potatoes are going to be cooked all the way through when you make them this way. If you just put them in raw, they are not going to be done in one to 2 minutes and will burn. I really liked the mixture of the lime and the salt with the cayenne pepper; it really help to bring out the flavor of the potatoes and I actually used some of the salt on my piece of corn on the cob as well.

That’s all there is for today. Next time I will post the recipe Michelle used to make banana cream pie for dessert for Father’s Day. I can tell you it was pretty darn good and I really enjoyed it. Check back for that one as well as some of the recipes that I have done recently and plan to post on the blog. Until next time, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

Leave a comment

Posted by MikeG on June 17, 2013 in Beef, Cooking, Dinner, Grilling, Holidays, Potatoes, Sauce, Vegetables

Tags: Bobby Flay, brandied mushrooms, food network, grilled sweet potatoes, grilled sweet potatoes with lime and cilantro, new york strip, New York strip steaks, Tyler Florence

Weekend Entertaining: Father’s Day Barbecue | Williams-Sonoma Taste

15 Jun

Weekend Entertaining: Father’s Day Barbecue | Williams-Sonoma Taste.

Looking for a great barbecue meal for the weekend for Father’s Day? Williams-Sonoma has this post to help you with all the planning and the menu from appetizers and drinks to the entree, sides and desserts. Check it out and give it a try!

Leave a comment

Posted by MikeG on June 15, 2013 in Beverages, Cooking, Cooking Websites, Dessert, Dinner, Grilling, Pork, Potatoes, Side Dishes

Tags: father's day barbecue, Father's Day menu, memphis ribs, williams-sonoma, williams-sonoma father's day barbecue menu

Alton Brown’s Cold-Fashioned Potato Salad

14 Jun

I’ve been making potato salad recipes for years and years now. All along, I’ve really just been using the same recipe. I have these standard Hellmann’s potato salad recipe that you used to find on the back of the jar that I’ve been using all this time and it is always worked well. This last time, when I decided to make some potato salad as a side dish for dinner, I wanted to try something a little bit different. I went searching for recipes and came across this one from Alton Brown on the Food Network’s website. I don’t think I’ve ever tried a recipe of his that I haven’t liked, so I thought I would give it a try.

Cold-Fashioned Potato Salad

2 1/2 pounds red potatoes, large diced
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon
1/2 tablespoon very thinly sliced garlic
3 tablespoons finely chopped cornichons
1/2 cup small dice red onion
1/2 cup thinly sliced celery
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Place the potatoes into a large heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven. Cover the potatoes with cold water and place the pot over medium heat. Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Immediately reduce the heat and remove the lid. Gently simmer until the potatoes are fork tender, about 5 to 6 minutes. Drain the potatoes and place them in an ice bath to cool. Remove the skins from the potatoes. Slice the potatoes into rounds and place them into a zip top bag. Add the vinegar and toss to coat all of the potatoes. Place the bag into the refrigerator overnight.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the mayonnaise, mustard, parsley, tarragon, garlic, cornichons, onions, and celery. Once everything is evenly combined, add the potatoes and season with salt and pepper. Allow the salad to chill in the refrigerator for at least one hour before serving.

If you have never used cornichons before, they are those little tiny pickles that you can find in many of your local supermarkets. I did not have any red potatoes on hand, so I did use some russet potatoes instead and I think everything turned out just fine. Adding the vinegar ahead of time and allowing the potatoes to marinate overnight does seem to make a good difference in the taste. There were also a few things in this salad that I never added before, including the cornichons, garlic and mustard powder. You can really taste the mustard powder and it does come through quite nicely. I would certainly recommend this recipe and I’ll be using it again. The salad tasted even better the next day once it had time to sit and the flavors were allowed to meld.

That’s all I have for today. Check back again next time to see some of the recipes that I’ve tried out this week, including a pork chop with cherries, a crispy high roasted chicken and potatoes recipe and some others that I have been working on. Until next time, enjoy the rest of your day, and enjoy your meal!

3 Comments

Posted by MikeG on June 14, 2013 in Cooking, Cooking Websites, Potatoes, Salad, Side Dishes

Tags: Alton Brown, cold-fashioned potato salad, food network, potato salad recipe, potato salad recipes

Potato & Pasta Salad Recipes for the Summer : Cooking Channel

01 Jun

Potato & Pasta Salad Recipes for the Summer : Cooking Channel.

If you are looking for lots of options for sides and salads to make this summer, the Cooking Channel has posted this long list of recipes for many different potato salads, bean salads, cole slaw, pasta salads and more that you can try. Some use mayonnaise and some do not so you can find one that suits your wants and needs best. Check it out!

Leave a comment

Posted by MikeG on June 1, 2013 in Cooking, Cooking Websites, Pasta, Potatoes, Salad, Side Dishes

Tags: bean salad, cole slaw, Cooking Channel, pasta salad, potato and pasta salad recipes, potato salad

Holiday Weekends are Meant for Homemade Breakfasts

27 May

We don’t get to spend enough time together as it is, so trying to take advantage of the holiday weekend and spend time with each other is a premium for us. This particularly involves any meals that we may have. As it is with most families, it’s pretty rare when all 3 of us can sit down together and actually have breakfast at the same time. So when it does happen, I try to make it something special. This was the case yesterday when I decided we were going to have a completely homemade breakfast. It’s much simpler than it sounds and you can easily do any of these things in moments. I kept it even simpler by just sticking with scrambled eggs, homemade sausage, and home fries. We added in a couple of store-bought items as well, including Taylor ham and English muffins.

Easy Scrambled Eggs

8 large eggs
1/4 cup half-and-half
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon butter

Whisk together the eggs, half-and-half, salt, and pepper. Melt the butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, swirling to coat the pan. Add the eggs and cook while gently pushing, lifting, and folding them from one side of the pan to the other until they are nicely clumped, shiny, and wet, about 2 minutes. Remove the cooked eggs from the pan quickly.

I know it seems kind of ridiculous to actually have a recipe for scrambled eggs since it’s a fairly basic recipe, but I think it’s actually pretty easy to mess these up. Michelle actually makes much better scrambled eggs that I do; her eggs seem to come out fluffier and taste better and I think it’s because she follows this method exactly. Having a hot pan to start with is a key and you also want to be sure that you fold your eggs and push them instead of stirring them. Stirring them keeps them from getting as fluffy as they could be. Naturally, there are many things that you could add in to scrambled eggs if you choose to, such as onions, herbs, various cheeses, hot sauce, ham, bacon – the list seems to go on and on. Make them how you feel most comfortable.

Next up is a very simple recipe for some homemade breakfast sausage. Now there are few ways you can do this, and if you want to make it a little differently you could certainly grind your own pork. It will take you more time to do it that way but if that’s what you’re looking for then you should go right ahead. I chose to just use already ground pork and keep things simple.

Homemade Breakfast Sausage

2 pounds ground pork
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tablespoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried sage
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 teaspoons of vegetable oil

Spread the pork out in a large bowl and sprinkle with the syrup, garlic, salt, pepper, sage, thyme, and cayenne. Using your hands, gently fold the flavorings into the pork, then portion and shape each into sixteen 2-ounce patties (about 1/4 cup each).

Heat 2 teaspoons of the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add half of the patties and cook until well browned on both sides, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer the patties to a paper towel-lined plate. Wipe out the skillet, add the remaining 2 teaspoons of oil, return the pan to medium heat until shimmering, and cook the remaining patties.

Of course if you’re going to grind your own pork and maybe you even have your own sausage casings you can make breakfast links instead of breakfast patties. It really depends on how ambitious you happen to feel, but this seems to be the simplest way to do it. You could also easily freeze some of the patties between wax paper and have them portioned out for use at another time. Then it is simply a matter of placing them in a hot skillet with a little bit of butter to get them started and then add a little bit of water and cover the pan so they steam first to help them cook, remove the cover, turn the heat up and cook the patties until they are browned. You could also make this with ground turkey instead of ground pork. I actually have a turkey sausage patty recipe that I will post at another time which is a great breakfast alternative.

I also made some home fries to help round out the meal. Home fries are really easy to make, and if you happen to have some leftover potatoes already done you can easily use them as well. You have a lot of options here when it comes to what you want to use. Even if you have a can of diced potatoes around you could use that as well. This recipe, from America’s Test Kitchen, actually recommends that you microwave your potatoes first to help get some of the starch out of them before you do any of the frying. This helps to build up the better crust on the potatoes.

Home Fries

2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes (4 medium), scrubbed and cut into one half-inch cubes
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 tablespoons butter
1 onion, chopped fine
Salt and pepper

In a large microwave-safe bowl, toss the potatoes with the oil. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and microwave on high until the potatoes are tender but not falling apart, 5 to 10 minutes, shaking the bowl without removing the plastic to re-distribute the potatoes every 3 minutes. Carefully remove the plastic wrap, transfer the potatoes to a colander, and drain thoroughly.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the potatoes to the skillet and, using a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula, distribute them evenly over the pan. Cook undisturbed until the potatoes are golden brown on one side, about 5 minutes. Carefully turn the potatoes to ensure even browning and add the onion to the skillet. Continue cooking, turning the potato and onion mixture every few minutes, until the potatoes are well browned and the onion is softened, 10 to 15 minutes longer. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Again, there are other things you could add to the potatoes if you want to get a little bit of a different flavor. I actually added a little bit of orange bell pepper and some paprika to my recipe and I think they tasted great. I know they do sell frozen diced potatoes, but I think if you’re planning to use them you need to make sure that you thaw them and that they are dried very well to remove as much of the moisture as possible if you want them to cook well. Otherwise they will just steam in the liquid and not get crispy.

While I didn’t make any bacon with our breakfast, I have found that making the bacon in the oven has worked much better and gives the bacon a chance to cook and crisp up much more evenly than it does when you cook it in the pan. You can also cook a lot more of it all at once if you are making breakfast for a large crowd, which is an advantage.

Oven Bacon

1 pound bacon (16 slices), thin or thick-cut

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 400°. Arrange the bacon on a rimmed baking sheet (the slices can overlap just slightly) and bacon until crisp and browned, about 10 to 15 minutes, rotating the baking sheet front to back halfway through. Transfer the bacon to a paper towel-lined plate and let the excess fat drain off before serving.

If you’re going to cook it this way, you could also consider using a wire rack set inside the rimmed baking sheet so it keeps the bacon from sitting in the fat and allows the air to circulate around it, making it a little more crisp. As I said, I did make Taylor ham with the breakfast because it is one of Michelle’s favorites. It seems to be mostly a Northeast thing, and even more particularly a New Jersey thing to have Taylor ham with breakfast. It is basically a pork roll that you slice and fry for a minute or 2 on each side just to get it crisp. I didn’t have time to make any homemade biscuits or anything like that, but they would be great to go with a traditional home breakfast. Of course I had coffee with mine, and you could certainly have homemade orange juice if you have a juicer or whichever store-bought juice you prefer.

The important thing with the breakfast like this is that it actually brings everyone to the table all at the same time. It doesn’t really matter what you make; you could just each have bowls of oatmeal or bagels and coffee if that’s all you really want as long as you’re enjoying some time together.

That’s all there is for today. Check back again later on in the week and I’ll have some new recipes to share, including a pound cake, oatmeal cookies, a black bean salad, and I do have a few other things planned in for dinner this week including baby back ribs, meatloaf and chicken so check back and see what comes along. Until then, enjoy the rest of your 3 day weekend, and enjoy your meal!

Leave a comment

Posted by MikeG on May 27, 2013 in Breakfast, Cooking, Eggs, Holidays, Potatoes, Sausage

Tags: americas test kitchen, breakfast sausage, home fries, homemade breakfast, homemade breakfast sausage, homemade sausage, oven bacon, recipe for scrambled eggs, scrambled eggs

Pan-Fried Crab Cakes and Oven Fries

08 May

I have posted crab cakes and oven fries recipes on the blog before, but I did make them a little differently this past week when we had them for dinner. This time, I decided to use the Cook’s Illustrated Cookbook, which I find I used for many different things. It has lots of great recipes in it, both basic and a little more technical see you can cover just about everything. The cookbook also has a lot of great hints as far as equipment, kitchen accessories, techniques, and more. I highly recommend it if you are looking for a cookbook batting compresses everything. The crab cakes recipe that I used is pretty basic and easy to follow.

Pan-Fried Crab Cakes

1 pound jumbo lump crab meat, picked over to remove cartilage and shell fragments
4 scallions, green parts only, minced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley, cilantro, dill, or basil
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2-4 tablespoons plain dried breadcrumbs
1 1/2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning
Salt and ground white pepper
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup vegetable oil
Lemon wedges
Tartar sauce (recipe to follow)

Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Gently mix the crab meat, scallions, parsley, mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons of breadcrumbs, and Old Bay in a medium bowl, being careful not to break up crab lumps. Season with salt and white pepper to taste. Carefully fold in the egg with a rubber spatula until the mixture just clings together. If the cakes do not bind, add more breadcrumbs, 1 tablespoon at a time, until they do.

Divide the crab mixture into four portions and shape each portion into a fat, round cake, about 3 inches in diameter and 1 1/2 inches thick. Arrange on a prepared baking sheet, cover, and refrigerate at least 30 minutes or up to 24 hours.

Place flour in a shallow baking dish or pie plate. Lightly dredge the cakes in the flour. Keep your loyal in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Gently lay the flowered cakes in the skillet and cook until the exteriors are crisp and browned, about 4 to 5 minutes per side. Serve immediately with lemon wedges or sauce.

I’ve always found that the key to really good crab cakes is having less breadcrumbs, less filling and more crab. Most of the crab cakes you seem to get when you go out to a restaurant are just filled with breadcrumbs and don’t have much crab in them at all. Also, I have found many places tend overcook them so you really only need about four minutes per side just to crisp them up. Jumbo lump crabmeat can be quite expensive, so if you want a cheaper alternative you can certainly buy pasteurized crabmeat. That is what I used this time and I think the recipe turned out just fine. Another key is you really do need a good nonstick skillet to use to make these. There is nothing worse than trying to flip the crab cake that is stuck to the bottom of the pan. I served the crab cakes with that recipe that I also got from this cookbook for the tartar sauce. It’s really easy to make and it’s certainly better than anything you’re going to find in a store.

Homemade Tartar Sauce

3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 shallot, minced
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed and minced
2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish
1 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Mix all the ingredients together in a small bowl. Cover and let sit to blend of flavors together, about 15 minutes. Stir again before serving. The sauce can be refrigerated and stored for up to one week.

I didn’t have sweet pickle relish on hand, but I did have bread-and-butter pickles so I use them instead, I minced a few up and added a tiny bit of pickle juice to the mixture and I think it came out great. I also cut back a little bit on the mayonnaise as I am the only person leads tartar sauce in our house so this way we didn’t end up with a lot left over. The final piece of the dinner was one of Sean’s particular favorites for the night, which were the oven fries. I’ve tried making oven fries in the past with mixed results and this recipe is very similar to one I have tried before.

Oven Fries

2 1/4 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and cut lengthwise into 10 to 12 even wedges
5 tablespoons vegetable oil
Salt and pepper
Adjust an oven rack to the lowest position and heat the oven to 475°. Place the potatoes in a large bowl, cover with hot tap water, and soak for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, coat a large, heavy-duty rimmed baking sheet with 4 tablespoons of oil and sprinkle evenly with 3/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper; set aside. Line the second baking sheet with triple layers of paper towels and set aside.

Drain the potatoes. Spread the potatoes out on the paper towel lined baking sheet, then thoroughly Pat dry the potatoes with additional paper towels. Rinse and wipe out the now empty bowl. Return the potatoes to the bowl and toss with the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil. Arrange the potatoes in a single layer on the oil baking sheet, cover tightly with aluminum foil, and bake for five minutes. Remove the foil and continue to bake until the bottoms of the potatoes are spotty golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes, rotating the baking sheet after 10 minutes. Using a metal spatula and tongs, scraped to loosen the potatoes from the pan, then flip each wedge, keeping the potatoes in a single layer. Continue baking until the fries are golden and crisp, about 5 to 15 minutes longer, rotating the pan as needed if the fries are browning unevenly.

While the fries bake, line a baking sheet with a triple layer of paper towels. Transfer the baked fries to the prepared baking sheet to drain. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste and serve.

There seems to be a couple of keys to the recipe that made it turn out better for me this time than the past. First, I tried to cut the potatoes as evenly as possible so everything would cook at about the same time frame. Soaking the potatoes for the required amount of time really makes a big difference as it pulls out a lot of the starch from the potato and helps to keep them from sticking to the pan. Adding the oil to the pan and a little bit to the potato not only helps with the sticking but helps with the browning process. Finally, covering the potatoes with aluminum foil for five minutes at the beginning of cooking allows the potatoes to steam so you can then crisp them up the rest of the cooking time. I certainly think it was a pretty successful effort this time out.

That’s it for today. Time for me to get back to work after spending yesterday evening at Citi Field watching the Mets game. I’ll have another recipe for you tomorrow so check back and see if it’s something you are interested in giving a try. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and hopefully you were not in the rain as we are here in New York. Enjoy your day and enjoy your meal!