Our Best Irish Recipes – Bon Appétit.
St. Patrick’s Day is under 2 weeks away so now is a good time to start planning out some of those great Irish recipes in advance of the day that is everything Irish. Bon Appetit has put together 18 recipes that are Irish-inspired recipes to help you celebrate the day with great drinks, corned beef and fun desserts. Check it out!
Monday is typically my busiest day of the work week as I get a lot of my projects for the week and have several that start and are due on each Monday so I don’t get a lot of time to blog on Mondays anymore. that being said, as I take a brief break from writing for work I get the chance to write for fun and thought I would share this really easy recipe I tried recently for some homemade oven fries. I have tried a few oven fries recipes in the past and have had mixed success with them, but so many of them seem to use a lot of oil in order to get the fries nice and crispy, something I have been trying to avoid doing when I can. I came across this recipe recently on Food52.com from Patricia Wells for a recipe she calls “fake frites.” The recipe seemed deceptively easy and simple to me so I was not quite sure if I was going to be happy with the results, but I was pleasantly surprised by what came out.
Fake Frites (Oven-Fried French Fries)
2 pounds baking potatoes, such as Idaho russets, peeled and cut into thick fries, about 3/4-inch by 3 inches
2 to 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Sea salt or Kosher salt, to taste
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Bring 1 quart of water to a simmer in the bottom of a steamer pot or in a Dutch oven or large saucepan with a steamer basket insert in it. Place the potatoes on the steaming rack or in the steamer basket and place the rack in the steamer. Cover the pot and steam the potatoes just until a knife tip inserted in a potato comes away clean, about 10 to 12 minutes. The potatoes should not be cooked all the way through or they will tend to fall apart.
Transfer the steamed potatoes to a bowl and drizzle them with the olive oil. Carefully toss the potatoes to make sure they are all coated with the oil. The potatoes can be prepared to this point several hours in advance of using them. Just them aside and let them sit at room temperature.
With a large slotted spoon, transfer the potatoes in a single layer to a nonstick baking sheet. Discard any excess oil or liquid that is in the bowl. Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake, turning the potatoes so they brown evenly, until the potatoes are crisp and deep golden brown, about 10 to 20 minutes. Remove the potatoes from the oven and season them generously with salt and serve immediately.
It sounds too easy to be true but this might be the best oven fries I have tried yet. The trick for me seemed to be in preparing them ahead of time and letting them sit at room temperature for an hour or two. The potatoes dried out a bit even with the oil on them and this really helped to make sure they got nice and brown and crisp in the oven. you do need to make sure you flip them halfway through baking, and I flipped mine at the 10 minute mark and by about 15 or 16 minutes total cooking time they were done perfectly. Of course fries go well with just about any meal – hamburgers, hot dogs, steak, fish, meat loaf, ribs, chicken, you name it – and this one is easy enough to make any time. 2 pounds of russet potatoes might only be 3 potatoes (depending on how big they are) and you get plenty of fries out of the recipe. I’ll be making them again (perhaps even tonight) and they are a great go to when you don’t want to oil fry potatoes or don’t want bagged fries or have them around.
That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!
Potatoes can be a really versatile side dish besides being great for mashed potatoes or your standard baked potato. There’s nothing wrong with using one of the old stand-by recipes or even just boiling up some potatoes for a really simple side dish but with so many different things you can do with potatoes I am always trying to come up with something just a little bit different to jazz up a meal. This is especially true if I am making a meal for a special occasion and want something different as a side dish that really stands out on its own. When I made the New York strip steaks for Valentine’s Day this past week, I knew I wanted to make potatoes with the steaks and mashed potatoes or even fries seemed like a good option, but I had seen this recipe just recently on Food Network for a pan-fried fingerling potato with leeks that looked like it would be perfect to go with a steak. They also had a nice honey-lemon coating on them that made them perfect and the recipe seemed really easy to make so I had to give them a try.
Pan-Fried Honey-Lemon Fingerling Potatoes and Leeks
Salt
2 pounds fingerling potatoes
2 tablespoons butter
1 leek, halved, thoroughly washed and sliced up to the pale green part
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon honey
1 tablespoons minced fresh Italian parsley
1 lemon, zested
Bring a medium saucepan of salted water to a boil over high heat. Gently add the fingerling potatoes and poach the potatoes for 5 to 7 minutes. Drain the potatoes, cut the potatoes in half and dry the potatoes thoroughly.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Melt the butter and add the leeks and season them with salt and pepper. Saute the leeks until they are softened, about 8 minutes. Remove the leeks to a separate bowl and set them aside.
In the now-empty skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Put the fingerling potatoes cut-side down in the pan and cook the potatoes until they are golden brown, about 5 to 6 minutes. Flip the potatoes and repeat the process on the skin side of the potatoes, cooking them for about 5 to 6 minutes to brown them nicely. Add the leeks back to the skillet, drizzle the vegetables with the honey and cook them for another 2 to 3 minutes.
Sprinkle the vegetables with the parsley and the lemon zest. Season the vegetables with additional salt and pepper to taste and serve.
It’s a very basic dish that gives you some great results. You do want to make sure the potatoes are completely dry before you put them in the skillet so you can brown them nicely and get that great crunch to them on the outside while they stay soft on the inside. The addition of the leeks is great for the dish to give it that subtle flavor that leeks have. Just remember leeks can be pretty gritty so you need to clean them thoroughly before you use them. The honey and lemon just added the final push to the dish to give that hint of sweetness that was perfect. I don’t often buy fingerling potatoes because they tend to be quite expensive compared to other potatoes for a small amount, but I did find them on sale so it was perfect timing for this dish. I think you could do this dish well with other potatoes as well as long as you cut them small enough so they poach nicely and fit well in the skillet. The potatoes went perfectly with the steak and they would be great for any beef, pork or poultry side dish.
That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!
39 Delicious Things You Can Make In A Skillet.
Skillet cooking is a great way to make use of that cast-iron skillet or stainless steel skillet and make a whole meal right in one pan on many occasions. Buzz Feed has put together 39 great skillet recipes to cover everything that you like and more to make delicious, easy meals. Check it out!
Super Bowl Food Ideas and Party Recipes – Bon Appetit.
As we deal with a snowstorm here in my area of New York and then a family party later today, you can have a chance to look over some more great Super Bowl snack, appetizers and recipes for your party, to bring to a party or just to have for your own while you watch the game. Bon Appetit has all kinds of great ideas for your Super Bowl party guide for all of your favorite game-time snacks. Check it out!
One of the areas that I am trying to do the most improving in during 2015 comes to the pictures that I take for this blog. Very often I just take pictures right after I have finished preparing the meal so that I can have a picture to display, and the pictures do not always turn out to be the best that I can use but I go with it and that is what I have. I admit I am no professional photographer and I do not spend a lot of time working on the photography for the blog, but I would like to try to get a little bit better at it and take some nicer pictures to use. I would also like to be able to remember to take pictures more often. Very often I forget to take pictures of the side dishes that I have made and only remember it after we have already started eating, not leaving me with anything to take pictures of to put up.. This has kept me from putting a lot of recipes on the blog since I do not have pictures of the recipes I want to use. Today I decided I am going to use a couple of the recipes anyway so at least I can share them with you and let you know how they turned out for me even if I do not have pictures to show you. In particular here are 2 side dishes I tried recently, one from Williams-Sonoma and the other from Bobby Flay. They are for maple-glazed root vegetables and for mashed potatoes with buttermilk, black pepper and green onion. Both are really simple to make and make great side dishes for all kinds of meals.
Maple-Glazed Root Vegetables
3 tablespoons butter
1 pound turnips, peeled and cut into wedges 1/2-inch wide
1 1/4 pound carrots, peeled and cut on the bias into pieces 2-inches long and 1/2-inch wide
1 1/4 pounds parsnips, peeled and cut on the bias into pieces 2-inches long and 1/2-inch wide
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme
3 tablespoons maple syrup
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
In a large sauté pan set over medium-high heat, melt the butter. When the foaming subsides, add 1/3 each of the turnips, carrots and parsnips. Cook, without stirring, until the vegetables are browned on one side, about 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer the vegetables to a bowl. Repeat the process to brown the remaining vegetables in 2 more batches.
Return all of the vegetables to the pan. Stir in the chicken broth, time and 2 tablespoons of the maple syrup, and season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook until the vegetables are just tender, about 7 to 8 minutes. He uncover the pan and continue to cook the vegetables, stirring them occasionally, until most of liquid has evaporated and the vegetables are glazed, about 2 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the lemon juice and the remaining 1 tablespoon of maple syrup and serve.
You can pretty much try this recipe with any root vegetables that you like, or just one single type of vegetable that you may happen to have on hand and it works pretty well. While this recipe is for a larger group of about 8 to 10, you could scale it down to fit your particular family size needs. I actually just made this again recently using just some baby carrots that I had on hand and it turned out perfectly, with the carrots having a really nice glaze on it thanks to the maple syrup. It is a great dish to remember to use for holidays or weekend meals and goes really well with beef, chicken, turkey, or pork. The mashed potato recipe is just as easy and just as versatile.
Mashed Potatoes with Buttermilk, Black Pepper and Green Onion
4 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch dice
Kosher salt
1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter, cut into pieces
2 1/2 to 3 cups buttermilk
Coarsely ground black pepper
2 green onions, green and pale green parts only, thinly sliced
Place the potatoes in a large pot and cover them with cold water by 2 inches. Add 2 tablespoons of salt, bring to a boil, and cook until the potatoes are fork tender, about 20 to 25 minutes. Drain the potatoes well. While the potatoes are cooking, combine the butter and buttermilk in a small sauce pan set over medium heat and bring it to a simmer.
Working in batches, pass the cooked potatoes through a food mill or a ricer (or just use a potato masher) over a pot. Stir the hot buttermilk mixture into the potatoes until they are smooth and creamy. Season the potatoes generously with pepper and add more salt as needed. Stir in the green onions. Cover and keep the potatoes warm over a simmering pot of water until you are ready to serve.
While everyone makes mashed potatoes pretty regularly, this is just a slight variation that gives you a little bit different flavor thanks to the buttermilk, pepper and green onion. I really like a lot of pepper in my potatoes so this was the perfect recipe since the pepper really shines through and the buttermilk really helps to make the potatoes extra creamy and add a little bit of tang to the flavor. Again this is a great dish that you can use for a holiday meal or a nice Sunday meal but it is also simple enough for you can make it during the week to have as a side dish for just about anything, including beef, chicken, turkey or pork. While using a ricer or food mill does produce great mashed potatoes and I do have a ricer to use, I very often find myself just using the potato masher to make them and they come out just fine. The ricer can be a little tedious to use when you have a lot of potatoes and some people like the mashed potatoes a little chunkier with the potato masher anyway.
That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!
Granted having a prime rib roast is not something many people do on a typical weekend anymore. It’s no secret how expensive prime rib can be and it is usually something I only make around the holidays if the price happens to be right. I had been shopping around the holidays and got great deals on some cuts of meat, including prime rib, and I was able to get one that was just the right size for the three of us and was a great price so I bought it and froze it to make after the holiday craziness had passed so we could have a fancy meal on one of the weekends afterwards. There are all kinds of great recipes for prime rib that you can find all over the Internet, but I just wanted to stick with something basic. I found two recipes I really liked, one from Martha Stewart and one from Ina Garten, but in the end I decided to go with the one from Martha Stewart because we wanted roasted potatoes that night too. This is a very simple prime rib roast and I combined it with Ina Garten’s recipe for a flavorful mustard horseradish sauce on the side. There are only a few ingredients you need for the sauce and just salt and pepper for the roast to make this elegant dish.
Standing Rib Roast with Roasted Potatoes
1 standing rib roast (7 to 10 pounds) with 3 to 6 ribs
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons sugar
8 medium Yukon Gold potatoes (about 4 pounds)
For the Mustard Horseradish Sauce:
1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 1/2 tablespoons whole-grain mustard
1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
1/3 cup sour cream
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Remove the standing rib roast from the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature, about one to two hours. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Whisk together the olive oil, all-purpose flour, 4 teaspoons of kosher salt, 1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper and the sugar in a small bowl until it is blended.
Boil the potatoes in a large pot of salted water until they are fork tender, about 10 to 12 minutes. Drain the potatoes and peel them, and then cut each potato in half crosswise. Place the roast in a roasting pan, ribs side down. Lightly score the fat on top of the roast. Rub the roast all over with the flour mixture. Place the roast in the oven and roast it for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 375 degrees and continue to roast, basting the roast frequently with the pan juices, for 1 hour more. Add the potatoes, tossing to coat them in the pan juices. Roast, flipping the potatoes and basting the meat occasionally, until the thickest part of the roast registers 135 to 140 degrees on an instant-read thermometer (avoiding the bone) for medium-rare, about 45 minutes more. The total cooking time should be about 2 hours. Transfer the roast to a cutting board, reserving the pan drippings if you plan to make Yorkshire pudding. Tent the roast with foil and allow it to rest for at least 20 minutes (or up to 1 hour) before carving. Carve the roast into slices and serve it with the mustard horseradish sauce.
For the mustard horseradish sauce, whisk together the mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, whole-grain mustard, horseradish, sour cream and salt in a small bowl until it is well blended. Refrigerate the sauce until you are ready to serve.
This is a very basic recipe but it turns out a very delicious roast. The roast is cooked perfectly and is nice and pink in the center, if you like it that way. Of course, you could always cook it a little longer if you prefer it to be more towards medium or medium-well, but a cut of meat like this is great when it is medium-rare like this. It just melts in your mouth and you can cut it with a butter knife. I really liked the sauce to go with it with the combination of the mustards, the heat of the horseradish and the tang from the mayonnaise and sour cream. It would also go really well with other cuts of beef if you are looking for a nice sauce to try on the side. I made this with some maple glazed vegetables, which I forgot to take pictures of but I will post the recipe for them in another post. This dinner is an elegant treat, and I actually only made a 2-rib roast for just the three of us and plenty of leftovers for some prime rib steak sandwiches.
That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!
Best New Year’s Eve Recipes : Food Network.
New Year’s Eve is just two days away and if you are planning a party, big or small, Food Network has some great recipe ideas for you for appetizers, snacks, main courses, cocktails and more so you can ring in the New Year. Check it out!
I will be back with more of my own recipes once the holidays are are all over with so stay tuned for some great, exciting new things to try for the New Year. Thanks for following!
Fun, unusual and forgotten designations on our calendar.
Happily Ever After Lives Here
a little bit naughty a little bit nice
Letting Life Lead
Simple and delicious dinner inspiration
onedadskitchen 