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HEY GUYS. (Pretend I’m saying this with attitude, perhaps with a snappy hand gesture or two.)
So I know it’s been 6 months and all since I last wrote. And I could be all apologetic and whiny, but honestly, I hate reading those posts. And I could tell you in detail what I HAVE been doing while I’ve NOT been blogging but it all boils down to: I moved from Colorado to Virginia. From an apartment to a house. From no backyard to a garden-friendly one. And I think I might have even convinced Brad to let us get a dog to go with our picket fence (which is not white, but whatever, that’s just details.)
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I still squee when I look at my new house. It’s so sweet it practically gives me diabetes.
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The kitchen. Looks a little white to start with, but I’m painting it a bright, bright green. ‘Cause that’s how I roll.
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The backyard, where Dad and my brother and I have already installed four raised garden beds. I’m getting topsoil and compost delivered later this week, and have already bought some seeds and garlic to plant this fall, even though I know I’ll only get to grow some quick-maturing leafy greens with what’s left of the season. Having never grown anything before (not a single potted plant, people) I am slightly terrified that I’m going to find out I have the brownest thumb ever. But, I figure I can probably grow zucchini and summer squash pretty easily. And if we end up with 4 raised beds’ worth of zucchini each summer and that’s it, well at least I will have a lot of zucchini bread, right?
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There’s been lots of cooking going on in the new house, although I’ve fallen back on some of the old favorites rather than trying many new ones. But after what seems like the LONGEST SUMMER EVER, what with the hot Colorado sun and then the stifling Virginia heat, I’m so desperate for fall I’m about to rent a snow machine and spray paint my trees yellow. I’m pushing the fall season like Wal-mart pushes Halloween candy in August, and making butternut squash lasagna and roasted potatoes instead of hanging onto the last few days of summer with marinated tomato salads and such.
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I found this recipe on that time-suck-to-which-no-other-compares, Pinterest. It was so pretty I just HAD to try it. I added a pinch of paprika for extra flavor, but next time (and there WILL be a next time) I’m thinking of infusing the butter with roasted garlic first. The shallot just wasn’t enough for me in this instance, although the texture of the dish was SPOT FREAKING ON. Extra crisp top and smooth creamy slices of potato that fall apart on the plate. A dish made perfect with those last potatoes of the summer, especially on the first cold night of fall. (Or so I would imagine, considering it’s still 75 degrees here at night.)
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Crispy Potato Roast
Adapted from Martha Stewart
Serves 6
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Martha says there’s only 25 minutes of prep time for this recipe. Martha is full of lies. (But it’s totally worth it.)
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Gather:
3 tablespoons butter, melted
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 pounds potatoes, peeled
4 shallots, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
a pinch paprika
a few springs of thyme, and
a mandoline or a sharp knife
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Prepare:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Slice the potatoes on thinnest setting of a mandoline or as thin as you can with a knife. (The thinner the potatoes, the crispier they will bake up.) You can prevent them from browning by putting them in a bowl of water as you slice.
Combine the butter and olive oil in a small bowl. Brush the olive oil mixture on the inside of a cast iron skillet or other heavy baking dish. Arrange the potato slices in the skillet as you like. Wedge slices of shallot between slices of potato. Sprinkle with salt, crushed red pepper, and a pinch of paprika. Bake for 75 minutes. Arrange a few sprigs of thyme on top of the potatoes and bake for another 35 minutes, or until the potatoes are crispy on top. Serve.
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Fitz & the Tantrums / Don’t Gotta Work It Out
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I made these for the first time a few weeks ago, when I just had some white and orange sweet potatoes hanging out in my house, leftover from the fall produce sales. They were starting their own mini sweet-potato-reproducing-factory in my cabinet, and I needed to get rid of them. Naturally, I decided to make some fries. It’s the default thing to do with leftover sweet potatoes, right?
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But you can’t just serve fries on their own… and for me, ketchup/catsup/catchup isn’t what you serve with a big platter of sweet potato fries. Sweet potato fries are the sophisticated older sister of regular fries. You need something to woo her with…
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Like intense garlic breath, of course.
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Thus, roasted garlic aioli. An aioli is much like mayonnaise… except hopefully homemade, and with a fancier name.
Honestly, you probably just want to invite all your friends over for these fries. You want to make sure all the people you know are eating this, lest you see a friend or five out and about later… because they won’t want to be within 10 feet of you. (Unless that’s what you’re going for… in which case, I applaud you for your creative strategy.)
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Sweet Potato Fries
From the Kitchenette
Serves 8 as an appetizer or side
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Gather:
4 sweet potatoes, orange or white or both, scrubbed clean
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more if needed
coarse salt
fresh cracked pepper
Prepare:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cut sweet potatoes into 1/2 inch sticks. (Note: I’m not too concerned about getting each fry the perfect length or width. Perfection is BORING. Plus, having some fries be more crispy than others is quite tasty, honestly.) Toss sweet potatoes with 1 tablespoon olive oil, salt and pepper, adding more oil until fries are just barely coated. Roast at 425 degrees for approximately 40-50 minutes, tossing each 15 minutes or so.
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Roasted Garlic Aioli
From the Kitchenette
Yields about 3/4 cup
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Gather:
1 head garlic
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
1 egg
salt
fresh cracked pepper
Prepare:
To roast the garlic, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut the top off the head of garlic, and place on a square of aluminum foil. Drizzle 1 tablespoon olive oil over top the head. Wrap the aluminum foil around the garlic, and roast at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, until garlic is translucent and soft inside.
To make aioli, put 3 cloves of roasted garlic (you can squeeze them out of the head with your thumb) in a food processor or blender. Add in the egg, a pinch each of salt and pepper, and turn on the food processor/blender to high. Add in the olive oil in a VERY slow stream, as slowly as possible. Check the texture of the aioli intermittently while adding the olive oil; you are looking for a texture akin to a thin mayonnaise, and you may not need all the oil, or you may need a bit more. Once the appropriate texture is reached, transfer to a serving dish.
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Warpaint / Undertow
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Three times in a row, I’ve written “White WHINE Glazed Potatoes” instead of “wine.” I wonder if that’s some sort of Freudian slip? What do you think that means exactly? Do you think it means I should be drinking a glass of wine tonight instead of not? I still have that bottle in my fridge, you know. Doesn’t some study… somewhere… say that drinking a glass of wine everyday is good for you? I’m pretty sure that it’s by the same scientists that said a square of chocolate everyday is good for you, too.
I mean, really… How much do you bet those scientists were women?
If I was a female scientist, I think the following studies would be at the top of my list… for scientific purposes, of course.
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The Inverse Relationship of Mass Consumption of Nutella and the “Bitch Factor”
The Effects of Red Sangria vs. White Sangria on the Role of “Beer Goggles” in Female Decision Making after 11 pm
The Effects of Continuous Viewings of Vampire Diaries (Starring Often-Shirtless Ian Somerhalder) on the Female Perception of Her Mate
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I think these are all valid studies, in my opinion. Clearly, as a scientist, it would only make sense that I would graciously donate myself as a volunteer specimen for all of these studies. (I’m super generous like that.)
I’ll expect my Nobel Prize in 2018.
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Fortunately, there’s no study needed to determine whether I would want to eat these potatoes. Nor should there be a study or decision on your part. They’re kind of perfect for right now, because you don’t even need to turn on the oven! For those of you living in on the surface of Mars (read: the East Coast), this is a very important factor. And also, because B (my hubs, who hates potatoes) almost had a mouthgasm when he ate these for the first time. That’s like, one in a million (squillion?) in our house. He claims to like everything I make, but He of Few Words (And They’re Mostly About Investment Banking You Know) usually has little to say other than “nom nom,” and these warranted a “Geez, babe. These are delicious!”
This only furthers my belief that we should commission a study aptly titled:
The Effects of Adding White Wine to Recipes in which There Was No Original Need For White Wine.
It’s for the good of mankind, y’all.
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White Wine-Glazed New Potatoes
Original recipe from The Kitchenette
Serves 4
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Gather:
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons grapeseed oil (or other high-temperature cooking oil)
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, plus more for garnish
2 pounds assorted new (or “baby”) potatoes
1/2 cup white wine
salt and pepper to taste
a large heavy skillet with fitted lid
Prepare:
Scrub potatoes under warm water. Let dry on kitchen towel. Leave smaller potatoes whole; cut larger potatoes in halves or quarters. Set aside.
Heat butter and oil in large heavy skillet over medium heat. Once butter has melted, add 2 teaspoons fresh thyme. Cook thyme in butter/oil mixture (it will likely splatter so be careful) for 2 minutes. Add potatoes to pan and toss to coat in butter/oil mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Turn heat to high, and cook 5 minutes, or just until the potatoes start to brown underneath. Cover the pot, and let cook for an additional 10 minutes, or until tender. (Older potatoes will take longer to cook.) Add the white wine to the pan (holy steam cloud, batman!) and toss potatoes to coat in wine. Let cook, uncovered, over high heat, until there is only a thin layer of liquid in the bottom of the pan, about 3 minutes. Turn out potatoes onto serving plate, and drizzle with remaining liquid in pan. Garnish with fresh thyme sprigs before serving.
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Panda Bear / Slow Motion I love them. I contemplate asking Noah Lennox to be my second husband on a daily basis, I love him THAT BAD.
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OH SWEET MOTHER OF ALL THAT IS HOLY MADE WITH BUTTER.
She posted about potatoes!
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I know, I know. Please contain your surprise. The world is not imploding as we speak.
Well, yeah, you may have noticed that I barely ever post about potatoes here.
It’s not because I don’t like them… it’s because I. LOVE. THEM. I mean, mashed potatoes are basically a conduit for butter and sour cream. Naturally, I can eat my weight in mashed potatoes, if given the chance. So, in order to protect myself from a spare tire that can fit a Ford F150, I try to only make potatoes when I’m entertaining.
I may have mentioned (here, here, here) that I went on vacation to the beach for Memorial Day weekend. It was glorious. All my family and friends in one place, conveniently unable to move their cars since they would lose their street parking place, and thus unable to get away from me. We cooked food, we sat out on the beach (under our precarious umbrella, suck it skin cancer!), we made sweet-tea-vodka-and-lemonades, and ate by the pool at night. I loved it.
And since there were upwards of 16 of us there (I’m not sure, I didn’t do a thorough count) there were plenty of people to eat a giant vat of potato salad (rather than the alternative, leaving it in my fridge untouched, ready to be hoovered at 11 pm on a Friday night at the end of a Friday Night Lights marathon).
This isn’t your average potato salad, doused in mayonnaise that tastes vaguely of whipped plastic. This is a tangy, just-barely-dressed potato salad, something you can eat without feeling like you’re going to die after you have a few bites. It’s not a shapeless, never-ending lumpy yellow mess; it’s a colorful salad thanks to the addition of peas, red potatoes and purple potatoes.
How handy that I thought of this dish just when spring is in full force, after keeping it in my arsenal of “Dishes to Make Immediately Or Sooner” for nearly 2 years. New potatoes (defined as “immature” potatoes harvested in the spring and summer) are just coming into season. Fingerling potatoes and other low-starch varieties would work well in this recipe, too, even if you can’t find purple potatoes or red-skinned varieties (if you can’t find baby or new potatoes, this site will help you find good substitutes). I ended up using frozen peas, but since peas are coming into season for most of the country, this might be the perfect seasonal dish for you!
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Red, White, and Blue Potato Salad
Adapted from Bon Appetit
Serves 8-10
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Gather:
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions, white and green parts, divided
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/8 cup white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1 pound small red-skinned potatoes, unpeeled, scrubbed and dried
1 pound small purple or blue potatoes, peeled
1 pound small white potatoes, unpeeled, scrubbed and dried
2 cups fresh peas, or one 10-ounce package frozen peas
1/2 cup crumbled feta
Prepare:
Combine half (roughly 1/4 cup) of the green onions with the sour cream, mayonnaise, vinegar, mustard, sugar and pepper. Whisk until the dressing comes together in a smooth consistency. Cover and chill.
Bring a large pot of water to boil over high heat. Add a generous pinch of salt to the water. Add the potatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for 10 – 15 minutes. Begin testing the potatoes at 10 minutes; you will want to remove them when they can be pierced with a fork with minimum resistance, but before the potatoes are so tender that they split easily when pierced with a fork. (Note: The time it takes for each type of potato to cook may vary depending on the type of potato and size, so be aware and test the smaller potatoes early. Depending on the size of your pot, you may also choose to boil the different types of potatoes in batches to make this easier.) Remove potatoes from pot and set on a cutting board to cool to room temperature.
If using frozen peas: While the water from boiling the potatoes is still hot, add the frozen peas to the cooking water. Cook for 30 seconds, drain, and set aside.
Once cool, cut potatoes into halves or 1/2 inch slices. Add potatoes and peas to dressing, and toss gently, being careful not to mash the potatoes or peas. Season to taste with salt if necessary.
Sprinkle potato salad with remaining 1/4 cup green onions and feta.
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Now Playing: Light Pollution / Oh Ivory
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Ew. It’s Monday. Mondays are so fail.
But…
I’m meeting the Pioneer Woman today!!!!!!!!!!! I’m SO EXCITED!!!!
Ahem. I apologize. I get a little more fangirl every hour closer I am to meeting Ree. Rachelle, my friend and macaron conspirator, is going with me to Ree’s cookbook signing tonight. Rachelle and I love the Pioneer Woman. We instant message during the day, and Rachelle will be like “Did you see PW is giving away a red Kitchenaid mixer today???” Or I’ll be all, “Did you see PW is giving away a Le Creuset set today???” You know, we like to keep each other informed of free cookware. Because that’s what friends do.
Anyhoodle, because today is such a momentous and holy day, I made two (count ‘em, TWO) P-Widdy recipes for dinner last night. I made her Ranch-Style Chicken, which is a chicken breast marinated in lemon juice, honey, dijon mustard, paprika, and crushed red pepper, topped with bacon and melted cheddar. Mr. Kitchenette devoured this one; P-Widdy is right when she says this is “Cowboy Food.” I liked the chicken best by itself without the bacon, but I think maybe the bacon I used was just too strong in flavor. Regardless, this chicken will now be part of my Poultry Rotation (the few recipes I make over and over again) along with the Balsamic-Roasted Chicken I love.
I also made PW’s Fluffy New Potatoes, which were kind of DE.LI.CIOUS. I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned my love for potatoes before, but they are my Kryptonite. For serious. I would eat potatoes with every meal, if my thighs wouldn’t balloon to the size of tree trunks. In light of my desire to fit my thighs into my favorite jeans, I relegate my potato consumption to Thanksgiving, and the occasional Holy Day. Today is a Holy Day. So I ate potatoes to celebrate. And I’m so glad I did, because these potatoes were WORTH IT. Basically, you halve the potatoes, bake them, scoop out the middle of each half, and mix the potato with cream cheese, sour cream, garlic, chives, and monterey jack. (Yes, I know. These potatoes are the Devil’s creation.) Then you fill the potato halves back up with the mix and bake until the middle is all warm and gooey.
I tried to restrain myself, and I still ate 4 halves of these potatoes. I totes have a muffin top consisting entirely of sour-cream-and-potato this morning. That’s how good they are.
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Ranch-Style Chicken
Adapted from The Pioneer Woman
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Ingredients:
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
1/2 cup honey
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 slices bacon
canola oil
1/2 cup grated sharp Cheddar cheese
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Directions:
Mix the mustard, honey, lemon juice, paprika, salt, and crushed red pepper flakes in a Ziploc bag. Pound the chicken with a mallet or heavy saute pan until 3/4 inch thick. Add the chicken to the bag and close; toss to cover the chicken with the marinade and refridgerate for at least 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 400F degrees. Saute the bacon in a saute pan over medium-high heat, until crispy. Remove bacon from pan and set on paper towels to drain. Add canola oil to bacon fat (you want about equal parts bacon fat and oil). Add chicken to pan, and sear until browned and crispy on one side. Repeat sear on other side of chicken. Remove chicken and lay on sheet pan; cook chicken on sheet pan in oven for 10 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. Lay bacon on top of chicken, and garnish chicken with grated cheese. Return chicken to oven for an additional 2-3 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.
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Fluffy New Potatoes
Adapted from The Pioneer Woman
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Ingredients:
1 pound red potatoes or Russet potatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup sour cream
2 ounces cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese
1 tablespoon chopped chives
1 garlic clove, grated
salt and pepper
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400F degrees. Rinse and dry the potatoes; cut in half. Drizzle with olive oil and bake at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes (or until you can hold a potato without withstanding 1st degree burns). Scoop out the insides of the potatoes into a bowl and mash, or use a potato ricer, such that the potatoes are a fluffy consistency. Mix mashed potato with sour cream, cream cheese, cheese, chives, and garlic. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Fill the potato halves with the filling, and bake for another 10 minutes or until the filling is melted. Hoover, and don’t let anyone steal the last piece.
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Now Playing in the Kitchenette: Bon Iver and St. Vincent / Roslyn – This is from the New Moon soundtrack. Yes, I’m excited for the New Moon movie to come out. Yes, I’m 25 years old. Are we done now?
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A note for some of my less-tech-savvy readers: click on the title of this post, and scroll to the bottom of the new page, to leave a sweet comment telling me what you think of this recipe. Or to tell me to stop posting Gossip girl clips. Or to tell me to post MORE Gossip Girl clips. Or whatever you want, really.
At exactly 11:59 on Thursday night, I arrived in Virginia for a whirlwind 10 days of bachelorette parties, beach-hopping, and weddings. I’m staying with my BFF of all time/partner-in-crime “Banana” for a few days, and we decided to celebrate my return to Virginia with a meal fit for a king. And by celebration, I mean… Banana unleashed her most powerful recipes on my jetlagged butt. It was totally awesome, if I do say so myself. Included in her Collection was this gem.
Potatoes are held on a pedestal in my family – seriously, it’s one of those favorite foods that I don’t have very often – so in my opinion, the hit of the night was this delicious recipe for mustard potatoes. It’s fast, delicious, and made with simple ingredients. Roast the potatoes long enough so that you get nice crispy edges on the potatoes. In my opinion, that’s the best part!
