Potato Pancakes

Some people love leftovers, like hubby. Some people refuse to eat them, like my brother-in-law. If you've got a leftovers hater in the house, it's good to know ways to revamp left over food into a new, delicious dishes. Sometimes, it's difficult, if not impossible, but sometimes it's also quite easy. For example, mashed potatoes can become a variety of things after their first initial serving.  Though, how many homes actually have leftover mashed potatoes? They're so darn good they usually get gobbled up the first night. Unless you live with someone like my dad who follows the "it's better to have too much than too little" philosophy in the kitchen.  He made mashed potatoes the other night, and - I bet you've guessed it - we had about 2 cups of potatoes left. We immediately knew what must be done with them...

POTATO PANCAKES!! This was one of my absolutely favorite foods growing up. My mom didn't make them too often (again, we didn't often have left over mashed potatoes) but when she did, it was bliss at the dinner table.   

Potato Pancakes

• 2 cups leftover mashed potatoes
• 1 egg
• approximately 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• olive oil

First, you want to make sure your potatoes are well seasoned. They should be, from the night before, but perhaps you need more salt or want to add some garlic powder. 

Stir the flour into the mashed potatoes, making sure they're well combined.  Add in the egg and, again, mix until well combined. You want to make sure the potatoes aren't too wet and sticky; if they are they will fall apart. Add more flour if necessary.

In a large skillet, heat a tbsp or two of oil over medium heat. 

In your hands, roll approximately 1/3 cup of mashed potatoes into a ball, then flatten it into a 1/3 inch disk. Gently place it into the hot oil and let it fry for a couple minutes before flipping it.  If, when you try to lift the pancake with a spatula it sticks to the pan, leave it be for another minute. It should lift smoothly off the pan. Flip and fry for another 2 or 3 minutes.  Remove to a paper towel lined dish to drain. 

In a good sized skillet, you can fry 4 pancakes at a time. Don't let the pan get too crowded or it will be difficult to flip them. 

You can serve this plain, with ketchup, or with just about anything that goes nicely with potatoes.

Baked Potato Salad

A long time ago, my dad brought home some potato salad made by a friend that was unlike any I had eaten before.  At first we puzzled over its smooth creaminess; what could it be? Finally it hit me, leaving me feeling like an absolute idiot. Sour cream. And green onions. It was like eating a cold yet delicious baked potato.  Since that day, I planned on making my own and just never got around to it. I almost did a few times, but something (perhaps my own laziness) got in the way.. Until yesterday, when I decided it would make a great accompaniment to some sausage poboys (which, amusingly, we had to do the sausage in the oven since it was raining all evening). 

This was a hit! Dad, hubby, and I all loved it; when I got home from an appointment today, hubby bragged that he'd eaten all the leftovers. The brat! It being the first time I tried this, there are a few things I'd do differently, of course.  I'd let my potatoes cool before mixing everything together in an attempt to keep them from mushing up so much.  Also, after mixing everything together, I'd refrigerate it for awhile so it would be cool. I'd mix in some bits of bacon too, but all of my bacon was frozen, and I forgot to deal with it. Oops. Oh well.

Baked Potato Salad

• 2 lbs red potatoes, cut into quarters
  
• 1 cup sour cream
• 3-4 green onions, chopped 
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3 tbsp bacon bits (real bacon, please) 

Boil potatoes until they are cooked thoroughly; let cool to room temperature.  Mix in sour cream, onions, and bacon bits.  Season with salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.

Hasselback Potatoes

Every so often, there seem to be fads in the foodblog community. The latest one appears to be Hasselback potatoes. Who doesn't like potatoes? Who doesn't want to know a million delicious ways to prepare them? Hasselback potatoes are very simple to make, as well as tasty and visually appealing to boot. Hubby and I both really enjoyed them!




Hasselback Potatoes

• 1 large potato per person (or a couple smaller potatoes per person)
• olive oil
• salt
• pepper
• 2 pats of butter per person

Preheat the oven to 425F.

Thoroughly wash the potatoes and pat them dry. If using a larger potato, it's handy to figure out which side is sturdier (meaning the potato will wobble less while you cut). Using a sharp knife, cut down almost all the way through the potato, but leaving a 1/4 inch or so intact; the potato should stay in one piece. Cut slots every 1/4 inch or so. Repeat with other potatoes.

Place on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place 2 pats of butter on each potato. Bake for 45 minutes.

* You can season these any way you'd like, adding herbs or garlic or whatever else you desire. Try slipping garlic or onions into each or every other slot. The possibilities are nearly endless.

Chive Parsley Potatoes

Earlier this week, my friend was telling us about some potatoes her school used to make for lunch. They were simply small yellow potatoes tossed with butter and parsley. Sounds simple but divine, right? It is. I decided to go with a chive and parsley mix, because I enjoy chives.


Chive Parsley Potatoes
small, yellow potatoes (a few per person)
4 tbsp butter
tbsp chives
1/2 tbsp parsley

Boil the potatoes whole. Once they are cooked thoroughly, drain and leave them in the colander for the time being. (at this point, I decided to cut my potatoes in half).

Melt the butter in the same pot, and stir in the herbs. Stir in salt.

Return the potatoes to the pan and stir to coat the potatoes well.

Serve!

Potage Parmentier, or Potato Onion Soup

After two decades of not really liking soup (other than baked potato and corn & crab bisque), I'm finally coming around. It all started with a little coffee shop's chicken tortilla soup. I was absolutely star struck. It was such a perfect blend of chunky chicken and vegetables with a smooth, slightly spiced tomato base... so good. Then I tried the same shop's chicken curry stew. Again, delicious soup! Lobster bisque, yessiree! Plenty of soups still disappoint me, but I'm willing to try them now. Most importantly, I'm willing to try to make them.

Does anyone not like potatoes? Is there really any better combination than potatoes and onions? Honest answers, guys and gals. I'm not sure there is a better food pair, so today I present you with Julia Child's Potage Parmentier (potato and onion soup). I found the recipe on this site, and it just looked so amazing that I had to try it.

This particular blogger added carrots to hers which gave it a nice orange hue and bulked hers up. I opted out of the carrots and got a rather thin soup, which was a bit sad. The flavor was amazing though.


Potage Parmentier

• 4 cups peeled and diced potatoes
• 3 cups thinly sliced yellow onions
• 2 quarts water
• 1 tbsp salt
• 6 tbsp whipping cream
• 1 tbsp softened butter
• 2-3 tbsp minced herbs, for decoration (I used scallions I had for the scallion pancakes)
  

In a large pot or dutch oven, simmer the potatoes, onions, water, and salt partially covered for 40-50 minutes until the potatoes are tender and the onions are thoroughly cooked. (Mine still had a bit of a bite).

Mash or puree the veggies with a fork, masher, hand blender, etc. Don't puree too well; you want some character to the soup texture. When I reached this step of the process, I realized my potato to water ratio was not going to create a creamy delicious soup, so I pulled out about 2 cups of the water. Then I spooned ladlefuls of potatoes and onions into my stupid Bullet blender and pureed it in there, returning it to the pot afterwards.

Season with salt and pepper to taste. I found I didn't need to; the seasoning was perfect.

Before serving, remove from heat and stir in cream and butter. Serve decorated with herbs.

Again, my soup was really thin, which was unfortunate, though the flavor was really superb. I think I might actually use this as a base for a creamy vegetable soup.

Nigella's Perfect RoastPotatoes

We've established my love for Nigella Lawson, right? Over the holidays, she had a great Christmas special in which she prepared a Christmas dinner. Included in the menu were her perfect roasted potatoes, which she swears by. With my love of potatoes, how could I not love these?

These potatoes are the perfect balance between crunchy and soft potatoey goodness. If you're looking for something relatively healthy, don't go for these. If you want delicious potato goodness, try this recipe!


(aren't they pretty??)

Nigella's Perfect Roast Potatoes

• 6 lbs potatoes (I used 6ish medium sized potatoes)
• 2 tbsp semolina (I used 1 tbspish semolina)
• 2 cups goose fat (I used 1 tbspish duck fat)

Heat the oven to about 400-425F. Place the fat in a baking dish (size depending on the amount you're making) and let heat up in the even as it preheats.

Cut the potatoes in half lengthwise, then widthwise. Make your final cut (so we can get longish quarters) on a diagonal, creating a bit of a triangle and thus giving more surface area.

Fill a pot with water and add potatoes; bring to a boil over high heat. Boil for approximately 4 minutes (this is called parboiling, if you didn't know).

Drain the potatoes and place them back in the pot. Sprinkle semolina over the potatoes; cover the pot and shake shake shake it up. You want to mush the potatoes a bit and get the semolina nicely distributed. This all creates a better crunch later on.

Now, remove the baking dish from the oven. Carefully spoon the potatoes into the fat, trying not to splatter too much hot fat on yourself. Sprinkle with salt.

Bake for 20 minutes, then flip the potatoes. Bake an additional 20ish minutes, until the potatoes are golden brown and cooked through.

Remove from the potatoes from the pan and place on a papertowel lined plate to absorb some of the fat.

(Ok, these potatoes aren't really roasted; they roasted/fried. But they're delicious!)

Spanish Tortilla

Time for something savory, my friends. This past semester, I had a professor from Barcelona. One of the last days of class, she made a few traditional dishes for us. One was the tortilla, a delicious combination of eggs, potatoes, and onions. It's like a really potato-intense omelet. Oh so delicious.


Spanish Tortilla

• 5 baking potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 9-10 eggs, well beaten
• salt and pepper
• olive oil

In a very large, very non-stick skillet, heat a few teaspoons of olive oil. Saute the potatoes and onions until they are thoroughly cooked and beginning to brown/golden. Salt and pepper to taste. Keep in mind that you'll be adding alot of eggs, so if your potatoes seem perfectly salted, the eggs will dilute that.

Pour the eggs into the pan and make sure it's all mixed together, with everything evenly distributed. You'll want to cook on a medium low heat so that the eggs are cooked mostly through without burning the bottom. Once the eggs seem set, you'll need to get a large plate and use this to flip the tortilla over. Cook a bit longer until the eggs are to your liking.

The Barcelonans frequently eat this as a tapas, and as such, cut it into a bunch of small squares. Hubby and I cut it up like a pizza, because we're uncultured Americans. Haha. This made a great Christmas Eve day meal.

Duck Fat Potatoes

So in my researching of roasting duck, I came across this one site that swore by duck fat potatoes. I did save the duck fat, because I want to try doing a duck confit, but that takes quite a few fat renderings. In the meanwhile, I decided to try these potatoes, regardless of the blatant unhealthiness. And I don't regret it.


There isn't really much of a recipe for this; cube some potatoes, melt some duck fat in a skillet, dump the potatoes into oil and let 'em fry. Woohoo. Once they're crispy golden, remove them to a paper towel lined plate to let them drain a bit and sprinkle generously with salt.

Now, without doing a side by side comparison, I can't really tell that much of a different between these potatoes and ones that are made with butter or olive oil. Shame on me, I guess. Don't get me wrong; they were delish, but they weren't the best potatoey goodness that I've had.

Smashed Potatoes

Ree at the Pioneer Woman Cooks is amazing. I fell in love with her blog months and months ago after making a shrimp penne in this delicious tomato cream sauce (note to self: make that soon!). Today, I discovered her Crash Hot Potatoes (posted, amusingly enough, on my wedding anniversary; a sign this is meant to be). I HAD to have these, and what Mama Sarah wants, Mama Sarah gets (in all matters over which she has total control and sound self-justification).



Okay. I realize the blogging is getting a little weird. It's late and I want to go to bed, but I REALLY want to finish up these posts so I can pretend I'm not really a slacker (said to the dishes sitting in the kitchen). Two glasses of wine probably aren't helping matters either. It's not my fault the cork is wonky and I don't have a bottle top!

Back to potatoes...I think we've established that I love potatoes. If I were stranded on an island, a sack of potatoes would be on my list of things to have with me. Something about them satisfy this innate, never-ending craving in my soul. It IS that intense.

Smashed Potatoes:
small new potatoes (or other similar potato), 2 per person seems reasonable
salt and pepper
olive oil
an herb, I used Rosemary

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil, then add your potatoes. Boil until they are "fork tender". I don't think I let mine get fork tender. It's difficult to gauge that.
Preheat oven to 450F.
Drizzle olive oil on a baking sheet; you want the entire sheet to have a bit of the oil so the potatoey goodness doesn't stick.
Place the potatoes on the sheet, spacing them out. Using a potato masher, gently press down on the potato (it might slide around.. you might not be so gentle, it's okay). My potato masher is funky and not the standard shape, so I ended up with lots of little mashed potato crumbles, which baked up nice and crunchy so I'm okay with it. Anywho, rotate your masher 90 degrees and press down again.
Your potatoes shouldn't be too smashed up, just flattened a good bit. It should still be a whole potato, just mangled.
Next, brush (or drizzle) with olive oil, then sprinkle your salt, pepper, and finely chopped herb on the potatoes.
Bake at 450 for about 20 minutes or until they appear deliciously crisp and amazing.

Chez Belaire

A month or two ago, hubby won an award at work for being kick-ass. Part of the award was dinner at a nice restaurant with other coworkers who kick ass. Sadly, that dinner has been postponed FOUR times now, the most recent being Monday. I decided it was about damn time my man had himself dinner at a nice restaurant, so I made one.. Chez Belaire, open 1 night with a very limited menu. I tried these mushroom-potato muffin appetizers and had some ready when he got home. Dinner consisted of steaks (marinated in Stubbs Beef Marinade.. sooo good) and brussels sprouts. For dessert, I made a raspberry angel food cake.


The recipe, as is, makes 48 mini-muffins. This is quite a few for just two people; adjust the recipe accordingly. Here's the recipe as I did it.. I apologize to the creator because I am not vegan, so it follows that my version won't be either.

Mushroom Potato Mini Muffins :
5 cups potatoes - about 6 medium potatoes, mashed
2 cups chopped mushrooms - I just used one of the packs of portabello mushrooms from Target
4 tbsp butter
1/2 onion, chopped
3/4 cup flour
4 eggs
4 tsp baking powder
salt
pepper
garlic powder

Okay. Obviously, you're first going to have to boil and mash the potatoes. Add 2 tbsp butter to the potatoes. Put into a large bowl.
Saute mushrooms and onions in 2 tbsp butter. Let them cook down a bit. (At this point, I would season the mushrooms and onions with salt and perhaps Chachere's. I would also add minced garlic to the saute mix - it's much better than adding garlic powder at the end.)
Add the mushrooms and onion mix as well as the rest of the ingredients to the mashed potatoes. Mix well.
Spoon the mixture into a greased mini muffin pan. They won't rise, so you don't need to follow the whole 2/3 of the cup full rule. Keep in mind that how they look at this point is how they'll look baked, except a bit more golden.
Bake for 40 minutes or until golden

Hubby and I both enjoyed these. We love potatoes, and we love mushrooms; it's the perfect marriage. They could have used a bit more seasoning, as I mentioned above; the stark potato flavor dominated; perhaps my potato-mushroom ratio was off. Hubby suggested adding bacon, as he is, well, himself. I can see that working. As stated at the original recipe, you could try basically any veggie in these.

Side note: these could also be tasty dipped in a light sauce, perhaps something sour cream based. Hubby dipped some of his in ranch, but he'll dip anything he can in ranch. They're good by themselves and easy to make; if we ever throw a party, these will probably be in circulation.

P.S. Amanda liked them, too! I always appreciate her seal of approval.



We'll skip over the steak and brussels sprouts (which you've heard plenty about) and go straight to dessert. I used a recipe from a Taste of Home cookbook my momma gave me recently. My grandmother has given her a few of their cookbooks over the years, and I've always lusted after them. Finally, I have my own!


So, I didn't have a tube pan and used a bundt pan instead. That, along with the raspberries, made the cake not entirely pretty when it came out of the pan. {sigh} Oh well.

Raspberry Angel Food Cake:
1-1/2 cups egg whites (10-12 eggs)
1 cup flour
1-1/2 cups sugar, plus 2 tbsps
1-1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1-1/2 tsp almond extract
1/4 tsp salt
the recipe calls for 2 cups raspberries. I would advise NO raspberries. I'll explain later.

After separating the egg whites, let them sit at room temp for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, thoroughly combine the cup of flour and 2 tbsps of sugar. The recipe says to sift; I say, if you mix well enough, you don't need to. Just do a damn fine job.
In a LARGE bowl, beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar, extracts, and salt. Beat on medium speed until soft peaks form. Next, add the remaining 3/4 cup sugar in 2 tbsp increments. Beat on high until stiff peaks form and the sugar is dissolved. If stiff peaks have formed, you should be fine. This will take a while, but it is well worth it. Next, fold the flour mixture in a fourth at a time. This will be difficult if your bowl isn't sufficiently large. Mine was not.
*If you want to add the raspberries, fold them in at this point.
Gently spoon the mixture into an "ungreased 10-in tube pan." I put that in quote marks because I disagree with a part of that. Lightly grease the pan. Cut through the batter with a knife.
Bake at 375F on the lowest rack in the oven for 30-35 minutes. If your oven is like mine, I would start checking the cake after 20-25 minutes. The cake is done if it springs back when touched and the cracks look dry.
Invert the cake, using a bottom or funnel or something. Let it cool completely, then run a knife around the edges to release. Invert onto serving dish.

I wish I had not baked the raspberries in the cake; instead, I should have made a light sauce. As the raspberries cook, they release liquid which kind of screws with the surrounding cake. Soggy areas occurred. It didn't taste wrong, but the sogginess was unappealing. So no more fruit in angel food cakes.

P.S. I think angel food cakes are my favorite.

Ras-el-hanout and Cottage-fried potatoes

I am back, still with a bajillion things I want to try. Two new foods tonight, though one won't be posted right now. But anyhoo... I at some point and for some unknown reason decided to cook chicken and turned to TasteSpotting for inspiration. I came across this man's recipe for (previously unheard of) ras-el-hanout. It sounded like a tasty spice combination and I've never tried anything Moroccan before. I too chose to rub the ras-el-hanout on chicken thighs, which I have never cooked with before.. Come to think of it, I'm not sure I'd had a chicken thigh before tonight; I'm a breast girl. At the grocery store and driving home, I had all sorts of ambitious plans, but after prepping tea eggs (more on these later) and the chicken, I decided to go with an old favorite from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook we got for the wedding - cottage-fried potatoes. They are simple and easy, but I find potatoes don't need a lot of pizazz to taste delicious.

Cottage-Fried Potatoes:
3 medium potatoes, thinly sliced. (peeled or unpeeled... I leave them with the peel)
2-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion
3 tbsp butter

Melt the butter in a large skillet; add garlic and heat for 15 seconds. Layer the potatoes and onions in the pan, add salt and pepper every few layers.


Pretty layers, right? I usually cut the onion into thin rings, but for some reason did not this time. It doesn't matter. Cook, covered, over medium heat, STIRRING OCCASIONALLY. Not only do you not want the bottom to burn, but you also want to make sure all potatoes have a wee bit of butter and that they cook evenly. After 8 minutes of covered cooking, uncover and cook for 15 minutes or until all of the potatoes look thoroughly cooked. Some of the potato slices will crumble. That's alright; it adds variety. And extra deliciousness.


Ready for the chicken? I bet you are...

Ras-el-hanout
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon cayenne (I would advise using less - like 1/4 tsp)
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

4 chicken thighs or whatever else you want to spread the mix on.

Combine all the spices in a bowl. You can keep the skin on the chicken or remove it. I removed the skin from 2 thighs and left skin on the other two. Hubby ate the skin; I did not. Rub the mix onto your meat; I probably rubbed in a bit too much. Bake at 350F for 30-45 minutes. Tada! It's super easy.


The chicken received mixed reactions. Hubby loved it; I thought the cayenne dominated the flavor and prevented me from tasting anything. I feel like some activating ingredient is missing that would really bring out all of the flavors that went into the rub. I'm not sure what could do that though. Sad. I'll probably make this again, tweaking the recipe.

Tea eggs coming soon!

Baby, It's Cold Outside; Eat Stew!

After discovering it was -9 degrees this morning (not counting the windchill), I decided today would be a stew day. What else can one eat when it is so deliriously cold outside? Lucky for me, I had picked up some stew meat at the grocery store a couple days ago. Stew is one of my absolute favorite cold weather foods; it's heartier than most soups and I love potatoes. I do. I really, really do. The base is slightly tomatoey but not enough to be the focus; it complements the simplicity of the beef and potatoes and adds a slight zing. Delicious. So without further ado......

Mama Sarah's Mama's Delicious Beef Stew
2 lbs lean stew meat (I used 1 1/2 because 1) it's expensive and 2) there's just the two of us)
flour, salt, and pepper
1 onion, chopped roughly
1 glove garlic, diced
1 tsp worchestershire sauce
2-4 bay leaves (Mom uses 2, I used 4 because I enjoy putting leaves in my food.)
Salt, Pepper, and Chachere's/Season-all to taste
1 tsp sugar
1/4 cup ketchup (don't gross out, it works!)
Potatoes
Carrots (if you like mushy, gross cooked carrots)

Mix flour, salt, and pepper. Roll the meat bits, covering them in flour.
Brown the meat, onion, and garlic in a little bit of olive oil.
Once the meat is browned, add water. I add a couple cups, but it depends on how thick or thin you want the "broth" to be.
Add worchestershire sauce, bay leaves, sugar, and ketchup. Season to taste/smell. Mom had a friend who always said "season to smell" because that's going to tell you off the bat how you're doing. He's right, to a certain degree. At this point, I didn't taste it. Once you add the veggies, you'll have to season a bit more anyway.
Let the stew cook on medium heat for about 30-45 minutes so the meat will be tender. Add the chopped potatoes and carrots. Cook until the potatoes are cooked and slightly mushy: the few that crumble apart will thicken the broth.
Now it's time to season to taste. I ended up having to add a lot more salt, some more ketchup, and a dash more worchestershire.
***Make sure you stir frequently so your meat doesn't stick to the bottom... not like that happened to me or anything ..... thankfully, I like crunchy meat bits....)

Enjoy!

Shepherd's Pie

Mmmm delicious shepherd's pie. I remember eating - and loving - this when I was really little, but then my family never ate it again until the night before I left for college. A month or so ago, I decided I would try my hand at making it. I looked at a bunch of recipes online, then came up with my own.

Ingredients
3 cups mashed potatoes (make sure they are flavorful, as if you would serve them alone. I actually use a bit more milk and butter than normal to make them extra creamy)
1 pound ground beef
1 onion, chopped
4ish garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 sprigs of rosemary, chopped (optional)
1-2 tsp sage (I used ground because I didn't have fresh)
Salt, Pepper, and Chachere's/Seasoned Salt to taste
1/2 cup beef broth
1 tbsp flour
1 can sweet peas (use fresh if you want, I just don't have any)
1/4 - 3/4 cup grated cheese (I used 1/4 cup sharp cheddar because it was ALL that I had)
You can also add carrots if you want, but make sure they're cooked and soft before you add them..

Prepare the mashed potatoes. I used about 4 big potatoes and had a bit too much after I mashed them and all, but who am I to say no to extra potatoes?

Brown the ground beef. Add the onions and garlic, until the onions are soft. Add the rosemary and sage. Salt, pepper, and add Chachere's to taste. If you want to use carrots, you can add them at this point. As Alice Water advises, taste at every step. No portion of the dish should not be seasoned to taste good on its own. Let the seasoned meat mixture cook for a minute or two. While it simmers, mix the tbsp of flour into the 1/2 cup of broth to create a gravy of sorts. Add this to the meat mixture, and let it simmer for another minute or two. Make sure this is tasty before spooning it into a baking dish.


Make sure the meat is evenly distributed across the dish.


Drain most of the liquid out of the peas before adding them; if you don't, your meat will be too runny.


Sprinkle the cheese on top..Like I said, I only had a 1/4 cup of cheddar, but you could try many different types of cheese. I advise adding more than this - Hubby loves cheese - but then not all people love cheese like we do.


Now, spoon the mashed potatoes on top. You might not be able to easily spread them; don't worry if some cheese or peas get mixed up with the potatoes. Make peaks on the top - they'll brown and be delicious. Bake on 350F for about 25 minutes, or until warm and some peaks have become a nice golden shade.


I could have let it bake a little longer, but we were both hungry and the green beans were finished. As everything is already cooked, there's no worry of things not... well ... being cooked. It's just a matter of warming it all up together and getting a nice top layer to the potatoes.


And this is the final result; it might not be pretty, but it's pretty damn delicious.


A gratuitous photo of the green beans. I boiled them with Chachere's and 3 strips of bacon for about 25 minutes. YUM.

Latkes

I apologize now for going a little crazy on the pictures... Tonight was one of those nights that I had a planned dinner, but upon arriving home was so hungry I couldn't bring myself to start the lengthy process of making shepherd's pie.. first you have to make mashed potatoes, then you have to bake it.. So basically, Hubby and I sat around for awhile groaning how hungry we were until he said he was going to make some eggs. (Hubby loves eggs, perhaps more than he loves me) IDEA! Mom got him a Japanese omelet pan, so I eagerly suggested/demanded omelets, while saying I'd make latkes. Again, I'd been running across a bunch of recipes for latkes, so I decided to try my hand at them. Voila: our meal! I loosely followed this recipe for the latkes..If you want to know what Hubby did for the eggs, well you'll have to ask him. Forgive me the ketchup; I'm lactose-intolerant and sour cream makes me unhappy.



Bobby's beautiful omelet a-baking.


Mmm omelet slices!


So, as previously established, my grater is tiny and I need a larger one. My shredded potatoes were tiny, and I think that caused them to hold moisture in. If I cook these again, I will definitely have to have larger shreds.


I used about half the recommended onion amounts - Hubby declared the green onions should have been left out entirely. I added a couple teaspoons of minced garlic, which wasn't enough at all. The garlic was undetectable. Also, I ended up adding a third egg, trying to get the potatoes to stick together better..


All mixed up before the additional egg.


Frying away. Hubby kind of took over this part of the cooking... flipping them and such. He also decided to experiment with the gouda left over from last night.. He placed a slice atop a cooked latke, and also rolled potatoes around a square of gouda, then fried it. He says it was "good".


Here are the finished latkes.


I felt they were a little bland. When I decided to make them, I was craving my mom's potato pancakes, but again didn't want to go through the process of making mashed potatoes first... To be worthwhile, these need a lot more salt and garlic. Hell, I might even add some Tony Chachere's seasoning (the staple of every Cajun kitchen).


And finally, here is my seahorse shaped Latke. He came from the first batch. Isn't he cute? He tasted like fried potato goodness too!


One last note: I've been eating the challah with honey drizzled over it. Delicious!