Ah, potatoes;
Do we ever get tired of them? Counting all the ways they’re enjoyed for all three daily meals, I’d say not.
Maybe you’re stuck in a rut for variety, though, and need a little push? I got yer back on this. Here’s a delicious trio to try, one over the top, one pretty healthy, and one in between.
Twice Baked
4 large Russet Potatoes
1 Cup heavy Cream
1/2 Cup Sour Cream
1 Cup Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese
4 ounces Butter
4 strips thick cut Bacon
4 Green Onions
Sea Salt & fresh ground Pepper
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Dash of Tabasco
Preheat oven to 325° F
Rinse your spuds and pat dry with a clean towel.
Coat whole spuds with olive oil by hand, place in a glass baking dish. Season the skins evenly with salt and pepper.
Slide the spuds into the oven and bake for about an hour, until the spuds are fork tender.
Fry bacon, dry on paper towels and chop to a 1/4″ dice.
Rinse, strip roots and any nasty stuff from green onions, and chop those to a 1/4″ dice.
Grate cheddar cheese.
When the spuds are ready, pull them out of the oven and let them cool just long enough to handle with a clean towel, (in other words, still quite hot).
Reduce oven heat to 250° F.
Cut the spuds into lengthwise halves, then carefully scoop the guts into a mixing bowl, keeping the skins intact.
Add cream, sour cream, half the cheese, bacon, onions and butter to spuds and blend thoroughly. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Refill the skins with the spud mixture, top with the remaining cheese and slide those guys back into the oven; bake for another 15 to 20 minutes.
Serve hot. Great by themselves, or with a nice salad. Pair with a nice Fumè or Dry Reisling.
Roasted
8 – 10 small potatoes, (try a red, white and blue variety)
1\2 Sweet Onion
1-2 cloves Garlic
1 small sweet Pepper, (red, yellow or orange as you please)
2″ sprig Rosemary
1/2 teaspoon Thyme
Sea Salt and fresh cracked Pepper
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Preheat oven to 325° F.
Rinse and field strip onion, garlic and pepper, (in case you’re new here, ‘field strip’ means remove outer skin, cores, seeds and membranes, as needed.)
Rough chop onion and pepper into about 1″ pieces, quarter the garlic cloves.
Rinse, pat dry, and halve potatoes.
Toss spuds and veggies into a large mixing bowl. Add a couple tablespoons of EVOO, ( Extra Virgin Olive Oil), and toss to incorporate. Strip leaves from rosemary and add to bowl with thyme, salt and pepper. Toss to blend.
Throw everybody into a glass baking dish, and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until potatoes are fork tender.
These are a great side for broiled fish, roasted game or bird.
Latkes, (AKA, best potato pancakes ever)
5 medium Russet Potatoes
2 medium Sweet Onions
3 medium Eggs
1/4 to 3/4 Cup Flour
1 teaspoon Sea Salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground Black Pepper
1/2 to 3/4 Cup Oil
For the flour, unbleached all purpose is fine, but try whole wheat pastry as well, it’s very nice indeed.
For the oil, stick to Sunflower, Canola, or Corn; they won’t add any heavy flavor notes to the latkes. And speaking of oil, oil temperature is critical to good results when frying; oil maintained at 350° F will ensure nice light, crispy results that don’t taste and feel soggy. Use a candy thermometer to track oil temperature, and always add foods to be fried sparingly to allow the temperature to stay where it needs to be.
Peel your spuds and toss them into a large mixing bowl filled with enough ice water to completely submerge them.
Skin and trim ends from onions. Toss them into the ice water with the spuds.
Add oil to a frying pan over medium high heat; you’ll want about 1/4″ of oil or so. Have your thermometer handy for gauging oil temp.
Drain your spuds and onions and pat dry with a clean paper towel.
Grate the potatoes and onions with the finer side of a hand grater, or use a food processor or blender if you prefer. The hand method gives the best results for my mind. You want a nice, consistent size and blend of spuds and onions.
Check your oil and adjust heat so you’re sitting right at 350° F.
Place a platter lined with paper towels in your oven and preheat to Warm.
Toss the spud and onion blend into a colander lined with paper towels and gently squash the mix to remove excess water.
Dry off that large mixing bowl and toss your spud/onion blend in.
Lightly beat the eggs by hand and add them to the spuds and onions, then add the salt and pepper.
Add flour 1/4 cup at a time until the mixture holds together on its own, like a chunky pancake batter.
Fill a large soup spoon with a heaping hunk ‘o batter. Slip that puppy into the hot oil and gently squash it down into a cake. Fry one side for approximately 3-5 minutes, until golden brown, then and fry the other side for another 2 to 3 minutes. Look for that nice golden brown on both sides.
Now slide those little golden beauties onto the paper towel covered platter in the oven and keep fryin’. Add a little more oil if needed and watch that oil temp.
Serve nice and hot with the applesauce and a little dish of sour cream, crèma or crème fraîche. Latkes deserve to be a meal and they won’t disappoint; pair with a local sparkler or hard cider.
UrbanMonique 