Delmonico Potatoes

Saw America's Test Kitchen on the weekend and had potatoes planned for tonight, so decided to internet search it. Love it how all the things that popped up had mixed spellings and varying recipes. The one claiming to be the real recipe from the NY restaurant was just potatoes, white sauce and cheese. I mixed mine up a bit.

Delmonico Potatoes


serves 6 sides

8-9 medium potatoes, cubed
4 Tbsp butter
6 Tbsp flour
3 cups milk
1/4 cup crispy onion pieces
2 Tbsp grated Parmesan
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 F and grease an 8x8" baking dish.
In a large, microwavable bowl, mix the potatoes with a pinch of salt and cover.
Microwave 9 minutes, gently stirring a couple times.
In a saucepan, melt butter until slightly brown.
Whisk in the flour and some salt and pepper and cook about 1-2 minutes.
Slowly stir in the milk, whisking all the lumps out.
Cook until thick.
Put the mostly cooked potatoes in the pan and cover with the white sauce.
Sprinkle the top with the onion pieces and Parmesan.
Bake about 25 minutes or until potatoes are fully cooked and top is brown.

Enjoy!

Twice-Baked Potatoes

So we had ribs and baked potatoes yesterday and mom loves to make leftovers, so we had some potatoes to eat today. Rather than just heat them up and be boring, go for broke, eh? Mom kept calling for potato skins, but what she really meant was twice baked potatoes so I went for a combo.


Twice-Baked Potatoes


makes 8

4 same-size baking potatoes, baked and cooled
1 cup grated cheese
1/4 cup sour cream
2 Tbsp milk
pinch garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
oil

Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Cut the potatoes two, so they're long and flat.
Scoop out the middles, trying to leave a little attached to the skin, about 1/8-1/4inch.
Oil both sides of the skins and bake about 5 minutes each side.
Meanwhile, heat up the insides and the milk in the microwave for a couple minutes.
Mash or smash how you want.
Stir in half the cheese, sour cream, and garlic powder.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Spoon filling into the skins and top with rest of the cheese.
Bake about 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and filling is hot.
Serve.

Enjoy!

Spicy Sweet Potato Fries

Had some sweet potatoes kicking around and didn't want to go the more obvious ways of pie or mash, and therefore to the internet! Lol.

There were actually quite a lot of recipes out there, and the few I clicked on were all different! The ones involving taco seasoning were obvious cross outs, since that isn't a staple in our house and I wasn't feeling tex-mex today, but the rest ended up being blended into something quite tasty...except for experimenting with sugar since they kinda went black instead of brown.


Spicy Sweet Potato Fries


serves 3

2 medium-ish sweet potatoes (about 1 1/2 pounds)
2 Tbsp oil. any kind
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sweet paprika
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne (more if you want them hotter)
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground fenugreek

Preheat the oven to 450 F and line two baking sheets with parchment.
Peel the sweet potatoes until you get past any opaque white flesh and then cut into fries.
In a large bag, combine the potatoes, oil and spices and flip around to coat well.
Spread out the fries on the baking sheets in a single layer.
Bake about 10 minutes on the first side and flip.
After another 7 minutes, stir them up again.
Bake 5 more minutes, or until desired golden brownness.
Serve plain or with a creamy dipping sauce; they don't go too well with ketchup since it's so sweet.

Yummy fries...as a side to oven-fried chicken thighs. A nice and spicy different way to look at the sweet potato.

Enjoy!

BBQ Rubbed Steak and Home Fries

Another simple supper today, after another lazy day. The constant defrost cycle of the freezer makes things get freezer burn faster, so it was the sirloin steak's time to be eaten. It was still fine to eat plain with the normal salt and pepper fried in a butter-oil mix, but mom and I were craving something different.

BBQ Rubbed Steak


makes enough rub for 3lbs of steak

Rub:
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp paprika
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp mustard powder
1/8 tsp ground cayenne

Rub the steaks and let sit for at least half an hour in the fridge, up to twelve hours.
If you want to let it sit overnight, you should add a couple Tbsp of oil and some water so they don't get too salty.

Fry:
2 Tbsp oil
2 Tbsp butter

Take steaks out of fridge just before you want to cook.
Heat a large enough pan over medium-high and melt the butter into the oil.
Depending on the thickness, cook them 3-5 minutes a side for medium-rare.

Home Fries


serves 3

6-7 medium potatoes, any kind, peeled or scrubbed clean and chopped uniformly
1 medium onion, chopped
2 Tbsp oil
salt and pepper to taste

Put chopped potatoes in a microwavable bowl.
Sprinkle with a little salt and stir.
Cover with saran wrap and microwave 6-8 minutes. (gives them a head start on softening).
Heat oil in a extra large frying pan and give the onion a couple minutes head start.
Add the potatoes to the pan, gently stir to coat with oil, especially if the potatoes are really soft.
Let sit and brown on the first side, about 7 minutes.
Flip and brown the second side, about 5 minutes, or to desired doneness.

If the potatoes can't be in a single layer on the pan bottom, stir gently while browning to avoid breaking them.

These are good plain or with sour cream.

A meat and potatoes meal sure to please anyone whose adventurous enough to try.

Enjoy!