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!

Cheeseburger Crescent Pizza

A night when I would have loved nothing more than to order in pizza rather than cook, but sadly there are absolutely no good pizza joints in town and it wasn't exactly in the budget either. Wasn't going to give up on pizza, but wasn't feeling making dough. Luckily we had some Pillsbury crescent roll dough in the fridge and some leftovers, so I got to do a minimal amount of work and still have some sort of pizza.

Cheeseburger Crescent Pizza


makes 4 pieces, serves 2 as a main or 4 with a side

1 tube Pillsbury crescents
1 1/2 cups fried ground beef crumbs
1 cup grated cheese ( I used a blend of cheddar and mozzarella since there was some leftover cheddar)
1/2 cup cooked mushroom pieces (about 100g raw)
1 med onion, chopped and par-cooked
3 Tbsp tomato paste
pinch each of garlic powder, oregano, salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 F and lightly grease a baking sheet.
Unroll dough on sheet and press together seams.
Mix spices and tomato paste together and spread over the crust.
Sprinkle with half the cheese.
Top with the burger, mushrooms and onion.
Add rest of cheese.
Bake about 12 minutes or until toppings warm and crust brown and crispy.

A new and interesting way to get rid of crescents when not craving their sickly sweet plain flakiness.

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!

Cheddar Biscuits

Been craving them for awhile now and they were such a perfect side to the Chicken Stew. This recipe came from logging America's Test Kitchen viewing hours. Their biscuit recipe is one of the best my mom and I have come across in our cooking journeys. To make it fun, I tossed in some cheddar cheese.

Cheddar Biscuits


makes 12

2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted (seriously, melted, not softened!!!!)
1 cup milk + 1 Tbsp vinegar (or 1 cup buttermilk if you stock that)
3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese (your favourite, as long as it has flavour to stand up to being melted into the dough)

Preheat the oven to 450 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (seriously helps with melted cheese clean up!)
Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
In a smaller bowl, melt the butter in the microwave.
In a measuring cup, mix the milk and vinegar together and let stand a minute to start the reaction.
Pour the milk mix into the butter and stir. You should end up with little butter grains floating in the milk. Takes the need for a pastry cutter and careful stirring right out of the biscuit process.
Add the wet to the dry and stir until partially combined.
Add in the cheese and finish stirring everything together.
Spoon into 12 even lumps on the baking sheet.
Bake for 12-16 minutes, flipping them over at 7-8 minutes to get even browning.
Serve hot.

Yummy!

Beef Fried Rice

More Chinese, but it's one of the simplest things to do to stretch lean supplies. We had leftover roast beef for this one, but fresh beef works and is sometimes better. Any cut too, as long as you marinate the tougher ones and don't over cook them.


Beef Fried Rice


makes 5 servings

1lb beef, cut into small, thin strips
1 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 large carrot, chopped into half moons
2 cups dry rice, cooked as you like, fresh or day old
4 green onions, chopped
1 egg
3 Tbsp oil
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cayenne
1 Tbsp sesame oil
salt and pepper to taste

In a large skillet/wok heat 1 tsp of the oil.
Scramble the egg in a small bowl, season with a little salt and pepper, and fry flat in the pan with little stirring.
Remove and cut the egg into 1/2 x 1/8 inch strips.
Heat 2 tsp of oil in the pan and fry the beef pieces about a minute a side. Remove from pan.
Heat another 2 tsp of oil in the pan and fry the carrot and mushrooms for about 4 minutes, then remove.
Put the rest of the plain oil in the pan and add the rice.
Fry until nice and crispy, about 8-10 minutes depending on how damp it is.
Add 1 1/2 Tbsp of the soy sauce and stir to coat the rice evenly.
Mix the spices with the rest of the soy sauce in a small bowl.
Add everything back to the pan and pour the soy sauce mix over it, stirring well to combine with the rice.
Top with the sesame oil and green onions.
Serve hot.

Yummy!

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!

Baked Macaroni and Cheese I

Yesterday for supper, I was feeling like something uncomplicated and one of the standard "don't think about it" meals is mac'n'cheese. But I didn't know when mom was going to be back from work, so it got some baking time.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese I


serves 4 or 5

400g elbow pasta
250g old cheddar cheese, grated
100g ricotta, extra firm
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour
1/4 tsp mustard powder
pinch of garlic
2 cups of milk (or more, for a creamier sauce)
salt and pepper to taste
1 large tomato, seeded and cut into slices

In a large pot, cook pasta according to directions and drain.
Preheat oven to 350 F and oil a 9" x 13" baking dish.
In empty pot, melt butter and then sprinkle in flour and spices. Whisk and cook about 1 minute.
Slowly add milk, making sure to whisk out the lumps.
Bring to a boil and add the cheeses.
Stir macaroni back into the sauce and check seasoning.
Pour into baking dish and put tomato slices on top.
Bake at least 20 minutes or up to an hour.

Cheesy, creamy and with a hint of freshness from the tomato on top. Yummy!

Enjoy!

"Leftover Rice" Balls

What do you do with leftover rice? Well. whatever you want, but I usually get around to making rice balls with it! Now, I don't really have a recipe, but I have a minor guideline for doing it. This time around, since I was using the leftover rice from the Turmeric "Chicken" recipe, I didn't add my usual spices. Of course, you could make rice to just make these, but it's up to you.

"Leftover Rice" Balls


makes 14 medium balls, depending on how big you want them and how much dough you make

leftover cooked rice
1 egg for every two cups of rice, more or less depending on how sticky or dry your rice is
salt and pepper to taste
spice for every two cups of rice: (pick and choose to your taste/mood)
   -1/2 tsp garlic powder
   -1 tsp oregano
   -1/2 tsp paprika
   -pinch of cayenne powder
   -1 tsp chili powder blend
1/3 to 1/2 cup of flour, depending on how dry it is already, again for every two cups of rices
oil for frying

Put rice in a big bowl (need the room for stirring).
Mix in the egg(s) with a fork.
Sprinkle spices evenly over the rice and then mix again.
Switch to a spoon and stir in the flour.

If you want to be exact, you can heat the oil in a medium to large frying pan (depending on recipe size and ultimate ball size) while making the balls and putting them on a plate. I just make them into the cold oil and then let them all cook evenly. Don't put in the pan while heating the oil since it leads to uneven cooking times and sometimes burning.

With constantly wet hands, take a heaping teaspoon to max a heaping tablespoon of rice and roll into balls. You can get 3 to 4 balls done before your hands get too sticky depending on end dough consistency.

Today I was feeling more authentic, even though the rice was Indian, and went with a small cube of mozzarella in each ball. You take the cheese, put it in a flat bit of rice and fold the ball around it.

Put completed balls in the pan (whatever you chose to do), and put a lid on to help steam through the middle, or leave uncovered over a lower heat so they cook and don't burn. Takes about 5-10 minutes a side depending on how big they are and how brown you want at a medium-high heat.

 Yummy little golden balls with the melted mozza peeking out of the middle.

Enjoy!