Every September, we plan a day at the fair. Abe takes the afternoon off from work, and we head out to see the animal barns, ride rides, and eat lots of yummy fair food. Ah, fair food. You can have the animal barns and rides, and I'd still show up for onion rings, elephant ears, and cotton candy. And french fries. And those lemonade shake-ups that are so grossly overpriced. There is a point, though, where you have to say THAT'S ENOUGH with the fair food, and this year, I hit that point early. I began to feel a bit eck from all of the sugar and grease, and I knew I needed something that more closely resembled actual food. I headed over to the Greek food vendor for a roasted chicken gyro, which was oh-so-delicious and made me feel much better. But the wonder of wonders that emerged from that foot cart was Greek Potatoes. They were "broasted," and topped with a butter/garlic/oregano sauce that completely made my year. Of course, even as I was stuffing my face with these tasty spuds, I was plotting to re-create them at home.
One thing I did want to change, though, was the deep-fried nature of these potatoes. I thought they'd be even tastier roasted--less greasy, more potatoey--and I was right. Tossed with all of the other Greeky ingredients, these roasted up to be tender, yummy gems. An added bonus: they were so easy...and infinitely cheaper than buying them at the fair!
Greeky Greek Potatoes
5 small/medium potatoes (I used russets, but yukon golds would be KILLER)
1 1/2 Tbsp. lemon juice
3 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp.melted butter
1 Tbsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. garlic powder
2 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
Kosher salt
Ground pepper
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Scrub potatoes and cut into 1-inch pieces. Combine lemon juice, olive oil, butter, oregano, garlic powder, and garlic, and pour over potatoes. Toss to make sure potatoes are coated, then season with salt and pepper as desired. Roast for 35-40 minutes, or until potatoes are tender and browned, stirring occasionally to make sure the potatoes are covered in the flavorful oil mixture!
Showing posts with label Potatoes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Potatoes. Show all posts
Monday, November 3, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
Scalloped Potatoes
My sister-in-law called me one day, asking for my scalloped potato recipe.
"I don't really have one," I replied.
"What? But you make them all the time!" she said.
"Yes, but hardly ever with a recipe, and never the same way twice. I've just never hit upon the recipe that I like best, so I just continue the hunt every time I make them."
"Oh. Well. Never mind, then, I guess."
As I'm sure you've noticed if you've flipped through this blog at all, I have a love affair with potatoes. I will eat them in a house, and I will eat them with a mouse, I will eat them here or there, yes, I will eat them anywhere. And over the years, I've been fortunate enough to find or concoct recipes for potatoes that I've really loved in every category of preparation.
Except scalloped.
I first had scalloped potatoes as a child, when my family was dining with some friends. They were a potato lover's dream: wonderful flavor, simple, tender... I longed for those potatoes in my adult years, and thinking back to that first dish and how it must have been prepared, I reckon it involved potatoes, milk, flour, butter, and salt and pepper, and that's it. I must have tried every possible combination of those ingredients, but I never made scalloped potatoes that comforted me as much as those first scalloped potatoes. In fact, my sauce either turned out too thick and gloppy, or a more simple pour-the-milk-over preparation favored by many old-fashioned cookbooks yielded a curdled, tasteless mess.
But there's this marvelous magazine called Cooks Illustrated. The idea behind this particular publication is that they test and dissect recipes until they are perfect and foolproof, and they're very often successful. So when I had reached an impasse in my scalloped potato recipe search, I remembered them. They have one of those websites that you have to pay a monthly fee to use, and I wasn't quite desperate enough to pay for the recipe--yet. Frequently, bloggers and other miscellaneous recipe-posters will post notable Cooks Illustrated recipes on other sites, so I went a-Googlin' in hopes of finding it for free, and lo and behold, up popped this recipe.
So I tried it, and I loved it. It is now my scalloped potato recipe, so if Beth ever calls again looking for one, I will give this to her. Actually, come to think about it, I think I already gave it to her, knowing that she'd love it as much as we do. It's a little more detailed of an ingredient list than the flour-butter-milk-salt and pepper recipes I'd been using, but it still wasn't difficult, I usually have everything on the list on hand, and it actually comes together much more quickly than standard scalloped potato recipes, and with infinitely better flavor and texture. If you love potatoes like I do, or even just kind of like them, give this one a try!
Cooks Illustrated Scalloped Potatoes with Thyme and Bay
2 Tbsp. butter
1 med. onion, minced
2 med. garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves, minced (or 1 tsp. dried thyme--that's what I use)
1 1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1 1/2 lbs. (about 5 medium) russet potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/8 in. thick (*note: I don't peel, I just scrub. I like the skins and the flavor and nutrients they add. And to slice, I just run the spuds through the food processor with the slicing blade)
1 c. chicken broth
1 c. heavy cream (or, if you're like me, you use 2% milk, because that's what you have)
2 bay leaves
4 oz. cheddar cheese, shredded (about 1 cup loosely-packed shredded cheese)
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
Melt the butter, and sauté the onion over medium heat until soft and translucent. Add the garlic, thyme, and salt and pepper and cook for about 30 seconds or so. Add the potatoes, broth, cream (or milk), and bay leaves, and bring to a simmer. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until the potatoes are nearly tender, about 10 minutes. Remove bay leaves and discard.
Transfer the mixture to a 8x8 baking dish (or whatever casserole dish you'd like). Sprinkle the top with the cheese and bake in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbling and the top is golden brown. Cool for about 10 minutes before serving (or not, if you're impatient like me).
NOW, if you want to turn this into a main dish casserole, prepare as directed, except that, before you dump the potato mixture into the baking dish, add some cubed ham or chicken. I'd say about 1 1/2 cups should do it, but it's ultimately up to you. And if you really want to go crazy and make it a one-dish meal, you could add some thawed (but not cooked) frozen peas, too, about 3/4 to 1 cup.
"I don't really have one," I replied.
"What? But you make them all the time!" she said.
"Yes, but hardly ever with a recipe, and never the same way twice. I've just never hit upon the recipe that I like best, so I just continue the hunt every time I make them."
"Oh. Well. Never mind, then, I guess."
As I'm sure you've noticed if you've flipped through this blog at all, I have a love affair with potatoes. I will eat them in a house, and I will eat them with a mouse, I will eat them here or there, yes, I will eat them anywhere. And over the years, I've been fortunate enough to find or concoct recipes for potatoes that I've really loved in every category of preparation.
Except scalloped.
I first had scalloped potatoes as a child, when my family was dining with some friends. They were a potato lover's dream: wonderful flavor, simple, tender... I longed for those potatoes in my adult years, and thinking back to that first dish and how it must have been prepared, I reckon it involved potatoes, milk, flour, butter, and salt and pepper, and that's it. I must have tried every possible combination of those ingredients, but I never made scalloped potatoes that comforted me as much as those first scalloped potatoes. In fact, my sauce either turned out too thick and gloppy, or a more simple pour-the-milk-over preparation favored by many old-fashioned cookbooks yielded a curdled, tasteless mess.
But there's this marvelous magazine called Cooks Illustrated. The idea behind this particular publication is that they test and dissect recipes until they are perfect and foolproof, and they're very often successful. So when I had reached an impasse in my scalloped potato recipe search, I remembered them. They have one of those websites that you have to pay a monthly fee to use, and I wasn't quite desperate enough to pay for the recipe--yet. Frequently, bloggers and other miscellaneous recipe-posters will post notable Cooks Illustrated recipes on other sites, so I went a-Googlin' in hopes of finding it for free, and lo and behold, up popped this recipe.
So I tried it, and I loved it. It is now my scalloped potato recipe, so if Beth ever calls again looking for one, I will give this to her. Actually, come to think about it, I think I already gave it to her, knowing that she'd love it as much as we do. It's a little more detailed of an ingredient list than the flour-butter-milk-salt and pepper recipes I'd been using, but it still wasn't difficult, I usually have everything on the list on hand, and it actually comes together much more quickly than standard scalloped potato recipes, and with infinitely better flavor and texture. If you love potatoes like I do, or even just kind of like them, give this one a try!
Cooks Illustrated Scalloped Potatoes with Thyme and Bay
2 Tbsp. butter
1 med. onion, minced
2 med. garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves, minced (or 1 tsp. dried thyme--that's what I use)
1 1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1 1/2 lbs. (about 5 medium) russet potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/8 in. thick (*note: I don't peel, I just scrub. I like the skins and the flavor and nutrients they add. And to slice, I just run the spuds through the food processor with the slicing blade)
1 c. chicken broth
1 c. heavy cream (or, if you're like me, you use 2% milk, because that's what you have)
2 bay leaves
4 oz. cheddar cheese, shredded (about 1 cup loosely-packed shredded cheese)
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
Melt the butter, and sauté the onion over medium heat until soft and translucent. Add the garlic, thyme, and salt and pepper and cook for about 30 seconds or so. Add the potatoes, broth, cream (or milk), and bay leaves, and bring to a simmer. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until the potatoes are nearly tender, about 10 minutes. Remove bay leaves and discard.
Transfer the mixture to a 8x8 baking dish (or whatever casserole dish you'd like). Sprinkle the top with the cheese and bake in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbling and the top is golden brown. Cool for about 10 minutes before serving (or not, if you're impatient like me).
NOW, if you want to turn this into a main dish casserole, prepare as directed, except that, before you dump the potato mixture into the baking dish, add some cubed ham or chicken. I'd say about 1 1/2 cups should do it, but it's ultimately up to you. And if you really want to go crazy and make it a one-dish meal, you could add some thawed (but not cooked) frozen peas, too, about 3/4 to 1 cup.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Roasted Potatoes with Bacon and Cheese
Thank you, good night. The title pretty much sums up the whole recipe, doesn't it? I'll still elaborate, because I'm me and can't leave well enough alone.
We had a birthday party this weekend for Judah and his cousin. It was strictly nothing-fancy fare (these are kids we're talking about); burgers, hot dogs, corn dish, potatoes, cake, ice cream, and finger jello. My contribution was the potato portion. I toyed with the idea of doing potato wedges, but good grief--we were feeding 12 humans. That's a lot of potato wedges. I had just read through the new Food and Family magazine from Kraft foods, though, and noticed this recipe. It sounded tasty, easy, and (most importantly for our purposes) kid-friendly. I was very pleasantly surprised--and so was everyone else! Here's the recipe as is from the Kraft Kitchens.
Now, here's how I modified its preparation. Enjoy!
Roasted Potatoes with Bacon and Cheese
3 lb. potatoes, well-scrubbed and cut into 1-in cubes (more or less)
1/2 c. ranch dressing
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
6 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss potatoes with ranch dressing. Place potatoes on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper or in a large non-stick roasting pan, and toss 'em in the oven. After about 35 minutes, give 'em a good stir, then toss in the cheddar and bacon, and stir to combine. Return to oven until potatoes are tender and as golden brown as you prefer. (I actually let mine go a bit longer than I meant to, and the bottoms of the potatoes had gotten a bit crunchy and golden, and they were great!) Total cooking time: approximately 45-55 minutes. Feeds a bunch!
We had a birthday party this weekend for Judah and his cousin. It was strictly nothing-fancy fare (these are kids we're talking about); burgers, hot dogs, corn dish, potatoes, cake, ice cream, and finger jello. My contribution was the potato portion. I toyed with the idea of doing potato wedges, but good grief--we were feeding 12 humans. That's a lot of potato wedges. I had just read through the new Food and Family magazine from Kraft foods, though, and noticed this recipe. It sounded tasty, easy, and (most importantly for our purposes) kid-friendly. I was very pleasantly surprised--and so was everyone else! Here's the recipe as is from the Kraft Kitchens.
Now, here's how I modified its preparation. Enjoy!
Roasted Potatoes with Bacon and Cheese
3 lb. potatoes, well-scrubbed and cut into 1-in cubes (more or less)
1/2 c. ranch dressing
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
6 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss potatoes with ranch dressing. Place potatoes on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper or in a large non-stick roasting pan, and toss 'em in the oven. After about 35 minutes, give 'em a good stir, then toss in the cheddar and bacon, and stir to combine. Return to oven until potatoes are tender and as golden brown as you prefer. (I actually let mine go a bit longer than I meant to, and the bottoms of the potatoes had gotten a bit crunchy and golden, and they were great!) Total cooking time: approximately 45-55 minutes. Feeds a bunch!
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Rissole Potaotes
I used to have a subscription to a very useful magazine called Cuisine At Home. There are a lot of cooking magazines out there that I don't have a real use for; they're full of recipes for Tofu-this and Curry-that, which is not how my family rolls. Cuisine At Home is a cooking magazine, but it's typically filled with amped-up classics like fried chicken, pot roast, pizza, and apple pie, and soon-to-be favorites, like chocolate bread pudding, so it's actually a handy magazine to have around--particularly since every recipe is detailed and illustrated. Toward the end of my subscription, I found that the editors included a few too many seafood recipes for my liking, but before that, not an issue passed where I didn't pick up some very useful tips--tips that ranged from How to Make the Perfect Pizza Dough to Deglazing a Pan to Making Simple Syrup.
This recipe accompanied a recipe for Beer-Braised Brisket. While I haven't made the brisket yet, I have made these potatoes several times, and I believe they're Abe's favorite potato. They're a tiny tiny bit hands-on, so I don't make them super often, but when I do, they're always a delicious treat. The resulting potato is crisp on the outside and creamy on the inside, and buttery all the way through. They're perfect alongside any roast meat. Or air, for that matter. They're frankly just perfect.
Don't let the phrase "tiny tiny bit hands-on" turn you off--at least read through the recipe to see that, though these potatoes have a couple distinct steps, they're really quite easy. Plus, you'll get a cooking gold star for being able to parboil, steam, AND fry--all in one dish. (It sounds more complex than it really is!)
Rissole Potatoes
1 1/2 lb. potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks (2 in. or so); OR use small red potatoes, and leave whole.
6 Tbsp. Butter, divided
2 tsp. dried parsley
salt and pepper to taste
Parboil potatoes in a saucepan for 10 minutes; drain.
Melt 4 Tbsp. butter in the pan over low heat. Add potatoes, cover pan with a lid, and cook over low/medium-low heat for 10 minutes. Swirl the pan occasionally to stir, holding the lid in place.
Uncover pan and increase heat to medium-high. Saute potatoes 10 minutes, turning potatoes until golden brown on all sides.
Place remaining butter and parsley in a small, microwave-safe bowl. Melt butter in microwave, and stir to combine with parsley. Pour over potatoes before serving, and add salt and pepper to taste.
adapted from Cuisine At Home, October 2004
This recipe accompanied a recipe for Beer-Braised Brisket. While I haven't made the brisket yet, I have made these potatoes several times, and I believe they're Abe's favorite potato. They're a tiny tiny bit hands-on, so I don't make them super often, but when I do, they're always a delicious treat. The resulting potato is crisp on the outside and creamy on the inside, and buttery all the way through. They're perfect alongside any roast meat. Or air, for that matter. They're frankly just perfect.
Don't let the phrase "tiny tiny bit hands-on" turn you off--at least read through the recipe to see that, though these potatoes have a couple distinct steps, they're really quite easy. Plus, you'll get a cooking gold star for being able to parboil, steam, AND fry--all in one dish. (It sounds more complex than it really is!)
Rissole Potatoes
1 1/2 lb. potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks (2 in. or so); OR use small red potatoes, and leave whole.
6 Tbsp. Butter, divided
2 tsp. dried parsley
salt and pepper to taste
Parboil potatoes in a saucepan for 10 minutes; drain.
Melt 4 Tbsp. butter in the pan over low heat. Add potatoes, cover pan with a lid, and cook over low/medium-low heat for 10 minutes. Swirl the pan occasionally to stir, holding the lid in place.
Uncover pan and increase heat to medium-high. Saute potatoes 10 minutes, turning potatoes until golden brown on all sides.
Place remaining butter and parsley in a small, microwave-safe bowl. Melt butter in microwave, and stir to combine with parsley. Pour over potatoes before serving, and add salt and pepper to taste.
adapted from Cuisine At Home, October 2004
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Jo Jo Potatoes
Some years ago, when I was still school age, my parents used load us up in the car to go spend the evening with their friends, Lucky and Dennis. Lucky had been a college roommate of my mother's, and Dennis had been a college roommate of my dad's. Imagine that. Anyway, Lucky is not generally known for her culinary skill, so dinners down there were pretty basic--we called them "Standard Chicken Dinner." Baked faux-shake 'n bake chicken, stove top stuffing, and green beans was the menu for just about every visit. To this day, I occasionally make Standard Chicken Dinner just for the trip down memory lane.
On rare occasions, though, I remember dining on purchased fried chicken and these phenomenal things called Jo Jo potatoes. As near as I could tell, they were just potato wedges, but they had some sort of wonderful, crumbly seasoning crust on them--I could easily have eaten the whole order myself. Maybe it was just the welcome departure from Standard Chicken Dinner, but I always hoped that those Jo Jo things would end up on the table during our visits. I never knew where they came from, and Lucky and Dennis live about an hour away from my parents, so the Jo Jo shop certainly wasn't convenient to our home. Those delicious potatoes became legendary in my mind, both because of their inherent yumminess and their illusive nature. I could never really have them when I wanted them, so anytime they showed up, it was miraculous.
Years later, in my travels as an adult, I'd catch glimpses of Jo Jo potatoes at random delis and take-out places, even at the occasional gas station. But I suppose that there's not really a standard definition out there of what makes a Jo Jo potato, because all of these potatoes I was encountering were shockingly different--some had a thick, crisp crust on them and were heavily spiced, while others were softer, milder, with more of a crumbly coating. Some were just fried potatoe wedges, plain and simple. None matched up the the wonder that was the Jo Jos of my youth--I suppose life is like that a lot; you can't go home again, and all of that. So I gave up hope and forgot all about them.
Then, a week or two ago, I was looking at a blog called Chocolate and Zucchini. I only visited because the name sounded intriguing, and it turns out that the author is one of those serious French foodies who eats things like quail eggs en papillote with a melange of turnip greens and fennel. (I made that one up, but she eats some really strange stuff.) Many of her posts are too bizarre for me, but here and there, she posts something I can get behind. Her post called "Deluxe Potatoes" caught my eye, mostly because the words "deluxe" and "potatoes" used in the same phrase suggest a dish I will most certainly enjoy. So I checked it out, and darned if the photo she posted of said potatoes didn't closely resemble those Jo Jos I'd enjoyed so much as a kid. They didn't look quite as crumbly, and they called for whole mustard seeds, which don't happen to reside in my spice collection, but just the same, that post rekindled the hope within me that I would someday get to taste these tasty fries (though it almost seems sacrilegious to call them that).
So after a little research and a few modifications to the recipes I found, I present to you the recipe for Jo Jo Potatoes as I served them tonight. They still aren't the real deal, but they're the closest I've tasted thus far. And my kids scarfed them up like they were going out of style, so they're a keeper, in my book, Grail or not.
Jo Jo Potatoes
4-5 medium russet potatoes, scrubbed well, but not peeled
1/2 c. (1 stick) butter or margarine, melted
1/2 c. fine dry bread crumbs
1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp. flour
2 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. celery salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
dash cayenne (optional)
First of all, preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
Then, toss all of the dry ingredients into a gallon-size Ziploc bag and shake to combine. The measurements there for the seasonings are guidelines--feel free to alter them as you wish, or measure them in your palm and skip the measuring spoons altogether. So long as you start with approximate amounts of the bread crumbs, flour, and Parmesan, you can't really go too far wrong.
Then, cut your potatoes into wedges--I generally get about 8 wedges from each potato, but the important thing is not the number, but that they're more or less evenly sized, so they all cook at the same rate.
Dunk your wedges in the melted butter, then shake them, a few at a time, in the Parmesan mixture, and arrange on a greased or parchment-lined cookie sheet. Stand them up with the skin side on the bottom if you can, but if they want to lay on their sides instead, that's fine--just flip them halfway through the cooking time.
If you have any leftover butter, drizzle it over top of the potatoes before you pop them into the preheated oven. Or don't, if all that butter scares you. But then, if butter scares you, you're probably not making this recipe, or any other recipes on this blog, for that matter. Bake for about 35 minutes or until they're tender and browned, then wallow in their scrumptiousness.
On rare occasions, though, I remember dining on purchased fried chicken and these phenomenal things called Jo Jo potatoes. As near as I could tell, they were just potato wedges, but they had some sort of wonderful, crumbly seasoning crust on them--I could easily have eaten the whole order myself. Maybe it was just the welcome departure from Standard Chicken Dinner, but I always hoped that those Jo Jo things would end up on the table during our visits. I never knew where they came from, and Lucky and Dennis live about an hour away from my parents, so the Jo Jo shop certainly wasn't convenient to our home. Those delicious potatoes became legendary in my mind, both because of their inherent yumminess and their illusive nature. I could never really have them when I wanted them, so anytime they showed up, it was miraculous.
Years later, in my travels as an adult, I'd catch glimpses of Jo Jo potatoes at random delis and take-out places, even at the occasional gas station. But I suppose that there's not really a standard definition out there of what makes a Jo Jo potato, because all of these potatoes I was encountering were shockingly different--some had a thick, crisp crust on them and were heavily spiced, while others were softer, milder, with more of a crumbly coating. Some were just fried potatoe wedges, plain and simple. None matched up the the wonder that was the Jo Jos of my youth--I suppose life is like that a lot; you can't go home again, and all of that. So I gave up hope and forgot all about them.
Then, a week or two ago, I was looking at a blog called Chocolate and Zucchini. I only visited because the name sounded intriguing, and it turns out that the author is one of those serious French foodies who eats things like quail eggs en papillote with a melange of turnip greens and fennel. (I made that one up, but she eats some really strange stuff.) Many of her posts are too bizarre for me, but here and there, she posts something I can get behind. Her post called "Deluxe Potatoes" caught my eye, mostly because the words "deluxe" and "potatoes" used in the same phrase suggest a dish I will most certainly enjoy. So I checked it out, and darned if the photo she posted of said potatoes didn't closely resemble those Jo Jos I'd enjoyed so much as a kid. They didn't look quite as crumbly, and they called for whole mustard seeds, which don't happen to reside in my spice collection, but just the same, that post rekindled the hope within me that I would someday get to taste these tasty fries (though it almost seems sacrilegious to call them that).
So after a little research and a few modifications to the recipes I found, I present to you the recipe for Jo Jo Potatoes as I served them tonight. They still aren't the real deal, but they're the closest I've tasted thus far. And my kids scarfed them up like they were going out of style, so they're a keeper, in my book, Grail or not.
Jo Jo Potatoes
4-5 medium russet potatoes, scrubbed well, but not peeled
1/2 c. (1 stick) butter or margarine, melted
1/2 c. fine dry bread crumbs
1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp. flour
2 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. celery salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
dash cayenne (optional)
First of all, preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
Then, toss all of the dry ingredients into a gallon-size Ziploc bag and shake to combine. The measurements there for the seasonings are guidelines--feel free to alter them as you wish, or measure them in your palm and skip the measuring spoons altogether. So long as you start with approximate amounts of the bread crumbs, flour, and Parmesan, you can't really go too far wrong.
Then, cut your potatoes into wedges--I generally get about 8 wedges from each potato, but the important thing is not the number, but that they're more or less evenly sized, so they all cook at the same rate.
Dunk your wedges in the melted butter, then shake them, a few at a time, in the Parmesan mixture, and arrange on a greased or parchment-lined cookie sheet. Stand them up with the skin side on the bottom if you can, but if they want to lay on their sides instead, that's fine--just flip them halfway through the cooking time.
If you have any leftover butter, drizzle it over top of the potatoes before you pop them into the preheated oven. Or don't, if all that butter scares you. But then, if butter scares you, you're probably not making this recipe, or any other recipes on this blog, for that matter. Bake for about 35 minutes or until they're tender and browned, then wallow in their scrumptiousness.
Friday, December 7, 2007
Baked Potato Soup
(Sorry for all of the funky spacing you're about to see. Silly Blogger is having its way with my post.)
BooMama has created a Soupatcular bloggy carnival today so people can showcase their favorite soup recipes. I've given you this recipe already, but it's a good one! So if you haven't tried it yet, get to it! And while you're at it, check out lots of other tasty soup recipes at BooMama's blog.
This soupy story begins post-college. I had procured a job teaching with an educational company called Readak that sends its teachers for a month or two to private schools all over the world to teach kids better study skills. My first assignment was in Orlando, Florida, where a lovely single lady who taught at my first school offered to house me during my stay there. At her house, I ate well--home cooked meals, as you might expect. I had no complaints, except for the fact that, as a good southern girl, she had been taught that vegetables must be cooked until they are grey and mushy. She told me it was the southern way. Hopefully that isn't true. One day, I cooked--and when I told her the fresh green beans shouldn't take any more than about seven minutes or so, she looked at me like I had flipped. Of course, she drank her Sweet Tea so sweet, it was practically syrup, so to say we came from different culinary backgrounds would be an understatement. Moving on...
My second assignment took me to a boarding school just a bit north, in Altamonte Springs. There, I was housed by the school in one of the spartan "hotel" rooms on their campus usually reserved for visiting parents. When I say the room was spartan, I mean it--no phone, no TV, no refrigerator, no cooking device of any kind--so I did all of my eating (ALL OF IT) out. I tried the cafeteria at the school, hoping for a lower-cost meal option, but the school was a Seventh-Day Adventist school, and they served only vegetarian fare. Apparently, the highlight of their menu was their faux sea scallops. Considering I don't even like the real thing, I opted out of that particular delicacy, and all of the other pseudo-meat meals they offered. I had family in Florida at that time, though, and they recommended to me a then-new restaurant called Bennigan's. Yep, that Bennigan's. They told me that I must go there, and that furthermore, I must partake of their Baked Potato Soup. Having no reason not to take their recommendation, I went, and suffice it to say that I loved that soup. Thick, creamy, and served steaming, topped with generous portions of crumbled bacon, cheddar cheese, and sliced green onions, it was a comfort food I eventually came to crave--even when it was November in Florida and still hotter than Dante's Inferno. I think it goes without saying that I made many trips back to Bennigan's for this comforting soup--though, it's so thick and so rich, the name "soup" barely applies.
Fast forward a few years, when I've moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where they drink tea that isn't syrup and green beans that aren't mush. That Bennigan's soup was still a favorite, but since I was now paying rent and utilities and working full-time for a non-profit ministry, I had considerably less disposable income to apply toward meals out. I determined to re-create Bennigan's soup at home, so I set about scouring the internet for a recipe that sounded similar. I found two. The first used mashed potatoes and chicken broth as a base; it looked healthy and relatively easy, and, as a connoisseur of mashed potatoes, I was comfortable with the cooking processes involved. When my parents came to visit shortly thereafter, I decided to try out this fantastic recipe for dinner, wanting to show them just how delicious and life-changing this soup could be. We were all very disappointed. The recipe said it was a copycat recipe, and "just like" the original, even promising that we "wouldn't know the difference!" But we did. I tossed that recipe bitterly, cursing its failed promises of deliciousity.
I still had the other recipe I'd found, but two things held me back from trying it: 1)I was so disappointed at being burned by the first recipe, I just wasn't ready to trust again, and 2) it required that I make a roux, which sounded way too difficult.
Fast forward again, to the beginning of my marriage. I was unemployed at the time, and so had all sorts of time to experiment in the kitchen. Feeling adventuresome, I made another dish that called for a roux, and found it to be very easy--all you do is melt an amount of butter, add an equal amount of flour, whisk until no lumps remain, and cook over low heat for just a minute. What had I been afraid of all those years? It turned out my fears were completely unfounded. Roux were simple. And then an alarm sounded in my head--a ROUX! I knew how to make a ROUX! Maybe, just maybe, it was time to dust off that second Baked Potato Soup recipe and give it a go. So I did. Lawsie. It was good. It was very, very good. It quickly became The Recipe That Everyone Wanted a Copy Of, and I was happy to acquiesce. Over the years, I have tweaked the original recipe, so now, it's even better. It has become a family favorite, and that's the truth. So without further ado, here's a recipe that will change your life.
Baked Potato Soup
6 lg. russet (baking) potatoes
3/4 c. butter
3/4 c. flour
6 c. milk
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp. chicken base (like Better Than Bouillon, available in your soup aisle)
8 oz. sour cream
Garnish with:
Shredded Cheddar cheese
Crumbled bacon
Sliced green onions
Bake potatoes at 400 degrees for 1 hour. When they are cool enough to handle, scoop out the potato and discard the skins. Slightly mash up the potatoes, and set aside.
In a large pot, make a roux with the butter and flour. Gradually add milk, whisking well to avoid lumps, and cook over medium heat just until thickened and bubbly.
Stir in potato, salt, pepper, and chicken base. Cook just until potato is heated through--do not boil.
Add sour cream, and again, just heat through. It won't take long.
Sprinkle individual servings with the cheese, bacon, and green onion. Add a lovely salad, and you've got yourself a humdinger of a meal!
Serves 6.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Shepherd's Pie and Garlic Smashed Potatoes
Ask my mother what my favorite food is. Go ahead, ask her.
I'll wait.
Mashed potatoes, right? Does she know me, or what? I could eat mashed potatoes almost daily. In fact, I could definitely eat potatoes daily (and I'm sure my husband feels that we do, some weeks), whether they be au gratin, fried, roasted, baked . . . but always and especially mashed. Creamy, hearty, filling, soul-satisfying, and loaded with carbs, mashed potatoes have everything I look for in a food.
So when I met this dish called Shepherd's Pie (in St. Croix, USVI, of all places), whose base is ground beef, gravy, and corn and whose top is--wonder of wonders!--a sheet of fluffy mashed potatoes, I was immediately enamored of it and needed it in my life as a permanent fixture. I guess you could say I enjoyed it.
I then did what any beef/corn/mashed potato-obsessed person would do: I went straight home and re-created the recipe. Now, a disclaimer: this is not authentic Shepherd's Pie. So if you're British and your Mum made this dish for you growing up, you'd better get the recipe from her, because this is definitely an American knock-off, and it probably won't cut it for you. Real Shepherd's Pie has lamb; this does not, because I only eat lamb at the occasional passover or when I'm on a missions trip in the Faroe Islands. And most Shepherd's Pie recipes call for a tomato product in the base, but I don't enjoy the tomato/potato combination, so I leave that one alone. So forgive me for straying so far from the original, but whatever you call it, this casserole is scrumptious, low-brow, and most importantly, easy to prepare.
Below, I've posted three recipes: one for the Original Shepherd's Pie (a la St. Croix), one for Skillet Shepherd's Pie, and one for good old Garlic Smashed Potatoes. Enjoy!
Original Shepherd's Pie
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 lg. sweet onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced finely (optional)
1 1/2 c. frozen corn (or peas, or a mixture of both)
1 envelope brown gravy mix (two if you like it really saucy; in that case, double the water, and bump the thyme up to 3/4 tsp.!)
1 c. cold water
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
ground black pepper to taste
4 cups prepared mashed potatoes
Butter
Paprika
Preheat oven to 375.
Brown ground beef. Add onion and garlic and saute over medium-low heat until onion is soft; drain.
Push the beef off to one side of the pan. To the pan, add the brown gravy mix, water, thyme, and pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer for a minute or two, until the gravy thickens.
Spread the beef and gravy evenly in the bottom of a casserole dish. Sprinkle the corn uniformly over top of that, and gently spread the mashed potatoes over top of the corn. Dot the top with small bits of butter and sprinkle with paprika. Bake for 35 minutes or until the top is as golden brown as you like it. Then stick your head in it like Mama's Little Piggy and enter a coma of bliss!
Serves 4-6.
Shepherd's Pie Skillet
(see above ingredients)
Prepare ground beef, onion, garlic, and gravy as in the original, but add the frozen vegetables directly to the skillet with the beef and gravy and let simmer for 3-5 minutes. Skip the oven altogether and serve over a big pile of mashed potatoes.
Serves 4-6.
Garlic Smashed Potatoes
6-7 lg. russet potatoes
4-5 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
3 Tbsp. butter, sliced
1/2 c. warm milk (microwave at medium power for 40 seconds or so)
1/4 c. sour cream
Black pepper
Scrub potatoes thoroughly and chop into roughly 1-in. cubes. Do not peel unless you are motivated to do so--I am most certainly not. Place in a large sauce pan with your chopped garlic and just cover with water. Place over medium high heat. When the potato pot comes to a boil, add a tablespoon or two of salt to the water. Cook potatoes until easily pierced with a fork, about 15 minutes.
Drain well; add potatoes and garlic back to the hot pan and wait 30 seconds or so for some of the moisture to evaporate. Add butter to potatoes, and mash away with your potato masher until they are as lump-free as you like them. (We like them fairly lumpy at our house.) Gradually stir in milk until the potato/garlic mixture is almost moistened enough. (Leave them a little bit stiff and dry, because you're going to add the sour cream next, and you don't want them to end up soupy. You can always add more milk later if the sour cream doesn't get your potatoes to your desired level of creaminess, okay?) Add the sour cream, and stir to distribute it well. Season with pepper to taste.
Serves 6 as a side dish.
(Try these potatoes topped with French's French Fried Onions--delicious!)
I'll wait.
Mashed potatoes, right? Does she know me, or what? I could eat mashed potatoes almost daily. In fact, I could definitely eat potatoes daily (and I'm sure my husband feels that we do, some weeks), whether they be au gratin, fried, roasted, baked . . . but always and especially mashed. Creamy, hearty, filling, soul-satisfying, and loaded with carbs, mashed potatoes have everything I look for in a food.
So when I met this dish called Shepherd's Pie (in St. Croix, USVI, of all places), whose base is ground beef, gravy, and corn and whose top is--wonder of wonders!--a sheet of fluffy mashed potatoes, I was immediately enamored of it and needed it in my life as a permanent fixture. I guess you could say I enjoyed it.
I then did what any beef/corn/mashed potato-obsessed person would do: I went straight home and re-created the recipe. Now, a disclaimer: this is not authentic Shepherd's Pie. So if you're British and your Mum made this dish for you growing up, you'd better get the recipe from her, because this is definitely an American knock-off, and it probably won't cut it for you. Real Shepherd's Pie has lamb; this does not, because I only eat lamb at the occasional passover or when I'm on a missions trip in the Faroe Islands. And most Shepherd's Pie recipes call for a tomato product in the base, but I don't enjoy the tomato/potato combination, so I leave that one alone. So forgive me for straying so far from the original, but whatever you call it, this casserole is scrumptious, low-brow, and most importantly, easy to prepare.
Below, I've posted three recipes: one for the Original Shepherd's Pie (a la St. Croix), one for Skillet Shepherd's Pie, and one for good old Garlic Smashed Potatoes. Enjoy!
Original Shepherd's Pie
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 lg. sweet onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced finely (optional)
1 1/2 c. frozen corn (or peas, or a mixture of both)
1 envelope brown gravy mix (two if you like it really saucy; in that case, double the water, and bump the thyme up to 3/4 tsp.!)
1 c. cold water
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
ground black pepper to taste
4 cups prepared mashed potatoes
Butter
Paprika
Preheat oven to 375.
Brown ground beef. Add onion and garlic and saute over medium-low heat until onion is soft; drain.
Push the beef off to one side of the pan. To the pan, add the brown gravy mix, water, thyme, and pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer for a minute or two, until the gravy thickens.
Spread the beef and gravy evenly in the bottom of a casserole dish. Sprinkle the corn uniformly over top of that, and gently spread the mashed potatoes over top of the corn. Dot the top with small bits of butter and sprinkle with paprika. Bake for 35 minutes or until the top is as golden brown as you like it. Then stick your head in it like Mama's Little Piggy and enter a coma of bliss!
Serves 4-6.
Shepherd's Pie Skillet
(see above ingredients)
Prepare ground beef, onion, garlic, and gravy as in the original, but add the frozen vegetables directly to the skillet with the beef and gravy and let simmer for 3-5 minutes. Skip the oven altogether and serve over a big pile of mashed potatoes.
Serves 4-6.
Garlic Smashed Potatoes
6-7 lg. russet potatoes
4-5 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
3 Tbsp. butter, sliced
1/2 c. warm milk (microwave at medium power for 40 seconds or so)
1/4 c. sour cream
Black pepper
Scrub potatoes thoroughly and chop into roughly 1-in. cubes. Do not peel unless you are motivated to do so--I am most certainly not. Place in a large sauce pan with your chopped garlic and just cover with water. Place over medium high heat. When the potato pot comes to a boil, add a tablespoon or two of salt to the water. Cook potatoes until easily pierced with a fork, about 15 minutes.
Drain well; add potatoes and garlic back to the hot pan and wait 30 seconds or so for some of the moisture to evaporate. Add butter to potatoes, and mash away with your potato masher until they are as lump-free as you like them. (We like them fairly lumpy at our house.) Gradually stir in milk until the potato/garlic mixture is almost moistened enough. (Leave them a little bit stiff and dry, because you're going to add the sour cream next, and you don't want them to end up soupy. You can always add more milk later if the sour cream doesn't get your potatoes to your desired level of creaminess, okay?) Add the sour cream, and stir to distribute it well. Season with pepper to taste.
Serves 6 as a side dish.
(Try these potatoes topped with French's French Fried Onions--delicious!)
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Baked Potato Soup
This soupy story begins post-college. I had procured a job teaching with an educational company called Readak that sends its teachers for a month or two to private schools all over the world to teach kids better study skills. My first assignment was in Orlando, Florida, where a lovely single lady who taught at my first school offered to house me during my stay there. At her house, I ate well--home cooked meals, as you might expect. I had no complaints, except for the fact that, as a good southern girl, she had been taught that vegetables must be cooked until they are grey and mushy. She told me it was the southern way. Hopefully that isn't true. One day, I cooked--and when I told her the fresh green beans shouldn't take any more than about seven minutes or so, she looked at me like I had flipped. Of course, she drank her Sweet Tea so sweet, it was practically syrup, so to say we came from different culinary backgrounds would be an understatement. Moving on...
My second assignment took me to a boarding school just a bit north, in Altamonte Springs. There, I was housed by the school in one of the spartan "hotel" rooms on their campus usually reserved for visiting parents. When I say the room was spartan, I mean it--no phone, no TV, no refrigerator, no cooking device of any kind--so I did all of my eating (ALL OF IT) out. I tried the cafeteria at the school, hoping for a lower-cost meal option, but the school was a Seventh-Day Adventist school, and they served only vegetarian fare. Apparently, the highlight of their menu was their faux sea scallops. Considering I don't even like the real thing, I opted out of that particular delicacy, and all of the other pseudo-meat meals they offered.
I had family in Florida at that time, though, and they recommended to me a then-new restaurant called Bennigan's. Yep, that Bennigan's. They told me that I must go there, and that furthermore, I must partake of their Baked Potato Soup. Having no reason not to take their recommendation, I went, and suffice it to say that I loved that soup. Thick, creamy, and served steaming, topped with generous portions of crumbled bacon, cheddar cheese, and sliced green onions, it was a comfort food I eventually came to crave--even when it was November in Florida and still hotter than Dante's Inferno. I think it goes without saying that I made many trips back to Bennigan's for this comforting soup--though, it's so thick and so rich, the name soup barely applies.
Fast forward a few years, when I've moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where they drink tea that isn't syrup and green beans that aren't mush. That Bennigan's soup was still a favorite, but since I was now paying rent and utilities and working full-time for a non-profit ministry, I had considerably less disposable income to apply toward meals out. I determined to re-create Bennigan's soup at home, so I set about scouring the internet for a recipe that sounded similar. I found two. The first used mashed potatoes and chicken broth as a base; it looked healthy and relatively easy, and, as a connoisseur of mashed potatoes, I was comfortable with the cooking processes involved. When my parents came to visit shortly thereafter, I decided to try out this fantastic recipe for dinner, wanting to show them just how delicious and life-changing this soup could be.
We were all very disappointed.
The recipe said it was a copycat recipe, and "just like" the original, even promising that we "wouldn't know the difference!" But we did. I tossed that recipe bitterly, cursing its failed promises of deliciousity.
I still had the other recipe I'd found, but two things held me back from trying it: 1)I was so disappointed at being burned by the first recipe, I just wasn't ready to trust again, and 2) it required that I make a roux, which sounded way too difficult.
Fast forward again, to the beginning of my marriage. I was unemployed at the time, and so had all sorts of time to experiment in the kitchen. Feeling adventuresome, I made another dish that called for a roux, and found it to be very easy--all you do is melt an amount of butter, add an equal amount of flour, whisk until no lumps remain, and cook over low heat for just a minute. What had I been afraid of all those years? It turned out my fears were completely unfounded. Roux were simple.
And then an alarm sounded in my head--a ROUX! I knew how to make a ROUX! Maybe, just maybe, it was time to dust off that second Baked Potato Soup recipe and give it a go. So I did.
Lawsie. It was good. It was very, very good.
It quickly became The Recipe That Everyone Wanted a Copy Of, and I was happy to acquiesce. Over the years, I have tweaked the original recipe, so now, it's even better. It has become a family favorite, and that's the truth.
So without further ado, here's a recipe that will change your life.
Baked Potato Soup
6 lg. russet (baking) potatoes
3/4 c. butter
3/4 c. flour
6 c. milk
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp. chicken base (like Better Than Bouillon, available in your soup aisle)
8 oz. sour cream
Garnish with:
Shredded Cheddar cheese
Crumbled bacon
Sliced green onions
Bake potatoes at 400 degrees for 1 hour. When they are cool enough to handle, scoop out the potato and discard the skins. Slightly mash up the potatoes, and set aside.
Make a roux with the butter and flour. Gradually add milk, whisking well to avoid lumps, and cook over medium heat just until thickened and bubbly.
Stir in potato, salt, pepper, and chicken base. Cook just until potato is heated through--do not boil.
Add sour cream, and again, just heat through. It won't take long.
Sprinkle individual servings with the cheese, bacon, and green onion. Add a lovely salad, and you've got yourself a humdinger of a meal!
Serves 6.
My second assignment took me to a boarding school just a bit north, in Altamonte Springs. There, I was housed by the school in one of the spartan "hotel" rooms on their campus usually reserved for visiting parents. When I say the room was spartan, I mean it--no phone, no TV, no refrigerator, no cooking device of any kind--so I did all of my eating (ALL OF IT) out. I tried the cafeteria at the school, hoping for a lower-cost meal option, but the school was a Seventh-Day Adventist school, and they served only vegetarian fare. Apparently, the highlight of their menu was their faux sea scallops. Considering I don't even like the real thing, I opted out of that particular delicacy, and all of the other pseudo-meat meals they offered.
I had family in Florida at that time, though, and they recommended to me a then-new restaurant called Bennigan's. Yep, that Bennigan's. They told me that I must go there, and that furthermore, I must partake of their Baked Potato Soup. Having no reason not to take their recommendation, I went, and suffice it to say that I loved that soup. Thick, creamy, and served steaming, topped with generous portions of crumbled bacon, cheddar cheese, and sliced green onions, it was a comfort food I eventually came to crave--even when it was November in Florida and still hotter than Dante's Inferno. I think it goes without saying that I made many trips back to Bennigan's for this comforting soup--though, it's so thick and so rich, the name soup barely applies.
Fast forward a few years, when I've moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where they drink tea that isn't syrup and green beans that aren't mush. That Bennigan's soup was still a favorite, but since I was now paying rent and utilities and working full-time for a non-profit ministry, I had considerably less disposable income to apply toward meals out. I determined to re-create Bennigan's soup at home, so I set about scouring the internet for a recipe that sounded similar. I found two. The first used mashed potatoes and chicken broth as a base; it looked healthy and relatively easy, and, as a connoisseur of mashed potatoes, I was comfortable with the cooking processes involved. When my parents came to visit shortly thereafter, I decided to try out this fantastic recipe for dinner, wanting to show them just how delicious and life-changing this soup could be.
We were all very disappointed.
The recipe said it was a copycat recipe, and "just like" the original, even promising that we "wouldn't know the difference!" But we did. I tossed that recipe bitterly, cursing its failed promises of deliciousity.
I still had the other recipe I'd found, but two things held me back from trying it: 1)I was so disappointed at being burned by the first recipe, I just wasn't ready to trust again, and 2) it required that I make a roux, which sounded way too difficult.
Fast forward again, to the beginning of my marriage. I was unemployed at the time, and so had all sorts of time to experiment in the kitchen. Feeling adventuresome, I made another dish that called for a roux, and found it to be very easy--all you do is melt an amount of butter, add an equal amount of flour, whisk until no lumps remain, and cook over low heat for just a minute. What had I been afraid of all those years? It turned out my fears were completely unfounded. Roux were simple.
And then an alarm sounded in my head--a ROUX! I knew how to make a ROUX! Maybe, just maybe, it was time to dust off that second Baked Potato Soup recipe and give it a go. So I did.
Lawsie. It was good. It was very, very good.
It quickly became The Recipe That Everyone Wanted a Copy Of, and I was happy to acquiesce. Over the years, I have tweaked the original recipe, so now, it's even better. It has become a family favorite, and that's the truth.
So without further ado, here's a recipe that will change your life.
Baked Potato Soup
6 lg. russet (baking) potatoes
3/4 c. butter
3/4 c. flour
6 c. milk
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp. chicken base (like Better Than Bouillon, available in your soup aisle)
8 oz. sour cream
Garnish with:
Shredded Cheddar cheese
Crumbled bacon
Sliced green onions
Bake potatoes at 400 degrees for 1 hour. When they are cool enough to handle, scoop out the potato and discard the skins. Slightly mash up the potatoes, and set aside.
Make a roux with the butter and flour. Gradually add milk, whisking well to avoid lumps, and cook over medium heat just until thickened and bubbly.
Stir in potato, salt, pepper, and chicken base. Cook just until potato is heated through--do not boil.
Add sour cream, and again, just heat through. It won't take long.
Sprinkle individual servings with the cheese, bacon, and green onion. Add a lovely salad, and you've got yourself a humdinger of a meal!
Serves 6.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Crock Pot Baked Potatoes
I am a little embarrassed to even post this as a recipe, and you'll see why, but it seems to have intrigued a couple of my friends, so here it is!
There are a couple of ways to approach this:
First, if you are of the old-school "wrap 'em in foil" way of thinking, you can certainly do that. I would either rub a little olive oil on the potatoes (after thoroughly washing them and piercing them with a knife a couple of times) and wrap them up, or spray a piece of foil with a little non-stick cooking spray, and then wrap.
If you're of the newer, "hold the foil" way of thinking, you can do that. You don't even have to really rub the skins with oil (after you wash and pierce them, of course), though you may.
Now, for my own personal preferences and method:
Crock Pot Baked Potatoes
4 lg. russet potatoes (Klondike Gold potatoes are ridiculously good as well)
Olive Oil
Montreal Steak Seasoning
Wash the potatoes well. Pierce with a knife to allow steam to escape. Lightly rub skins with oil, and sprinkle with seasoning to taste. Arrange in the bottom of a crock pot, and cook for 4 hrs. on high, or 6-8 hrs. on low.
Isn't that so easy, it's silly?
If you're preparing them at the same time as Crock Pot meatloaf, you will probably want to wrap the potatoes in foil. Arrange them around the outside of the meatloaf.
Now, you may be saying "4 potatoes? We won't eat that much!" or "Only 4 potatoes? Oh, I'm gonna need way more than that." To these people, I have this to say:
1)You really want to have the crock pot approximately half full for it to work most efficiently, so I wouldn't do any fewer than 4 potatoes. But even if you won't use them all at once, keep in mind that these potatoes can be used in other recipes later in the week--they make killer fried potatoes for breakfast, or potato salad, or twice baked potatoes, or baked potato soup. Why not cook the potatoes once and use them twice? Save yourself some time.
2)I made baked potatoes in this way for a crowd of 15, and it worked great--kept my kitchen cool, and freed up appliances for other things. Just go ahead and pile the potatoes into your crock--just make sure the lid can close tightly, of course.
There are a couple of ways to approach this:
First, if you are of the old-school "wrap 'em in foil" way of thinking, you can certainly do that. I would either rub a little olive oil on the potatoes (after thoroughly washing them and piercing them with a knife a couple of times) and wrap them up, or spray a piece of foil with a little non-stick cooking spray, and then wrap.
If you're of the newer, "hold the foil" way of thinking, you can do that. You don't even have to really rub the skins with oil (after you wash and pierce them, of course), though you may.
Now, for my own personal preferences and method:
Crock Pot Baked Potatoes
4 lg. russet potatoes (Klondike Gold potatoes are ridiculously good as well)
Olive Oil
Montreal Steak Seasoning
Wash the potatoes well. Pierce with a knife to allow steam to escape. Lightly rub skins with oil, and sprinkle with seasoning to taste. Arrange in the bottom of a crock pot, and cook for 4 hrs. on high, or 6-8 hrs. on low.
Isn't that so easy, it's silly?
If you're preparing them at the same time as Crock Pot meatloaf, you will probably want to wrap the potatoes in foil. Arrange them around the outside of the meatloaf.
Now, you may be saying "4 potatoes? We won't eat that much!" or "Only 4 potatoes? Oh, I'm gonna need way more than that." To these people, I have this to say:
1)You really want to have the crock pot approximately half full for it to work most efficiently, so I wouldn't do any fewer than 4 potatoes. But even if you won't use them all at once, keep in mind that these potatoes can be used in other recipes later in the week--they make killer fried potatoes for breakfast, or potato salad, or twice baked potatoes, or baked potato soup. Why not cook the potatoes once and use them twice? Save yourself some time.
2)I made baked potatoes in this way for a crowd of 15, and it worked great--kept my kitchen cool, and freed up appliances for other things. Just go ahead and pile the potatoes into your crock--just make sure the lid can close tightly, of course.
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