Pan-Fried Potatoes

I’m just realizing, since this is the second potato post in a row, we do eat a lot of potatoes around here. Well, why not? Potatoes are tasty, they go with everything, and they lend themselves to an endless variety of cooking methods. If I have to choose between potatoes and bread — and usually I do — I’ll pick potatoes any day.

I made pan-fried potatoes last night to go with a simple cheese omelet. These “home fries” are one of my favorite potato side dishes, because pan-frying is a quick and easy method that is equally appropriate for breakfast or dinner. If you have leftover boiled potatoes, this is a great way to repurpose them.

I usually parboil the potatoes before frying. This ensures that they cook all the way through and that the insides are creamy. I plan on one medium Yukon Gold potato per person. Here is the method:

1. Peel the potatoes and cut into cubes of about the same size.
2. Put the potatoes in a large pot and cover with cold water. Add a generous pinch of salt. Bring to a boil and cook until the potatoes are just tender but not falling apart–until they can just be pierced with a fork. Drain. (If you want to save the potatoes for later cooking, refrigerate them in cold water in a covered dish.)
3. Cover the bottom of a cast-iron skillet with a film of oil. Heat the skillet over medium-high. Add the potatoes in a single layer, pressing down with the back of a spatula. Season with salt.
4. Cook until the potatoes are well-browned on the bottom, about 3 minutes. Flip the potatoes in sections and cook the other side until browned. Continue flipping and cooking until they are as browned as you like.

My husband likes these with ketchup, but I think they taste fine all by themselves.

Cooking Off the Books

When I first started learning how to cook, I was a slave to recipes. This was because I lacked the self-confidence to realize when something was done cooking or when a new flavor needed to be added or how much seasoning to use.

But as I have learned how to cook and become more comfortable with different techniques, I find myself going off the recipe more and more. A recipe is a great starting point. It can inspire me or help me get started. But once I start cooking a dish, I feel more creative and get greater enjoyment out of the process if I ignore the recipe.

How do you start to cook off-recipe? This is my process, which might provide some guidance. But every cook is different, as is every dish; that’s what makes cooking such a fun and rewarding activity. So I encourage you to follow your own intuition in the kitchen, and develop a process that works for you.

Usually, I do start with a recipe so I’m not working from a blank slate. I read the recipe through once or twice. I preheat the oven, if needed. I assemble my ingredients, or mise en place, and make sure that everything is peeled, washed and chopped (although I have to admit that I don’t pay a lot of attention to the amounts of ingredients called for in the recipe).

But before I start to cook, I simply close the cookbook, so I don’t have the recipe readily available to refer to anymore. I know the general process; the rest I leave to instinct. By not relying on the recipe, I have to use my five senses instead, which I think results in a better tasting dish. After all, the recipe writer doesn’t know how hot my stove gets or how much pepper I like.

My sense of sound tells me when the oil is hot or when the soup is boiling too ferociously. My sense of sight tells me when the vegetables have browned enough or the meat needs to be flipped. My sense of smell tells me when the food is nearly done cooking, and my sense of touch lets me know when the meat is cooked through. Finally, it’s important to taste, taste, taste while cooking. This lets me know when additional seasoning is needed, or when I need to ramp up a particular ingredient, or when something is just missing from the dish.

While I cook, I let everything around me inspire me. Perhaps there is a stray vegetable or two languishing in the crisper that I could throw into the dish. A sprig of fresh herbs from the garden sitting in a glass of water on the counter suggests a garnish. While reaching for the salt, I spy another seasoning that I think will augment the flavor profile. Even a glass of wine that I’m sipping from can add a splash of brightness to a sauce.

This “seat of your pants” cooking can result in failures, of course. But so can recipes. And more often than not, I love the finished dish, because it’s cooked to my tastes, not to the specifications of a cookbook author. I also love it because it has more of me in it, because I connected more with the dish while I was cooking it and gave it focused thought, rather than relying on the recipe to guide me.

If you have never cooked this way, why not try it every now and then? If the dish doesn’t work out, you can learn from your mistakes. And the more you practice this type of cooking, the better you’ll get, and the more your confidence will grow. I think you might even enjoy making dinner more.

Is There Pesto in Your Freezer?

Here are some awesome tips for pesto that I learned from Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. These tips are especially useful for pre-made, frozen pesto, which you may be trotting out this time of year.

First, stir in a couple of spoonfuls of pasta cooking water. This helps loosen up your pesto and makes it adhere better to the pasta.

Second, add a pat or two of softened butter. Heaven!

Rescuing Greens and Other Ways to Avoid Food Waste

Here’s a good tip I spotted on The Kitchn. When your salad greens are starting to go bad, bring them back to life by sauteing with garlic and oil. Could be a nice light lunch with an omelet.

There are a lot of other handy for avoiding food waste here.

 No-Waste Tip: Sauté the Last of the Salad Greens | Apartment Therapy The Kitchn

Some Old Favorites: Grilling Out on the New Deck

A recent cooking challenge that I haven’t gotten a chance to post about yet was to resurrect some old favorites. I chose backyard barbecue favorites in honor of our new, expanded, gorgeous deck, and to give my husband a chance to cook for a change.

The menu was: grilled turkey burgers, mini baked potatoes and quick pickles. I have posted the turkey burger recipe before. This is the only turkey burger recipe I have found that results in juicy, tasty burgers rather than dried-out hockey pucks. Giving credit where credit is due, the original recipe came from Sara Foster’s Casual Cooking.

That cookbook was also the source for the mini baked potatoes idea. You don’t even need a recipe for these. Just substitute medium-sized Yukon gold potatoes for russets. Poke holes in the top and bake at 400 degrees for 35-40 minutes. Load them up with all your favorite fixings. Despite being so simple, this is a genius idea, because often a full-sized baked potato is just too much.

Finally, the quick pickles came from another Sara Foster book that I’ve been featuring a lot on this blog lately: Sara Foster’s Southern Kitchen. (Expect a full-fledged review very soon.) Even though this was a new recipe I was trying, it qualifies as an old favorite because I’ve been making some variant of these pickles for years. It’s a great way to eat garden cucumbers, and it also works for zucchini.

Here’s my version of a quick recipe for quick pickles. For 1 pound of cucumber slices, combine 2 cups water and 1 cup white wine vinegar. Add 1 tablespoon coarse salt, plus fresh dill, red pepper flakes and/or sliced garlic, as desired. You can also throw in diced red onion, if you like. Let the pickles marinate at least 1 hour. These pickles keep about 1 week in the fridge.

Yaki Udon

I’m a bit late in sharing this challenge with you, since I made it about two weeks ago. The challenge was to make an Asian-style noodle dish that I hadn’t tried before. I had some udon noodles in the pantry, so I started from there. After doing some reading on Wikipedia, I decided to make yaki udon, which is a stir-fried, Japanese noodle dish.

Yaki Udon

To tell you the truth, this wasn’t such a challenging dish, but I did learn something new. Usually, when I stir-fry, I cook the meat first, then I add the vegetables. Last, I might throw in some cooked noodles, or I’ll toss it all on top of cooked rice.

This time, though, I cooked the veggies first, while I let the meat marinate. Then I added the boiled noodles. This enable the vegetables to get browned and tender, and the noodles to also brown a little, since there was no liquid in the pan. When they were done, I removed them to a plate and cooked the meat. I tried not to disturb the meat other than turning it once, so it would develop a crunchy, brown crust. Finally, I added the marinade from the meat and stir-fried until the sauce had thickened. Last, the veggies and noodles went back in to get coated with the sauce.

I think this made a real difference in the quality of the stir-fry. Every ingredient shone, and nothing was over-cooked. Although the sauce was evenly distributed, it didn’t turn gloppy. All in all, it was delicious, and a truly simple dish to make.

You can substitute any thinly sliced meat here (I used chicken). Scallops or shrimp would also work. And of course, any vegetables that you have on hand can be added. I like to slice the veggies thinly and on the diagonal for a nicer presentation and faster cooking. It is also good to add something with crunch for a garnish. I used raw bean sprouts, which provided just the right finish.

Yaki Udon

Serves: 2-3 people

• ¼ lb. chicken or other meat, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp. mirin (sweet rice wine)
• 1 tbsp. ponzu sauce
• 1 tbsp. flour
• 1 tsp. toasted sesame oil
• 1 tsp. sesame seeds
• peanut oil
• 4 oz. udon noodles, cooked, drained and rinsed
• 1 carrot, peeled and sliced diagonally
• 1 small red pepper, sliced thinly
• 8 spears asparagus, cut diagonally into 1-inch lengths
• mung bean sprouts for garnish
• soy sauce to taste

1. Combine the meat with the mirin, ponzu sauce, flour, sesame oil and sesame seeds, and set aside to marinate.

2. Heat some peanut oil in a wok or skillet until very hot. Add the vegetables and stir-fry until they are crisp-tender and beginning to brown. Add the noodles and continue to stir-fry until the noodles are brown in places. Remove to a plate.

3. Add some more peanut oil to the pan and heat until very hot. Drain the chicken, reserving the marinade, and add it to the pan. Let the chicken cook, turning once, until cooked through, browned and crusty.

4. Add the marinade and stir-fry the chicken quickly until the sauce thickens. Return the vegetables and noodles to the pan, and stir-fry until the well-mixed. Remove to a serving dish and top with the bean sprouts. Pass the soy sauce at the table.

A New Take on Tuna Salad

My cooking challenge for last week was to prepare a fresh and flavorful fish dish. My husband wanted this dish to reflect the bounty of the season and to be tasty, because he generally thinks fish is bland. (I don’t agree, but that’s another story.) He suggested a flavorful sauce.

The combination of fresh and flavorful got my mind working, and I came up with a salad. But not an ordinary salad. Rather, I wanted a composed dish that would showcase tasty produce surrounding a really nice piece of fish, all dressed with a tasty vinaigrette, which works really well on both fish and vegetables. I hit upon doing a version of a salade Niçoise, but with a twist: no olives (because I don’t really like olives). Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc at Home has a tuna Niçoise recipe that is both gorgeous and easy to make; that would be my template. Leafing through Ad Hoc at Home‘s many vinaigrette recipes, I spotted the one I wanted: bacon vinaigrette! The bacon would taste great on a thick tuna steak and on the vegetables I wanted to accompany it: new potatoes, green beans, cherry tomatoes and avocado.

The vegetable platter.

The best part about this dish is that it is very easy to prepare. The most important step is the shopping, as this dish relies on finding the freshest, tastiest produce and cut of tuna available. It can also adapt to the season. I suggest visiting the farmers market or local co-op and buying whatever looks fresh and beautiful. As for cooking the vegetables, I simply blanched the green beans and steamed the potatoes until they were tender. I then cut everything up and apportioned it on a pretty platter.

As for the tuna, this challenge gave me a chance to explore the best local markets for buying fish. While my regular co-op does a great job of supplying local, organic chicken, bacon and sausage, it doesn’t stock a large selection of fish, and they never have tuna. The grocery store I usually shop at has a fish counter, but I am suspicious of their sources. Their tuna in particular often tastes a little fishy, and it’s a little too red, if you know what I mean.

That meant I had to go further afield. Because I left my shopping so late in the day, I chose to head over to Whole Foods rather than trying out Fresh Market, which is a little farther away. I normally avoid Whole Foods, because the experience of shopping there could easily be the tenth circle of Hell, in my opinion. Starting with the parking lot, which is poorly designed and always jammed with cars fighting for the spaces. Once you’re inside, the food is so gorgeous and artfully laid out, but you have to contend with people jamming the narrow aisles with huge carts and cutting across your path. I feel like a bumper car whenever I go inside. I could stand it just enough to go back to the fish counter and pick out a gigantic, gorgeous tuna steak. I couldn’t even handle ducking over to the bakery for a loaf of bread before my patience snapped. (I do have to give kudos to Whole Foods’ cashiers and fishmongers, who are just as friendly as they can be, unlike their clientele.) The trip was worth it, though, because just take a look at this fish.

The tuna.

Fish this good only requires a little salt and pepper for seasoning and a brief pan-searing in a thin film of olive oil. To judge doneness, watch the edges. You want just a thin sear on both sides. Remove it from the pan and slice thinly for serving. A one-pound steak was plenty for my husband and I, with leftovers. (My toddler refused to partake, of course.)

All that’s left is the dressing, which is also very simple. For two servings, cut 2 slices of bacon into 1-inch pieces. Fry over medium heat until crisp on the outside, then transfer to paper towels to drain, reserving the bacon fat in the pan. Combine 2 tablespoons champagne vinegar, 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, and ¼ cup olive oil with salt and pepper to taste in a blender. Pour off the bacon fat into this mixture and blend until it is well emulsified. Stir in the bacon pieces and spoon the vinaigrette over the vegetables and fish to serve.

The whole salad.

I feel like this wasn’t too much of a challenge, since it was so easy to prepare. But I think this only goes to show that even the simplest dishes can be the most rewarding, if you take the trouble to find truly excellent ingredients. I would definitely make this salad again and again.

For the next challenge, I am tasked with making an Asian noodle dish. Since I’m still on a light and flavorful kick, I’m thinking Japanese. I hope you’ll join me.

Chicken Nuggets and Fries

Ok, I’ve been putting off this challenge way too long. First, I put off making it — illness and holidays got in the way — and then I put off writing about it.

To tell you the truth, a meal of homemade chicken nuggets and fries was not one I was looking forward to making. I think of this as typical restaurant kid’s food, not a meal I would likely order for myself. I don’t even like to order it for my kid, although sometimes choices are limited. Since this isn’t a meal I wouldn’t go out of my way to eat, I didn’t think it was one I would enjoy making either. But I was challenged to make it, and I did.

Homemade chicken nuggets.

I don’t ever deep-fry at home. My rationale is that deep-frying is unhealthy, messy and expensive when you consider how much oil is required. And it’s very easy (all too easy) to find good-tasting deep-fried foods when we go out to eat. It just doesn’t fit into what I consider good home cooking.

So I didn’t want to deep-fry either the nuggets or the “fries.” For the nuggets, after researching many different recipes, I decided to take a combination approach. I shallow-fried them for a few minutes to get the breading crispy, then transferred them to the oven to finish cooking.

Based on the recipes I read, it seemed that the best results came from soaking the chicken first in buttermilk, then rolling it in a hearty coating (heartier than flour), such as cracker or bread crumbs. I chose panko bread crumbs, which I spiced up quite a bit with paprika, cayenne and salt. I cut boneless chicken breasts into approximate nugget size before letting them soak in the buttermilk for a few hours. Then I rolled them in the coating and shallow-fried them in vegetable oil just until the coating browned. I transferred them to a baking sheet to finish cooking at about 425 degrees.

The nuggets were crispy, but certainly not as crispy or as yummy as their deep-fried counterparts would be. (I said I don’t like to deep-fry at home, but there’s no denying that deep-fried foods taste very good.) The breading had a tendency to slide off, too. I think the extra spices were essential. Otherwise, the dish would have been rather bland.

I added two dipping sauces to help with the blandness factor. One was a simple honey-mustard sauce: two parts mustard whisked with one part honey. The other was lemon juice whisked with a little olive oil, Italian seasonings and plenty of grated Parmesan. I actually liked the second sauce better with the crudites (raw broccoli, carrots, cherry tomatoes and celery) that I served with the chicken, but my husband preferred it on the nuggets.

Two kinds of oven fries.

Now for the fries. I decided to try “oven-frying” them two different ways. I cooked both batches for about 30 minutes at 425 degrees.

For one set of fries, I used peeled Yukon gold potatoes. I cut them into wedge shapes and sprinkled them with a little oil, salt and some sugar. This was based on a recipe I found online, and I think the intention was to mimic the look of French fries. The potatoes did turn spotty brown where the sugar caramelized, but they didn’t taste at all fried; they tasted sweet. My husband liked them, but I didn’t.

For the other batch of oven fries, I used unpeeled russet potatoes. I tossed them with a bit more oil, coarse salt, paprika and cayenne. Again, these didn’t taste fried, although they more closely resembled the thick-cut steak fries that you find at some up-scale restaurants. I liked them a lot better, though.

For me, this meal rated about a C. I doubt I would make it again unless it was requested, although I would make the oven fries to serve with other dishes. My husband rated it a B+/A-. He was disappointed that I didn’t make more dipping sauces, particularly a barbecue sauce. My toddler declined to eat any of it at all. I guess it’s not real chicken nuggets and fries when your mom makes it.

I haven’t received this week’s challenge yet, so stay tuned. Also, now that the recent spate of holidays has passed, I promise to get back on a weekly cooking and posting schedule, at least for a while.

Gigantic Stuffed Potatoes

This week’s challenge was to serve, as a meal, a stuffed baked potato. To be honest, I didn’t consider this to be much of a challenge. I love baked potatoes, and I have made stuffed potatoes many times before. But my husband said he wanted something different than the usual toppings, so I tried to get creative with this recipe. I also learned a new technique for crisping prosciutto, which definitely made the challenge worthwhile.

These were some really big potatoes! I made two, but my husband and I could only eat 1½ between us, so I had leftovers for lunch the next day. They were delicious as well as filling. We both agreed that this challenge was a success. (My toddler won’t touch potatoes unless they are of the french-fried variety, so he doesn’t get a vote this week.)

For the stuffing, I decided to go a bit upscale. Truthfully, I looked in my fridge and based the stuffing on what I already needed to use up. I combined sauteed spinach, sauteed mushrooms, crispy prosciutto, and gruyere cheese. The flavor combination was outstanding, and I felt like together these ingredients made for a more-or-less balanced meal.

I wanted to add something crispy like bacon to the stuffing, but not use bacon. I had some prosciutto in my fridge already, and I found this technique for crisping it like bacon. It worked beautifully. Now that I know how to do it, I will definitely be adding crispy prosciutto to scrambled eggs, salads, soups, and whatever else I can think of.

When I was shopping for this challenge, I found gigantic potatoes at the grocery store. They were as big as footballs, seriously. If you use reasonably sized potatoes, half a potato would make a great side dish as well. And this recipe is completely open to adaptation, just by varying what you stuff the potatoes with. But please, do use cheese. You have to have cheese on baked potatoes, in my opinion.

Here’s the recipe. I don’t have exact amounts for the ingredients, so you’ll have to wing it. But that only makes this recipe easier to scale up or down.

Twice-Baked Potatoes Stuffed with Spinach, Mushrooms, Crispy Prosciutto & Gruyere Cheese

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Figure on ½-1 russet potato per serving, depending on whether you’re serving this as an entree or side dish. Scrub the potatoes well and prick in several places with a fork. Rub them with olive oil. Place directly on the oven rack to bake until they give when gently squeezed, about 1 hour. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

Raise the oven temperature to 450 degrees. Arrange the prosciutto slices (about 1 per potato) on a wire rack and place that on top of a baking pan. Slide the whole thing into the oven. Roast for 7 minutes and set aside to cool. The prosciutto will crisp up even more as it cools. Save the baking pan, as you’ll need it later.

Lower the oven temperature to 375 degrees.

Heat some olive oil in a skillet over medium. Add sliced cremini or button mushrooms. Season with salt, pepper, and thyme. Saute until the mushrooms release their liquid and turn brown, about 10 minutes. Set aside in a bowl and return the skillet to the heat.

Add a little more olive oil, if needed. Put some baby spinach in the skillet (as much as you think you’ll need). Season and saute until the spinach wilts. Set aside with the mushrooms.

The potatoes should now be cool enough to handle. Cut each potato in half lengthwise. Carefully scoop out the flesh, leaving a shell of about ½-inch thickness. In a bowl, mash the potato flesh with butter, sour cream, and milk. Use your judgment for how much you need to achieve a creamy texture. I usually use 1 tablespoon of each per potato. Stir in shredded gruyere cheese, the reserved spinach and mushrooms, and the prosciutto, crumbled. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Carefully mound the potato filling into each potato shell. Top with a little more shredded Gruyere. Place the potato halves on the baking sheet and return to the oven for about 20 minutes, or until they are heated through and browned in spots, and the cheese is all melted. Enjoy.

Happy Anniversary! A Simple Italian Meal

This past Sunday was our wedding anniversary (six great years!). We held our wedding at a charming Italian restaurant in downtown Raleigh, NC, called Caffe Luna. The main reason we chose Caffe Luna was because we love their food. They feature simple but delicious Italian cuisine that changes according to the seasons. I’ve always had a great meal there.

For my challenge last weekend, my husband wanted me to make some food we might have had at our wedding. You see, we didn’t actually get to eat much of the lavish buffet Caffe Luna put on for us. We were too busy being bride and groom that we barely sat down. But we heard from everyone else how great the food was, and it certainly looked good.

The problem with this challenge was that I couldn’t recall any specific dishes that were on the buffet. I remembered vaguely a few things — mixed vegetables, smoked salmon, poached salmon — but nothing more specific came to mind. Unfortunately, Caffe Luna’s website is not a big help. While they do have a catering menu online, it’s pretty bare bones: cheese and crackers; marinated chicken; marinated flank steak. That’s as much description as you get. To tell you the truth, I don’t think the menu is set in stone, but is rather based on what’s in season and available, which is how it should be. I remember that the buffet table was groaning with food. There certainly was a lot more than seems to be listed on the website menu.

So I turned to my mainstay for Italian cooking, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan. If you like Italian food and you don’t have this cookbook, you are not cooking the best Italian dishes you could be. Every recipe I have made out of this book has been molto squisito. These recipes are very simple, as good Italian cooking should be. They let the ingredients shine and highlight the flavors with restrained additions, such as olive oil, fresh herbs, wine, salt and pepper.

Unfortunately, because these dishes are so simple, my husband thought I cheated in last weekend’s challenge when I presented him chicken in white wine and lemon and a platter of baked vegetables. But even though the dishes weren’t a challenge to cook, they are a model of restraint, and the results were mouth-watering. They also reflected what I remember of Caffe Luna’s food at our wedding: good food and lots of it, simply prepared, wonderful to eat.

First up, the vegetables. Nothing could be easier. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Select an assortment of seasonal vegetables. I chose Yukon gold potatoes, red peppers, tomatoes and onions, but almost any vegetables will work. Peel the potatoes, peppers and onion. Cut everything into wedges (discarding the seeds and ribs from the peppers). Arrange on a large, oven-proof platter. Drizzle all over with very good olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss gently to make sure everything is well coated. Roast for 25-30 minutes, until the potatoes are browned on the edges and tender. The oil and juices from the vegetables combine in the bottom of the platter to make a delicious sauce, so don’t forget to drizzle the juices over the vegetables before serving.

While the vegetables are cooking, prepare the chicken. You can use bone-in, skin-on chicken pieces or boneless chicken breasts for this recipe, although bone-in chicken will take longer to cook. In a large pan, heat some olive oil and butter over medium-high. Brown the chicken pieces on both sides, about 2-3 minutes per side. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Add to the pan 3 peeled garlic cloves, the minced leaves from one rosemary stalk, salt and pepper. Pour in about ½ cup dry white wine. Partially cover and let cook, turning the chicken pieces once or twice, until the chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken to a serving pan. The juices remaining in the bottom of the pan should be thickened and browned. Add the juice and zest of 1 lemon. Stir and scrape up any browned bits. Spoon this sauce over the chicken to serve.

Nothing could be simpler. But serve with good, crusty Italian bread, and you’ll have a meal fit for an anniversary celebration.