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.

Found Recipe: Peanut Butter Cup Pie at Serious Eats

I saw the photo of this Peanut Butter Cup Pie on Serious Eats and, as a big fan of Reese’s Peanut Butter cups, I had to taste it. I pestered my mom until she made if for me for Thanksgiving. The crust didn’t turn out as she would have liked — it was perhaps too finely ground and fell apart on serving — but the pie itself tasted exactly like a gourmet peanut butter cup! So it fulfilled all my expectations. Next time, my mom plans to purchase a chocolate cookie crust to use, and I can’t see anything wrong with that.

Breakfast Bites

I eat a lot of eggs, so I’m always looking for new and interesting ways to prepare them. Here is something different for breakfast or a light dinner. Cooking the eggs in a muffin tin results in single-serving frittatas that you can even take with you for breakfast-on-the-go. These keep well for a day or two, so they are a good option when you want to make weekday breakfasts ahead. The recipe makes enough for 6 “muffins.”

Breakfast Bites

• 1 tsp. oil
• 4 oz. sausage, casings removed and crumbled
• 2 tbsp. diced red onion
• 2 tbsp. diced bell pepper
• 5 lg. eggs
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Nonstick cooking spray
• ½ cup shredded cheddar or cheddar-jack cheese
• ¼ cup diced tomatoes

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cook the sausage, onion and peppers in the oil over medium-high until the sausage is fully cooked, 4-5 minutes. Whisk together the eggs, salt and pepper. Stir in the cooked sausage mixture. Spray a 6-cup muffin pan with cooking spray. Fill each cup evenly with the egg mixture and sprinkle with the cheese and tomatoes. Bake until the eggs are firm, 15-20 minutes.

Notes: This recipe seems very adaptable, by replacing the sausage and vegetables with whatever you like. Or omit the meat altogether for a vegetarian version.

Easy Weeknight Chicken Ideas

I suspect that most families (those who aren’t vegetarian, anyway) opt for chicken at least twice a week. We often fall into the chicken rut because my husband doesn’t like fish and is allergic to shellfish, and I don’t like to eat pork or beef. So when we eat at home, we eat eggs, vegetarian dishes and chicken. I get my seafood and he gets his steak on the outside.

I probably don’t need to tell you that chicken every other night can get boring fast. Not too long ago, I could barely face the prospect of eating chicken again. When we get bored, we tend to go out to eat, which is not healthy for the wallet or the waistline. So I had to find some way to jazz up plain old chicken while still getting dinner on the table in a half-hour or so.

I mined my cookbooks for ideas for quick chicken dishes that I could easily vary from week to week. Here are five very simple chicken dishes I found that were a hit with everyone else at the table. All of these recipes make use of that staple of weeknight cooking: boneless chicken breasts. If you find yourself getting bored, try varying the seasoning or vegetables to create entirely new dishes.

Honey baked chicken: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix ½ cup honey, ¼ cup mustard and 1 tablespoon seasoning mix of your choice. Lightly spray a baking dish with cooking spray and arrange 6 boneless chicken breasts in the dish. Brush both sides of the chicken with the honey-mustard mixture and bake until cooked through, about 30 minutes. This homey meal goes great with a big salad and baked or mashed potatoes. Slice leftover chicken breasts for sandwiches.

Cheesy chicken: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Whisk together 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 tablespoon chili powder, 1 minced garlic clove, salt and a dash of cayenne to taste. Toss 4 boneless chicken breasts in this mixture and place them in a baking dish lined with foil. Toss each breast with a mixture of diced bell pepper, onion and tomatoes. Roast until cooked through, about 20 minutes. Top each chicken breast with shredded colby-jack cheese and return to the oven until the cheese is melted. Serve with plain rice for a full meal.

Braised chicken: In a large skillet over medium, add 2 cups chicken stock, 2 sliced onions and 2 tablespoons butter. Simmer uncovered until the onions are tender and the liquid is reduced, about 10 minutes. Season 4 chicken breasts with salt and pepper, and place them on top of the onions. Place a couple of rosemary sprigs on top. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer until the chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes. Remove the chicken and onions to a platter, raise the heat, and add 2 more tablespoons butter and 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Bring to a boil and pour the sauce over the chicken to serve. This dish goes well with a green salad and French bread.

Chicken tacos: Poach the chicken in barely simmering water until cooked through. Let cool and then shred (or substitute ground chicken). Season the chicken with taco seasoning mix, and warm with jarred salsa for a few minutes. Wrap soft tortillas in foil and warm them in a low oven. Let everyone fix their own tacos with plenty of shredded lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, onions, sour cream and guacamole for fixings.

Grilled chicken and bacon: For this recipe, you need a hinged grill basket. Season boneless chicken breasts with salt and pepper, and place sliced onions on top. Wrap each chicken breast with 2 slices of bacon and place in the grill basket. Close the basket and grill, turning once or twice, until the chicken is cooked through and the bacon is crispy, 10-12 minutes. Serve with a big dish of grilled vegetables and some crusty bread.

Braised Vegetables with Bacon

Continuing to post some of my favorite recipes, this particular side dish is a simple one from Mark Bittman‘s book, Food Matters. I love this recipe because it is quick, easy and completely adaptable to almost any vegetable. Just throw whatever vegetables you have in the pot together to create a unique side dish.

Even picky eaters will enjoy this dish because everything tastes better with bacon in it. If you don’t have bacon, though, or you’re looking for a change of pace, you can substitute prosciutto or pancetta.

Braised Vegetables with Bacon

• 3 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 lg. onion, sliced
• ¼ lb. chopped bacon
• Salt and pepper
• 2 lbs. any vegetable (alone or in combination)
• 2 cups stock, wine or water
• ½ cup chopped parsley or other herbs

Put 2 tablespoons of the oil in a Dutch oven and turn the heat to medium. When hot, add the onions and bacon. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions begin to color, about 5 minutes. Turn the heat down a bit and keep cooking, stirring once in a while, until the color deepens, another 5 minutes or so. Remove everything with a slotted spoon.

Trim and peel the vegetables as needed, and cut them into 2-inch chunks. Return the pot to medium-high heat, add the remaining oil, and when it’s hot, add the vegetables. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until they start to brown a bit. Return the onion mixture to the pot, add the liquid and bring to a boil. Lower the heat so that the mixture gently bubbles, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender, anywhere from 5-30 minutes. Garnish with parsley or other chopped herbs to serve.

The Easiest Tomato Sauce for Pasta

Cover of Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

This next entry in my favorite recipes comes from Marcella Hazan‘s excellent cookbook, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. If you love Italian food, this is the only Italian cookbook you need, in my opinion. I have made many of the pasta sauces, and they were all great. Unfortunately, I’ve cut way back on the pasta I’m eating these days.

My husband declared this tomato sauce with onion and butter to be one of the best pasta sauces he’d ever tasted. It is superbly simple to make, even easier than my go-to tomato sauce. This sauce has a light, subtle flavor that tastes best on hearty but bland filled pastas, like potato gnocchi and cheese ravioli, but is also very good on spaghetti.

I suggest using pureed tomatoes, but you can also use canned whole tomatoes and crush them with the back of a spoon while the sauce is cooking. This will result in a “chunkier” tomato sauce, though. Bionaturae is my favorite brand of bottled strained tomatoes.

Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter

• 1 bottle strained tomatoes(24 oz.) or 2 cups fresh tomatoes, pureed
• 5 tbsp. butter
• 1 med. onion, peeled and cut in half
• Salt
• 1½ pounds pasta
• Parmesan cheese

Put the tomato sauce, butter, onion and salt in a saucepan. Cook, uncovered, at a slow but steady simmer for 45 minutes, stirring from time to time. Discard the onion before tossing with the pasta. Leftover sauce may be frozen without the onion.

 

Italian Sausage Soup

It is raining today, and actually feels like fall is coming, so here is a warming soup that is quick and easy enough for a weeknight meal. This is another entry in my favorite recipes series. This soup comes from Sara Foster’s cookbook, Sara Foster’s Casual Cooking.

Italian Sausage Soup

• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 lb. Italian sausage
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1 14.5-ounce can chopped tomatoes with their juices
• 1 15-ounce can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• Salt and pepper
• 4 cups spinach, cabbage, or other greens, washed and trimmed
• 4 basil leaves, thinly sliced

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Cut open the sausage casings and squeeze the meat into the skillet, discarding the casings. Add the onion and saute 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sausage is light brown all over and the onion is tender and translucent. Drain the fat from the skillet. Add the stock, tomatoes and beans. Season to taste and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 8-10 minutes. Turn off the heat and stir in the greens and basil.

Pan-crisped Deviled Eggs on Lettuce

Continuing with posting some of my favorite recipes from cookbooks, this next recipe comes from How to Eat Supper by Lynne Rossetto Kasper (of The Splendid Table) and Sally Swift. In fact, it is my favorite recipe from what is otherwise a very uneven cookbook. If you like deviled eggs at all, you have to try this salad. Not only is the dressing delicious, but pan-crisping takes deviled eggs to a whole ‘nother level. This would make a nice light lunch or an impressive start to a dinner party.

Pan-crisped Deviled Eggs on Lettuce

EGGS

• 8 large eggs, hard-cooked and peeled
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 2 medium garlic cloves, minced
• 2½ teaspoons onion, minced
• 2½ tablespoons parsley, coarse chopped
• 2 to 3 tablespoons milk
• 2½ teaspoons mayonnaise
• 1½ teaspoons white wine vinegar
• Salt and pepper
• 2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil

DRESSING

• The leftover egg stuffing
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 2½ tablespoons milk
• 2½ teaspoons white wine vinegar
• Salt and pepper

SALAD

• 4 handfuls mixed greens

1. Cut the hard-cooked eggs in half lengthwise. Gently remove the yolks and place them in a medium bowl. Reserve the whites.
2. Add the mustard, garlic, onion, parsley, milk, mayonnaise and vinegar to the yolks. With a fork, crush everything together into a thick paste. Add salt and pepper to taste.
3. Pack the mixture back into the hollows of the egg whites, so the filling is even with the surface of the egg, not mounded. You will have leftover stuffing (this becomes the salad dressing).
4. In a large nonstick skillet, heat the oil over medium. Gently place the eggs in the pan, stuffed side down. Cook until the eggs are browned, 3 to 5 minutes. Sprinkle them with salt and pepper as they cook.
5. Combine in a large bowl the leftover egg stuffing with all the dressing ingredients. Add the salad greens to the bowl and toss. Heap them on a serving platter.
6. Gently lift the eggs from the pan, turn them filling side up, set them on the greens and serve.

Notes: Serves 4 as a main dish; 6 as a first course. 15 minutes prep time; 5 minutes stove time. The eggs could be stuffed a day ahead and refrigerated until you are ready to saute them.

Patricia Wells’ Double Celery Soup

Over the next several posts, I’m going to be sharing some of my favorite recipes. These are recipes that I don’t make that often but that I want to remember for special occasions. Sometimes when a favorite recipe is buried in a cookbook, it can be forgotten. So my reasons for sharing them on the blog are purely selfish — I just don’t want them to get lost or forgotten over time. But I hope you will enjoy them too.

This first recipe comes from Patricia Wells’ excellent cookbook Bistro Cooking. It combines two ingredients I don’t cook with very often: celery and celery root. This unexpected combination make an absolutely delicious soup that can make an appearance at a dinner party or perk up someone who’s feeling under the weather.

This soup is most appropriate for winter or early spring, so apologies for posting out of season. As a light meal, serve it with crisp crackers and a green salad. It makes 6-8 servings, and leftovers can be frozen.

Double Celery Soup

• 1 med. celery root (about 1 pound), peeled and diced
• 10 celery ribs, cubed
• 3 leeks, trimmed, rinsed and cut into thin rounds
• 1 large sprig of thyme, 3 bay leaves and several sprigs of parsley, tied with a string
• 2 quarts chicken stock
• Salt and pepper
• Handful of fresh chopped herbs for garnish

In a large saucepan, combine the celery root, celery, leeks and whole herbs. Add the stock and season gently. Bring to a simmer over medium-high. Simmer until the vegetables are soft, about 25 minutes. Sprinkle with the chopped herbs to serve.

Vegetable Gratin

At this time of year, we can be positively overrun with fresh, tasty vegetables. This side dish provides another option for enjoying them, and it is an appropriate accompaniment for almost any meal. A vegetable gratin is also one of the most delicious ways to serve eggplant. A little cheese makes everything taste better! Leftovers also taste great the next day, at room temperature, as a salad.

Vegetable Gratin

• 2 small onions, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 small or 1 medium eggplant, cut into thin rounds
• 4 small or 2 medium zucchini, cut into thin rounds
• 5 small or 3 medium tomatoes, thinly sliced
• 1 garlic clove, peeled and cut in half
• 2 tsp. fresh minced herbs
• Salt to taste
• ¼ cup olive oil
• Grated Parmesan cheese to taste (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Generously rub the bottom of a gratin dish with the cut sides of the garlic. Add the onion to the dish in a single layer. Sprinkle with salt and herbs, and drizzle with some of the olive oil. Continue layering with the eggplant, zucchini and tomatoes, again sprinkling each layer with salt, herbs and oil, finishing with a generous layer of Parmesan. Cover with aluminum foil and bake until the vegetables are very tender, about 1 hour. Remove the foil and broil for 2-3 minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbly.