My late father-in-law once told me (before he was late, of course) that where he grew up in Illinois, "We always said, 'It ain't a meal without a potato.'"
Here are a few more potato recipes:
Oven-roasted Potatoes: Serves four
Ingredients
1/2 cup olive oil
2 cups dry red or dry white wine
6 good-sized potatoes, sliced chunky (about 8 chunks per potato)
4 tbs. of butter, margarine or diet margarine
seasoned salt
garlic powder
chili powder
pepper
dash of paprika
1. Heat the oven to 350˚ F.
2. Pour the oil and wine into a roasting pan or dish that you can cover (aluminum foil stretched tight across the top will do).
3. Put the potatoes into the pan or dish.
4. Dollop or lather the tops of them with the butter or margarine.
5. Add the seasoning on top of that.
6. Cover and bake for 45 minutes. Stir, then bake uncovered for another 15 minutes.
Instant Garlic Mashed Potatoes: Serves four
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups of water
1/2 cup of milk or milk-free substitute
1 tbs. of butter, margarine or diet margarine
2 cups of instant mashed potatoes
1/8 cup of real bacon bits (optional)
1 tbs. of garlic puree or crushed garlic
paprika
pepper
seasoned salt
1. Pour the milk, water and butter into a saucepan and slowly bring to a boil.
2. Measure out the mashed potatoes and seasoning in a cup.
3. When the liquid boils, pour in the seasoned potatoes, stir once, remove the saucepan from the heat and cover tightly.
4. Amaze your friends, who thought you could only get these at restaurants that had a l', lé, chez or Claude in its name.
The Incredibly Difficult Baked Potato: Serves 4
I hope the mere presence of this side dish in a cookbook you're trying to take seriously — against all odds — isn't offensive; but the sad truth is, some of our countrypersons out there have never baked a potato to their satisfaction. Either it came out so that the pulp inside was still too hard, or the skin never got appealingly crispy or, worse yet, the damn thing actually detonated when they opened the oven door, peppering these hapless souls with little buckshots of tater tots, not to mention pellets of flop-sweat.
Here are some ways to avoid turning your kitchen into a tuber battlefield:
1. Make sure you're using actual baking potatoes. Sure, any potato will eventually bake; but the kind your kindly grocer calls baking potatoes have a skin and heft more appropriate for your ministrations.
2. Before you bake them — at 400˚ F, usually for about an hour — rinse or lightly scrub them (with water only), and "grease" them with a little butter, margarine, diet margarine or even an extremely light coating of olive oil.
3. Pierce the surface in several places, with an icepick or knife (some people do this halfway through the baking process instead, which probably works even a little better, but I'm assuming that, like me, you'd forget). This will go a long way toward explosion prevention: your family, guests and air-raid block warden will thank you for this.
4. When the potatoes are done, before serving them, slice them open lengthwise and, using a fork, trowel around in the flesh a little, as though you're churning up slightly hard soil before planting. Then put a big dollop of butter or margarine on them, and serve with accouterments on the side so that everyone gets to dress it up his or her own way (most of us never outgrew our need to play with dolls — or with potatoes).
5. Some suggested amenities: cheap caviar; horseradish; chives; chopped green onions (scallion); real bacon bits; mild cheddar cheese sauce (slowly melt a block of cheddar cheese in a small saucepan, stir and serve); sour cream or plain yogurt.
Semi-instant Potato Cugel (Pie): Serves four
This is the lazy version of a traditional Russian-Jewish side dish — or, put another way, this is how a traditionally lazy Jew like me makes a side dish, without Russian to do so.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups of cool water
1/2 cup of milk or milk-free substitute
1 tbs. of butter, margarine or diet margarine
2 cups of instant mashed potatoes
1/4 cup dry-cereal crumbs
2 eggs, beaten within an inch of their lives
1/8 cup of minced onion or dried onion flakes
1/8 cup of real bacon bits (optional)
garlic powder
paprika
pepper
seasoned or regular salt
1. Pour the milk, water and butter into a saucepan and slowly bring to a boil.
2. Measure out the mashed potatoes and seasoning in a cup.
3. When the liquid boils, pour in the seasoned potatoes, stir once, remove the saucepan from the heat and cover tightly.
4. Heat the oven to 350˚ F.
5. Lightly grease an 8" x 8" baking pan with margarine or shortening.
6. Pour the dry-cereal crumbs into the pan and work them around on the floor and walls of the pan.
7. Spoon the mashed potatoes into a big bowl, then pour the eggs, onion, bacon bits and spices in and mix up the whole thing (an algebra word problem should do it).
8. Pour this mixture into the baking pan and drizzle a little extra oil on top.
9. Bake for about a half hour or more, until the sides of the cugel can be separated from the walls of the pan.
A Glossary of Useful, Common and Completely Obvious Cooking Terms with which You Can Dazzle Your Enemies and Irritate Your Friends
This Week: Tarragon to Toddy
Tarragon - What Scarlett O'Hara refused to admit to herself after the Civil War. Also: an herb that adds so much zest to so many foods, its very name signifies excellence — e.g., "That managing supervisor is an absolute tarragon of virtue."
Tempura - A batter for deep-fat frying, but also a kind of paint. Your dinner guests will appreciate your knowing the difference.
Thickening - What it will be if you therve the wrong tempura. Toddy - A warm drink to take the chill off the day. Made with syrup, cinnamon, hot water, lemon, cloves and, most significantly, brandy, rum or rye. (If you use brandy, rum and rye, it will take the chill off two days, because that's how much time will elapse before you regain consciousness.) Also: the nickname of the Junior League president's husband (see Muffin).
| A Godengo Technology | Email Marketing powered by StreamSend
