Potato Casserole

I have made a breakfast casserole using some of these same flavors for years. Instead of bread I wanted to use potatoes today. If you want to make this a one dish meal, just add some chopped ham, bacon or cooked sausage.

Ingredients:

4 medium to large russet potatoes, scrubbed

½ cup light sour cream

1 can (10 ¾ ounces) condensed 98% fat free cream of mushroom soup, undiluted

1/3 cup fat free half and half (or regular half and half or milk-whatever you have)

2 green onions, chopped

1 ½ cups 2% shredded cheddar cheese, divided

Salt and pepper to taste

¾ cup panko bread crumbs

Directions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Pierce potatoes all over and place on a baking tray. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a fork glides through easily. Remove from oven and let cool.

Mix the panko with ½ cup of the cheddar cheese and set aside.

When potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut them in half lengthwise and scoop the flesh into a mixing bowl (save those skins—you can spray them with cooking spray and bake off for potato skins). Add the sour cream, soup, half and half, green onions, 1 cup of the cheddar cheese and salt and pepper to taste. Don’t worry about getting the mixture smooth-you want it kind of chunky-smooth. Pour the potato mixture into a greased 1.5 quart baking dish and cover with foil. Bake for 40 minutes. Remove the foil and sprinkle the panko and cheese mixture on top. Return to the oven for 20 minutes or until the top is golden and the sides of the casserole are bubbly.

Cheesy Chicken and Bacon Pockets

I'm not going to flatter myself by thinking there are a lot of people out there watching my blog, but there may be a few who are asking themselves "What the heck is that crazy woman doing--she's posted 3 recipes today that are all throwbacks to another era". Well, today is Mother's Day, so I'm gonna party like it's 1969!! If you wish to throw a "Way Back Party" sometime soon, may I make some recommendations? 

Drinks: Cocktails, definitely cocktails. Maybe Dirty Martinis, Old Fashioneds or Whiskey Sours.

Music: Frank, Dino and Rosemary Clooney ('Come on a my house.....')

Appetizers: Cream Cheese, Olive and Pecan Stuffed Celery, Cheddar Cheesettes, Spanish Style Bacon Wrapped Dates

Salad: Shaved Fennel, Celery and Artichoke Salad or Grilled Romaine with Bagna Cauda Viniagrette

Main Dish: This one. Definitely this one. 

Dessert: Banoffee Pie

Ingredients (serves 4, with maybe some extra filling which you should definitely eat on crackers!):

4 ounces cream cheese (1/2 of a large package), softened

1 or 2 teaspoons of  milk

2 cups cooked, cubed chicken or turkey

½ cup shredded cheddar cheese

¼ cup chopped green onion

5 or 6 slices bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled

1 (6.5 ounce) can of mushrooms, drained

Salt and pepper to taste

1 (8 ounce) can crescent rolls

Cooking spray

4 Tablespoons seasoned bread crumbs

Directions: Stir together the cream cheese and milk in a mixing bowl. Carefully stir in the chicken, cheddar cheese, green onion, bacon, mushrooms and salt and pepper. Chill for one hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray. Roll out the crescent rolls to make 4 rectangles. Flatten the rectangles out slightly with your hands, sealing the perforations and any little holes. Spoon about ½ cup of the chicken mixture into the center of each rectangle. Pull the corners of the dough up to the center top and twist together slightly. Pinch all the seams closed as best you can.

Place the pockets onto the baking sheet and spray with a little cooking spray. Sprinkle about 1 Tablespoon of bread crumbs on each and give them another light spritz of cooking spray. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Note: you can completely do these ahead—just prepare the bundles as directed early in the day and then refrigerate. Then bake off when you are ready.

Ambrosia Salad

Ingredients (makes 6-8 servings):

1 can (20 ounces) pineapple chunks, drained

2 cans (11 ounces each) mandarin oranges, drained

1 ½ cups mini marshmallows

½ cup shredded coconut

Maraschino cherries to garnish, if desired

Directions: Mix all the ingredients together and chill for an hour before serving.

Tip: Buy the fruits in their own natural juice and freeze the juices together in an ice cube tray. Drop some of those, a banana and some coconut milk into the blender for a great smoothie. There, that’s the healthy bit for today. Done. 

Cream Cheese, Olive and Pecan Stuffed Celery

Ingredients:

4 ounces (1/2 of a large package) cream cheese, softened

¼ cup mayonnaise

2 teaspoons liquid from a jar of green olives

½ cup chopped pecans

½ cup chopped green olives

4 or 5 large celery stalks

A few chopped pecans for garnish

Directions: Mix the cream cheese, mayo, and olive liquid together in a bowl. Add in the pecans and olives. Use a knife to fill the celery stalks (tip: this works better if you have made sure the inside of the celery stalks are completely dry). Chill for at least one hour and then cut into 3 or 4 inch pieces. Garnish with chopped pecans. 

Glazed Tofu Banh Mi Sandwich

Wow. There is so much flavor going on here. The glazed tofu has a beautifully crispy, savory crust, the pickled veggies are pungent, the fresh cucumbers and radishes give it a brightness and the sweet chile mayo adds just the heat this sandwich needs. Think you don’t like tofu? Try it this way. Just once. For me.

Ingredients (makes 4 sandwiches):

For the pickled vegetables:

½ cup rice wine vinegar

1 Tablespoon granulated sugar

Fresh cracked black pepper to taste

Pinch of salt

1 cup shredded carrots

1 cup thinly sliced onions

½ cup shredded cabbage

For the tofu:

3 Tablespoons hoisin sauce

2 teaspoons soy sauce

Few drops of toasted sesame oil

2 teaspoons canola oil

1 (8 ounce) package extra firm tofu, drained between several layers of paper towels

For the sauce:

½ cup mayonnaise

2 Tablespoons Thai sweet chile sauce

Other components:

1 baguette, cut into 4 pieces horizontally (or 2 demi baguettes, each cut in half)

16 thin slices of cucumber

12 thin slices of radish

4 lime wedges

Directions:

Pickled Vegetables: Heat the rice wine vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and turn off the heat. Let cool until the pickling juice is room temperature and then pour it over the carrots, onions and cabbage in a non-reactive (i.e., glass or food safe plastic bowl). Refrigerate at least 1 hour.

Tofu: Mix the hoisin, soy and sesame oil in a small bowl. Heat the canola oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cut the tofu into 16 slices (start by going once lengthwise and then cut ¼ slices down the block-each piece should be about 2 inches long and ¼ inch thick). Working in two batches, pat each piece of tofu dry with a paper towel and then add 8 of the slices to the skillet. Cook until the bottom becomes golden (about 4-5 minutes) then flip. Brush the top of each slice of tofu with some of the hoisin mixture and cook for 4-5 more minutes. Flip again and brush the other side of the tofu slices with the hoisin mixture and cook for 2-3 more minutes. Flip once more, cook 2-3 minutes and then remove to a plate. Repeat with the remaining tofu, adding a touch more oil if you need to.

Sauce: Stir together the mayo and sweet chile sauce. Refrigerate until needed.

Assembly: Slice the baguette pieces in half like a sandwich roll. Pull out a little bit of the bread from the insides of each piece and discard. Place some of the pickled veggies (slightly drained) onto one side of the sandwich and top with 4 tofu slices. Top that with a little more pickled veggies, 4 cucumber slices and 3 radish slices. Spread sauce on the top piece of bread. Squirt some lime juice over the radishes and close the sandwich up.

Potatoes Anna

Who knew an elegant side dish could be so simple? Honestly, it took me longer to write this recipe down than it did to assemble the whole dish. This potato cake has a thin crust that almost shatters when you break into it, yet the interior is soft and buttery. So perfect.

Ingredients (serves 4):

2 teaspoons (or more to taste) kosher salt

¼ teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper

½ teaspoon dried thyme

3 medium russet potatoes, peeled (about 2 pounds or a little less)

¼ cup plus 1 Tablespoon clarified butter, melted

Just a note before you get started: You are only lightly brushing on the butter and sprinkling on the salt mixture. Depending on your taste, you may not need to use all of the butter or salt mix.

Directions: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Combine the salt, pepper and thyme in a small bowl and set aside.

Using the 1 TB of clarified butter, generously lube the bottom and sides of a 9 inch (or so) cast iron skillet.

Slice the potatoes into rounds as thinly as you can (a mandoline is great here). Starting at the center of your skillet, place some of the potato slices into an even layer on the bottom of the skillet, overlapping slightly (make a circle that starts in the center, kind of like how the Yellow Brick Road started). Lightly brush some of the melted butter onto the potato layer and sprinkle with some of the salt mix—how much depends on how salty you like your potatoes. Repeat layering the potatoes until you have about 5-6 layers. FYI, for your last brush of butter, make sure you coat any exposed potato edges on the side so they don’t burn.

Heat the skillet on the stove using medium high heat until you can hear it start to sizzle (about 3 minutes). Press down with a spatula.  Cover the skillet loosely with foil and, using pot holders (safety first!), transfer to the oven. Bake for 15 minutes. Drop the heat to 375 and cook 15 minutes more.

Remove the foil, pat down the layers with a spatula and cook for 30 more minutes. Remove from the oven. Let cool for just a few minutes and then slide your spatula around the sides of the potatoes and underneath them to loosen. Place a serving plate that is slightly bigger than the skillet on top of the pan. Using pot holders (yes, again), turn the skillet over so the beautiful brown bottom of the potatoes becomes the top. Slice into wedges. 

Clarified Butter (or Ghee)

Why bother with clarified butter? One, because once the milk solids (the foam and the solids at the bottom of the pan) are removed you have butter with a much higher tolerance for heat—it won’t burn as easily as plain butter. Two, you get this nice clear butter flavor that is just decadent. If you want to toast nuts, seeds, spices, veggies, make curry, make dal, etc. this is what you want to use.

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

Directions:

Place the butter in a medium sauce pan over medium low to medium heat. Just let it melt until it starts to foam-don’t stir. Skim the foam off with a spoon and discard (I use a small bowl for this). Slowly pour the clear butter into a heat proof bowl stopping just before you get to the white milk solids at the bottom of the pan (I like stainless, but whatever—just don’t use plastic or anything that will melt when hot liquid is poured in). Let the butter cool for a few minutes and pour into a glass jar.