128. Roasted Potatoes with Garlic and Rosemary

Date Cooked: March 16, 2010
Page: 186
Rating: A

I don’t like potatoes. Well that used to be the case. Let me try and narrow down my distaste a bit. I detest potatoes boiled until the only thing holding the dried out, flavorless vegetable matter together is the flavorless starch that is a potato. I grew up with bad potatoes for too many meals and I feel that I have unjustly stereotyped all potatoes in the same manner, and as I have mentioned before, French fries aren’t potatoes. But these roasted potatoes came out PERFECT. Notice how I typed that all in capital letters. They were that perfect. The last time I cooked roasted potatoes was for Christmas dinner back in 2008. The difference between these ones and then (aside from the garlic and rosemary), was this time I didn’t have to cook for a dozen people and the potatoes had ample room on the baking sheet. Something that absolutely improved their crispiness.

I started by halving a bunch of small potatoes and tossing with extra virgin olive oil. The potatoes then spent 20 minutes roasting on a baking sheet cover with foil before being removed for their first turning. With fewer potatoes to flip I was able to give them individual attention and ensure each potato was comfortable on the baking sheet. After another 15 minutes in the oven they received their second flip before 5 more minutes in the oven.

While the potatoes were roasting I chopped some fresh rosemary and made a garlic paste of minced garlic and salt. These I placed in a bowl and when the potatoes were done in the oven I tossed everything together.

Rating: A. I liked these and they could not have been easier to prepare. My oldest ate these without issue and actually asked for a few from my plate. The crispiness of the exterior was perfect and the flesh was soft and creamy. The rosemary didn’t do much for me and there was not enough garlic but those were minor points. I will make these much more often as a dinner side. I will also find ways to spice these up.

124. Boiled Potatoes with Butter and Chives

Date Cooked: January 10, 2010
Page: 190
Rating: B

While I enjoy roasted potatoes or a fully loaded baked potato, I don’t share the same enthusiasm for boiled potatoes. In fact I will blame plain boiled potatoes for my rice preference. As a child, potatoes were not on my list of approved foods, and to be honest this was a short list. I felt they were plain and boring and unless they were scalloped I dreaded eating them. In case you were wondering about French fries, as a child they don’t count as potatoes, just ask my son. Anyway I have never cooked boiled potatoes before. Never. Well except every time I make mashed potatoes I guess.

The new potatoes were put in a big pot with salt and enough cold water to cover by an inch. The water was brought to a boil and then covered and simmered for about 15 minutes. During this time I had to move the pot from one burner to another to make room on my congested stovetop and this interrupted the simmering but I don’t really think it mattered too much. Once done I drained them and then cut each HOT potato in half. It really was amazing how fast I could slice each potato in half without suffering any cuts and only minimal heat damage to my fingertips. I definitely don’t have cook hands. These potatoes were then tossed with butter and chives.

Rating: B. Not bad for basic boiled potatoes. The chives were a required addition. I won’t say I am a convert to boiled potatoes, but they are a dinner option again. The kids ate them with the same enthusiasm I used to have though. Which is to say there were more left on their plate than in their belly.

102. Spicy Fries

Date Cooked: September 21, 2009
Page: 195
Rating: B+

This week we decided to try something we keep meaning to do but always fail horribly at, a meal plan. This week we have decided to start simple and figure out just dinners. So on Monday night we decided to have homemade chicken strips and some French fries. This was the second attempt to cook French fries in our deep fryer. In case you didn’t know, I highly recommend the self cleaning deep-fryer from T-Fal, makes deep-frying easy, and clean-up manageable.

The first step is to cut the potatoes into fries and then soak them in cold water to help release some of the starch and ensure the potato cells are hydrated. The process this time around was much easier because I knew what I was doing. The fries went into the deep fryer for 9 minutes for their first round and then I let them drain on paper towel while the rest of the meal was prepared. When it was time to eat, the fries got another 5 minutes in the deep-fryer at a higher temperature to crisp them up.

Now my kids wouldn’t like the spicy seasoning so they ate their fries with some gourmet vinegar. The spicy seasoning was a simple mix of cumin, paprika, chili powder and cayenne pepper. For my fries I tossed them with the seasoning and then sprinkled a little more on top for good coverage.

Rating: B+. While the fries turned out much better this time the seasoning was nothing special. Probably because the seasoning didn’t contain salt and I didn’t salt the fries too much.

75. French Fries

Date Cooked: April, 5, 2009
Page: 195
Rating: A-

Ever since I made the Buffalo Wings I was seriously in the market for a deep fryer. But I needed to have a good one that was easy to use and even easier to clean up. Well Canadian Tire had a sale on the T-Fal EZ Clean model and my wife and I broke down and bought it. So of course we had to break it in immediately and what else should you make but French fries.

Well this recipe was simple in theory but lengthy in first time execution. I started with potatoes… of which we had none, so I started with a trip to the closest grocery store. Inevitably, whenever I want to quickly grab something from the grocery store, that is when my son wants to come along. Regular trips to the grocery store are met with negotiations about the conditions under which he will come (he’s 5 and doesn’t accept that simply being his parents is reason enough.) While the run through the grocery store was quick, check out was a nightmare. We went through the self-checkout and every time I tried to pay, my son would sit on the scale, or grab a bag from the scale and the computer would freak-out that I was adding or taking away items. It literally took 7-8 attempts to get my son to remain motionless long enough for me to cash out. He was excited for French fries.

At home with potatoes in had I set to work. The potatoes got driven through the French fry cutter that came with the deep-fryer. That is the last time that gadget will ever see the light of day when it comes to making French fries. Thank god it came free. I can’t go into details about because I will end up rambling nonsensical crap as my blood pressure rises. If you took your dullest butter knife and then tried to cut potatoes with its handle, that would approximate its cutting efficiency.

Once the potatoes had been transformed into fry shapes I rinsed them in water to remove the excess starch and then let them soak in ice water for 30 minutes. Once bath time was over they were thoroughly dried. As they were being dried I was heating up the oil for round one. I had a lot of fries so I split them into two batches. This actually worked out well because I could cook the second batch while the first batch was resting between oil immersions.

The fries were cooked at 320°F for about 10 minutes. They were limp and yellow. The oil was heated to 375°F and the fries were cooked a second time for about 5 minutes until golden brown and crispy. The fries were laid out on paper towel and then liberally coated in salt and pepper and then served to a hungry family.

Rating: A- Everyone loved them. They turned out really nice for a first attempt at fries and I look forward to cooking them more often. The best recipe book is particular about resting times and such but with experience I think I could whip these out fairly quick. Especially since after round one you can actually freeze them.

** The vinegar in the background is from Mr. Vinegar. We picked up several bottles of flavored vinegars from them in the fall when we attended the One of a Kind show in Toronto. The spring show just finished up last weekend. I highly recommend them. I never knew how good vinegar could taste.

48. Roasted Potatoes

Date Cooked: December 25, 2008
Page: 185
Rating: B

I’ve been so busy that I actually I forgot I had cooked these from the Book and only realized I had these to post when I retrieved all my holiday pictures off my camera. So I get to post about this instead of the delicious soup that I was ready to post about. Mmmm… I’m not a big soup fan but I sure ate a lot of this particular soup… but more about that soon enough. Today we are going to discuss the Roasted Potatoes.

Growing up I was not a potato fan. We ate a lot of potatoes and unfortunately they weren’t always that special. So I always assumed potatoes to be a bland stomach filler. Every once and awhile though we had these awesome roasted potatoes, and I had hope to recapture that. Let’s see if I could surpass a memory.

This dish is pretty simple. Cut up potatoes. Toss potatoes in oil, salt and peeper. Peeper? I think I meant pepper. Then spread them out in a single layer on a shallow roasting pan (or in my case a stone baking sheet). Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Then uncover and bake for 15 minutes. Then flip the potatoes and bake an additional 15 minutes. Then put them in a bowl to serve. Simple.

Of course because this was for Christmas dinner I had a ton of potatoes to cook and they were crammed in pretty tight on two baking sheets. Flipping them resulted in numerous potato casualties as they kept hitting the floor.

This particular recipe did highlight something I truly need to work on. Portion size. Christmas dinner was for 7 adults and two young children. I think I made enough potatoes for 20 people… If all they ate were potatoes. But of course who eats only potatoes for a meal besides the Irish (my wife’s family is Irish so I can get away with saying that.) We had 8lbs of prime rib roast along with vegetable dishes and some truly sickening deserts (and I mean sickening in a gloriously indulgent way.) I should not have doubled the recipe, I probably could have halved the original. None of this would have been an issue except that we left the next day for a weeks holiday. Anyway I am rambling I think.

Rating: B. These potatoes turned out nice. They were crispy on the outside and nice and tender on the inside. They probably would have been a bit crispier if they hadn’t been crowded on the baking sheet. Otherwise these are pretty standard fare and will probably be made again many times as a food staple. Oh yeah, did they remind me of the roasted potatoes from my childhood… no, I haven’t achieved that, then again everything is better in your memory than in reality.

44. Rustic Potato-Leek Soup

Date Cooked: November 28, 2008
Page: 52
Rating: B+

I’m going to start by saying I am not a huge fan of soups. I don’t dislike them. I just don’t really find myself craving them or feeling satisfied after eating them. I may really love the soup but rarely will I take a second helping. So this recipe was a bit odd for me. I really wanted to try it. It mostly had to do with leeks. I have never had leeks before (this could be a lie because it is possible they were in some dish I had eaten before that I didn’t know leeks were in) and I really wanted to try them. I figured this soup was a good choice for trying leeks and I am very behind in the soup chapter of the book.

The recipe was extremely easy. Pretty much simmer leeks and potatoes in chicken stock until ready. I have made much more difficult soups before (including gumbo and corn chowder from the book) so this was really simple, even for me. To begin though I had to wash and chop leeks. Since this was my first time handling leeks I wasn’t sure exactly the best method to do this. I chopped the leeks up to the recommended size and then threw the whole batch into a large bowl… and then moved them to a larger bowl once I realized that when they begin to separate they take up even more space. I rinsed them well and then carefully removed the leeks from the top leaving the sediment on the bottom of the bowl. I performed this twice to be sure they were clean.

The leeks then get sautéed to make them nice and tender and the recipe specifically states not to brown them. As much as I am learning I still struggle at times with simple timing and gauging of food cooking times. These leeks began to brown. I threw in some flour to coat the leeks before slowly stirring in the chicken stock. The potatoes and a bay leaf were added last and the whole pot was brought to a boil before being simmered for a few minutes. Once done it was left covered to stand before being served.

It’s hard to write about such a simple dish.

Rating: B+. As far as soups go it was very good. This was simple comfort food for a cold day. The leeks were nice and I can definitely say that I will use this vegetable again in future meals.

38. Garlic-Rosemary Roast Chicken with Potatoes

Date Cooked: November 9, 2008
Page: 310
Rating: A-

My wife was returning from a weekend away and I figured what would be nicer for a Sunday dinner than to come home to a comforting roast chicken. I probably should have tried to source a whole chicken for roasting prior to making this decision. Let me tell you my story.

The book continually discusses the merits of cutting up your own chicken and so has therefore brainwashed me into thinking whole chickens are a common supermarket staple. Seems that convenience has very nearly taken over our supermarkets. It took me 4 stops at our leading grocery store chains to finally find a decent chicken for roasting. I was a little shocked. When I asked the “kid” at the first store if they had any whole chickens he was confused because they had all the parts pre-packaged on the shelf. I had to tell him I was roasting it and then he ever so helpfully suggested a turkey. Interesting, we as a society have moved to a point where a roast chicken is a novelty lower on the chain than turkey. Well I finally found a nice sized, over-priced, vacuum sealed chicken all prepped for roasting with a little plastic pop-up thermometer already embedded in the breast.

The first step in this recipe was of course to brine the chicken. I am a HUGE proponent of brining fowl. This brine required the addition of rosemary and garlic. The salt, rosemary and garlic were placed in a bag and then bludgeoned with a meat tenderizer. I didn’t have a meat tenderizer so out came the mallet. I stopped myself before I started because my youngest was having his afternoon nap… but he’s a heavy sleeper so I took the ingredients to task. Pounding the *expletive* out of the ingredients certainly was fun but I did stop myself before I turned it into a paste. It really just needed a light bruising. The mixture was dissolved in water and the chicken was rinsed and added, before being covered and placed in the fridge for an hour.

While the chicken was brining I prepped the rest of the ingredients. The chicken needed a rosemary garlic paste that would be added under the skin prior to roasting. In addition this recipe roasts potatoes in the pan while the chicken cooks. The paste was very straight forward except it used oil instead of butter so it was not really a paste. Spreading oil under the skin was really messy and most of the oil drips out and into the pan. I suppose this was good for the potatoes but definitely not good for my lungs (you’ll hear why in a second). Whole garlic cloves were also thrown in with the potatoes.

The chicken was removed from its bath. Rinsed and patted dry and then the oil paste spread under the skin. This didn’t really work all that well as most of the oil just spilled down the sides of the chicken and into the pan. The chicken was set breast side down and then placed in the oven. Within 5 minutes my house was starting to smoke. The oven was completely filled with greasy blue smoke as the oil from the paste was burning in the roasting pan. At fifteen minutes I had to remove the chicken to add the potatoes to the roasting pan and when the door opened all that smoke burst into the kitchen. I was prepared though. I had all the windows in the kitchen open by this point. Once the potatoes were in the pan the smoking subsided substantially and I was able to breathe a little easier… literally. 15 minutes later the chicken was flipped and then cooked for the remaining 20-30 minutes. I removed the chicken when I felt it was done and checked the temperature with a meat thermometer. Perfect temperature… but the pop-up temperature indicator hadn’t sprouted yet. I wasn’t placing any faith in it though since I figure they error on the side of overdone. After several minutes of resting though the indicator finally popped. The potatoes were plated along with the carved chicken (hacked into six pieces).

Rating: A- The chicken was great and full of flavor. As I will keep saying I really believe brining a chicken is worth the extra step and time. The potatoes were nicely roasted and tasted amazing. The roasted garlic though was a little overdone leaving little to spread on bread. It was a little hard but still full of garlic flavor. I will definitely roast chicken more often.

34. Home Fries

Date Cooked: November 1st, 2008
Page: 659
Rating: A

I’ll start out by saying I loved these! First time through this recipe was a little time consuming but the end result was definitely worth it. So let me tell you how this excellent dish came together. The recipe has a little science lesson on potatoes and water and explains how to get crisp exteriors and moist fluffy interiors to the home fries. So once the potatoes are scrubbed and diced they are plunked into water and brought to a boil. The key here is that the water starts out at room temperature and then gets brought to a boil with the potatoes in it. As soon as the water begins to boil the potatoes are drained and set aside for the next step. The potatoes are not to be boiled.

In a skillet onions are sautéed in butter until browned and then set aside. The potatoes get dumped into the skillet and in a single layer are cooked for about 6 minutes then turned, cooked and turned some more. Once cooked through the onions, salt and pepper and some paprika are added. The ingredients are tossed to coat and then served. Simple and delicious. The potatoes came out perfectly! I admit they might have been a tad overcooked but since I like them a little crispier they were perfect.

I did slightly deviate from the book though in a very subtle way but I think it may have helped. When I was cooking the bacon from a previous post I had one slice left in the package that wouldn’t fit on the baking sheet so I quickly fried it up in the skillet before the potatoes were added. The bacon fat added a little flavor to the potatoes that was nice.

Rating: A. These were great and I look forward to cooking the next couple variations of this recipe. I will definitely be making these more often on weekends.

I’ve been reading through my older posts and I am noticing that I have fewer mishaps in the kitchen while cooking. I feel my posts are actually a little duller because of it. I’m going to have to tackle some harder dishes.

02. Mashed Potatoes - You Need A Recipe For That?

Date Cooked: August 19th, 2008
Recipe: 2
Page: 187

Recipe #2? Where did recipe #1 go? I’ll get to that one in a later post but on with the first posted recipe from the ‘The New Best Recipe’.

When I asked my wife to check the recipe for mashed potatoes she answered back with title of this post. It’s not that I couldn’t cook potatoes, it’s just that I am now trying to cook the ‘Best’ mashed potatoes. The recipe was pretty straight forward but there were a few things of note to a mediocre cook like myself.

It started with boiling the potatoes and then peeling them afterwards. Not a bad process but it does take considerable more time since you are handling a hot potato while trying to peel back the skin (which once I got going was pretty easy). The book suggests using a fork to spear the potato while you peel it but I found my potatoes kept splitting, so I just tried to hold them. Now that I think about it a glove would have helped. I also found that you waste less potato when peeling after boiling.

The recipe recommended using a food ricer / food mill to process the potatoes into a smooth texture but I don’t have one so I used the tools at hand (my arm and a potato masher) and went to work. This part didn’t bother me since I don’t mind a slightly lumpy mashed potato.

In the end the potatoes were good but I can’t really say they were the ‘Best’, at least not for my wife and I. With the amount of cream (1 cup) and butter (1/2 cup) we found them a little heavy. I thought they tasted great but we prefer a lighter, fluffier potato. In the end a rather good start to my little project.

The Next Day:
I was a little surprised. These reheated in the microwave for my lunch at work the next day really well. Probably all that fat in them. Normally I find reheated mashed potatoes really dry. Not these.