Eating Dinner With My Family

My husband loved this!  I am  not the biggest baked potato fan, but still really liked it too.  It wasn't too much work, but it took some time since the potatoes take a long time to bake.   Poutine-Style Twice-Baked Potatoes 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 2 cups chicken stock or low-sodium broth 1 tablespoon veal demiglace (optional) 1/2 teaspoon finely chopped sage 1/2 teaspoon finely chopped thyme 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice 1 tablespoon heavy cream Kosher salt Freshly ground pepper 6 baked potatoes (about 1/2 pound each) 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed and chilled 1 cup milk, warmed 1/2 cup sour cream 3 ounces freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (1 cup) 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard Pinch of cayenne pepper 1/3 cup chopped chives Kosher salt Freshly ground pepper Vegetable oil, for frying 6 ounces thick-sliced bacon, cut crosswise 1/2 inch thick 1 cup shredded m...

I used the latke recipe on the blog , so no recipe tonight, just an admonishment to switch out some of your potatoes (or any time you can for that matter) for the healthier versions of  it like the sweet potato.  I tried this because I had a bunch of different potatoes (sweet, purple sweet and Yukon golds) and was determined to not orthodox them go to waste. We all do love a good latke (which in a moment of what could only be madness, I induced my daughter to eat them by calling them Hanukkah fries and has now stuck:) so latkes were what we decided to make with all these odds and ends. Now raw, these guys looked awesome and kind of like coleslaw.  Unfortunately they didn't look as cool once all golden brown from cooking. We topped them with an over medium egg because a runny yolk makes almost anything better.  The end result?  These were the best latkes we have ever had!  They didn't taste totally like a sweet potato, but they were infinitely...

Tonight we have a ham that my MIL also brought with her, but we have it with this potato gratin and salad.  If you have a mandolin, this is a snap to cut, and the only thing that takes a bit of time is the orderly laying of the slices.  (start in the center for the bottom layer)  It is tasty and tender and with out all the butter and cream I associate with a gratin.  It looks nice too:) Healthy Potato Gratin with Herbs 1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for the cake pan 1 large shallot, minced (about 1/3 cup) 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped thyme 1/2 teaspoon chopped rosemary 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth 2 pounds medium red potatoes, very thinly sliced Salt Freshly ground pepper 1. Preheat the oven to 400° and oil an 8-inch round cake pan, preferably of dark metal. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and oil the paper. 2. In a medium saucepan, heat the 1 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the shallot and cook o...

We have another first for me in my Front Porch Pickings basket, tatsoi.  I have had it mixed in to a variety of organic salad greens I have gotten from the store, but never all by its self.  So, I turned to my trusty Field to Feast book, and found this recipe for Potato and Tatsoi Pizza.  I didn't make the dough that was in the book, we were at a corn maze all day, but other than that, I followed the recipe exactly even though it cooked the pizza very differently than I do.  The result, the crust was a disaster, but the potato/tatsoi/ricotta combination was really great.  I think if I sliced the potatoes just a tad thinner on the mandoline, I could bake it for less time at 550 like I normally do and the potatoes will get done and crust would be better.  Then this would be really excellent!  We enjoyed dinner despite the uber crunchy bottom crust (the ends of the crust were hard like stale bread).  Also there was plenty of potatoes left....

For throwback Thursday, my son got to choose, and he choose a family favorite: Spicy Corn Chowder.  Other than getting the corn off 10 ears, the recipe isn't hard.  I suppose a slacker solution would be frozen, but cutting corn off the cob isn't that hard, and we even did it the day before.  We froze the cobs and are going to make corn broth with them later.  This soup is really amazing.  My family likes to add a few dashes of  Tabasco Chipotle Hot sauce.  It is smoky and with some heat that really makes the soup outstanding.  We don't bother with the cheese because it really doesn't need it. Spicy Corn Chowder 1/2 Lb thick-cut applewood-smoked bacon (6-slices), cut crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces 1 medium yellow onion cut into 1/2-inch dice 3 scallions thinly sliced 2 celery ribs cut into 1/2-inch dice 1 red bell pepper stemmed, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch d 1 Tsp fresh thyme 5 Cup fresh corn kernels (from 10 medium cobs) 1/2 Tsp pu...

I haven't made this marinade in years.  It came to me from a former manager of a Steak and Ale that was, then, working with my husband. They had used it on some steaks the cooked for an employee  cookout. I tried the steaks, loved them because they were tender and flavorful, and asked for the recipe. The funny thing was that my husband told me later the reasons the employees got steaks at the cookout, is they were being taken off the menu because of too many complaints of toughness. Now I guess it could be true I got the rare tender one in the bunch but I think it was the marinade. These particular steaks at the cookout were marinated for 3 days. I would only do that for really tough cuts of meat. I did this London broil for about 24 hours. The ends tasted to salty and too much like the marinade, but most of it was just right. I did not salt the meat at all.  I cooked it like I do my steaks (under the broiler) I just increased the time a bit and gave it a few minutes in t...

If you read my brief post on the tagine, you would know I had sausage issues with it.  I bought this raw chorizo they had at the store even thought I was sure the tagine called for cooked sausage.  I was quite annoyed with the tagine and my store.  Fast forward to today, and I am looking to make something with the superfluous chorizo I have.  I see this recipe in the to try file and I think it fits the bill nicely.  It was easy to cook and other than the potatoes taking like three times as long to brown up, the recipe was accurate and fast.  Let me tell you, once we tasted this, all was forgiven with the tagine.  I love that I made it because it caused this dinner to happen.  Oh myyyy!  If I were going to make any tweaks, I would have liked a tad more potatoes to meat in the hash.  It wasn't bad, but I tend to like less meat than most.  As it was, I was making it with only a pound of chorizo, and I used 1 pound 12 ounces potatoes wh...

My son choose (and photographed) tonight's throwback meal.  He loves these latkes.  I was at a benefit at the Ormond Wine Co for breast cancer research. They made chicken fingers to go with it.  So, just a short post today.  Mostly for my personal information and to share what we loved so much we had to have again.  Potato Latkes Our Note: double everything but the egg, use  only 4 of them.  otherwise it is too soggy. 2 Cup potatoes Peeled And Shredded (4 cups) 1 Tbl onion Grated (2 Tbsp) 3 eggs beaten (4) 2 Tbl flour (4 tbsp.) 1 1/2 Tsp Salt (3 tsp) 1/2 Cup oil for frying 1.Place the potatoes in a cheesecloth and wring, extracting as much moisture as possible. J2.In a medium bowl stir the potatoes, onion, eggs, flour and salt together. 3.In a large heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat, heat the oil until hot. Place large spoonfuls of the potato mixture into the hot oil, pressing down on them to form 1/4 to 1/2 inch t...

Today, I let my nerd flag fly high! (again;)  I saw that today, would be Frodo and Bilbo's birthday, so what does a proper foodie nerd do?  Why have a celebratory dinner of course!  My husband said he would happily have the same dinner we did for our The Hobbit on DVD meal 'An Unexpected Dinner'.   I wanted new recipe for the blog, but I tried to stay pretty close menu wise to the last one.  So, found this recipe for Julia Child's favorite roast chicken on F & W, and this month's issue had these mushrooms sautéed in red wine, and since I omitted po-tay-toes from the last dinner, I chose these amazing looking potatoes from my pintrest side dishes to try board.  And of course cheese, (the same as last time, a English Double Gloucester   with chives) bread and pickles. The chicken was wonderful, juicy and perfect!  The potatoes were amazing and I nearly died of delight when I tasted the mushrooms!  We made Hobbits of ourselves...

Another recipe from pinterest and fellow blogger.  We hadn't had any seafood this week and I happened to have some potatoes left over so it was perfect.  I'm not a baker, but the biscuits were super easy, and I liked them even though they do violate my no processed foods as they are make from Bisquick. My son adored the soup and ate 2 huge bowls. My husband liked it too. I thought it was quite good despite the fact that I'm not the hugest fan of chowders. It really is that I'm not a fan of chunky soups, so I did alter the recipe a bit because of that and used the immersion blender and gave the soup a quick pulse or two before I added the shrimp.   Everything came together pretty quick and my only complaint was there was tons of leftovers.  The boy was happy but, I don't think shrimp reheat well.    New England Shrimp Chowder onions Olive oil fish or chicken stock potatoes salt pepper fresh shrimp milk cheddar cheese minced pars...

My boy loves salmon!  He choose this recipe for dinner tonight and he loved it!  I am putting it in the fixable file. Why?  Well there was a ton of mustard to salmon ratio.  I think next time I would like whole grain mustard with the English powdered mustard I have. The recipe just says powered mustard, and perhaps the strong horseradish flavor in the English mustard coupled with the Dijon was what made it sinus cleaning!  :0. Once I scraped the mustard off the little girl's portion, she liked it. I ate my bites with the potatoes to help cut the mustard. (Giggle) The potatoes were another issue. I cooked them at least twice as long as recommended and they still were not done. I even bought the small "two bite" red potatoes and quartered those. Also, the crust didn't brown in the time allotted, so I turned on the broiler.  So, while not terrible, I think it could be fixed.  I liked this Salmon with Whole Grain Mustard much better.  The only t...

Let me start with it was a bit of work.  Mostly the work is getting corn off 10 cobs, and normally I would say if you want a short cut, try frozen, but the original recipe says that fresh is essential.  It was totally worth the work!  (click here for a fast way of getting all the silk off corn on the cob)  We all loved it.  I do have some recommendations if you make this.  First of all, the bacon topping was really enough for about half the soup because this makes quite a bit.  My husband shredded up some deli ham on his second bowl.  The chipotle powder only adds spice at the end of the bite, the soup doesn't taste very spicy, so I suggest you do what we did, and let everyone spice theirs up individually.  (my son turned his pink with sriracha!)  Also, have extra of the broth and half and half on hand.  It might just have been we had a fairly large potato that sucked up a lot of the liquid, or that it wasn't supposed to have much...

The boy still has cauliflower as one of his veto ingredients, even after the cauliflower soup he loved.  I decide we should make a cauliflower puree to go with steak and see if he likes it.  He ate FOUR helpings!!!  He loved it.  And, despite being almost half potatoes, it really tasted mostly of cauliflower. We all loved it.  The incredible thing to me, was no butter and very little cream , yet it tasted like the most creamy mashed potatoes.  A wonderful side dish.  I was thinking if there was any left over, which of course there was very little, I would like to try making knishes out of the puree.   I couldn't find the source of the recipe, sorry. Cauliflower Puree   1 small cauliflower (1 1/2 pounds) cut into 1-inch florets 1 Lb large Yukon Gold potatoes peeled and cut into 1/2 -inch dice 3 Tbl heavy cream Salt and freshly ground pepper 4 Cloves of Garlic, Roasted* 1. In a large saucepan, cover the ca...

I am making my Easter dinner tonight since my mom will be here but is leaving Easter morning to drive home. As I am looking in my fridge that is bursting at its seams, I discover I haven't used my kale from Front Porch Pickings ! I love kale, how did I miss it?! I was worried it might not be usable since I got it in my basket a week ago Friday and greens aren't known for their long shelf life. But they were perfect. My mom even said what beautiful kale. Just one more benefit to getting local produce. Since it had only recently left the ground, the produce lasts longer. But I digress! I decided to make it a simple meal of ham, colcannon and salad. I used a bit more kale than was called for in the recipe and liked it so much, I will in the future too. We had had a late lunch and my mom pointed out that the colcannon was a starch & a veg so we even skipped the salad. It was a simple but very tasty meal. I am totally in love with the kale & potato combination of flav...

Well it is St. Patrick's day and to make it a bit of a celebration, I opted for an Irish dish.  I wanted to try making colcannon but I figured this would be better received by the family.  While I have never made colcannon, I did love these Blarney Cakes, so colcannon sounded delightful.  Most of my crew still is a bit leery of greens, so instead this Martha Stewart recipe.   I halved the recipe and I threw the large bones in while the stew was cooking, but those are the only changes I made.  The boys loved it!  I thought it tasted pretty good but it was a bit greasy for me Irish Stew   3 Lb small Yukon gold potatoes peeled 2 medium onions (about 1 pound), halved lengthwise and c 2 1/2 Lb lamb shoulder cut into 1-inch cubes 2 1/2 Tsp coarse salt Freshly ground pepper 2 Tsp coarsely chopped fresh thyme 3 Cup homemade lamb stock or low-sodium store-bought chicken stock 2 Tbl finely chopped fresh curly- or flat leaf parsley 1...

Well I am not a fan of Guy Fieri, but I do sometimes watch Diners, Drive Ins and Dives.  I enjoy seeing the, sometimes bizarre, dishes from little places around the country.  This dish was one of those oddities that I had to try.  I happen to love pickles!  I was the only one in the family that was expecting to like this.  My husband's first comment was. "make that on a night I'm not home for dinner."  Well he was home tonight, and he decided to alter his comment to, "I'm not excited but I am intrigued."    To make a long story short,  it was alright.  The more we ate it, the better it became, but in the end I think the best recommendation I can give is that my husband liked it a lot better than he expected.  I don't plan on keeping the recipe, but I will look around for another pickle soup recipe as It think it has possibilities.  I wish I had read the reviews for the soup before I made it.  I was thinking that a res...

There were some lovely NY strip steaks on sale at Publix, so I decided to kind of do an ode to a steakhouse dinner tonight.  The potatoes were originally to be hasselback but after some gratuitous knife violence, my husband made latkes. (we loved them and they were what he wanted anyways so win-win)  My husband loves Cesar salad so I decided to make Cesar dressing but not go thought he  effort of making croutons.  I think croutons in salad are overrated anyways.  The latkes were the star of the show.  My daughter looked at them askance until I called them Hanukkah fries, but my son totally convinced her when he called them dradle fries.  (she is obsessed with the dradle song and makes hers our of everything she sees in the room.) I made the steaks like I always do: take them out of the fridge an hour before cooking, sprinkle both sides liberty with kosher salt and broil them 4" from the element on a wire rack (with a baking sheet under to catch drips) ...

I really liked the glaze for the salmon, and a runny egg on hash.... heaven.  My only issues with the dish, not enough of the bacon and apple to potato, and the salmon was a bit over done and annoying to cook on the grill.  I did use wild salmon, and those filets are much thinner, and the fillets didn't have skin on them wich also made grilling even more annoying.  We all liked the dish well enough and will make it again but with some small changes.  I think next time we will reduce the amount of potato.  That way, we have more of the tasty bits with the potato.  I really got out of the blogging groove, and now that there is a new year, I need to get back in to the groove.  Alas, tonight is not that time, so anothere short and sweet post:) Salmon, Bacon And Potato Hash 2 lb baking potatoes Salt 4    thick slices of bacon,cut into 1-inch pieces 1/4 c  vegetable oil 1    onion,cut into 1-inch dice 1  ...

This recipe was full of snafus.  Lets start with the fact my husband thought it sounded awful and kept suggesting we go out to eat on the evenings I planned to make it.  I of course took him up on those offers;).  Well he is working tonight and I have the stuff to make it, so here it is.  I had some problems when cooking this.  Lets start with the fact that the leftover feta I was planning on using up in this recipe was off.  It smelled pretty bad, so in to the garbage with it.  Now this is me: Me: "its late, and I'm not going out just for feta." ME: "it won't be right" Me: "surely one of the many cheeses in the fridge will work!" ME:  "Probably only the goat cheese you have for another recipe" Me: "I can get more tomorrow" ME: "go to the store, if it's not right (read good) you can't tell your husband I told you so!" Me: (thinking) That's a good point! (out loud) "let's have a glass of  win...

Tonight, for my darling husband, I made the French Fries With Bulgogi And Caramelized Kimchi  that he loved so much, but we tried the "restaurant" method of a two temperature fry.  Much like Jack Sprat and his wife, my husband seem to disagree on a lot of food items.  For example, I love the frosting on cake, in fact cake is a vehicle for frosting, he scrapes it off.  (what a weirdo, I know;)  I could go on, but how it applies to this recipe is that I liked these better and he preferred the start in cold oil ones we make last time.  We agreed, however, that this method cooked them much faster.  I can only assume that's because we had less in the pan at a time.  We didn't have peanut oil, we used canola.  It is interesting to note, that I was told by an allergist that peanut oil does not affect people with peanut allergies.  (at least heat pressed oil and any oil heated) I would check with your doctor first of course, but our brush with a...