To many people, “smashed potatoes” are just another more violent name for mashed potatoes, especially when the skins are left in, but those aren’t real smashed potatoes. These are real smashed potatoes, and they’re spectacular.
And, as always, enjoy! If you want more information about why the blog format has changed, and why we're now offering complete written recipes, please read all about that here.
Believe it or not, the first place I ever had dirty rice was
Popeye’s fried chicken. They were out of the red beans and rice. I’ve never
been a huge fan of liver, especially in my younger days, but I figured, what
the heck, let’s give this stuff a try. Much to my surprise I really enjoyed it,
and I’ve been a fan ever since.
In fact, not only did I come to love dirty rice, but I
started to crave it with even more “dirt,” by which I mean more liver, pork,
and aromatic vegetables; and so that’s how this redundantly named dish came to
be. Beyond using more of everything, except rice, I also changed the
traditional method, which calls for the rice to be cooked first, and then “soiled.”
Here, we’re adding all the “filth” at the beginning, and cooking it into the
rice.
This method did produce a more flavorful product, but also a
slightly stickier one. When you cook rice in a thick sludge like this, verses
just water or broth, it will always come out a bit starchier, which may bother
certain dirty rice aficionados, but I like this texture even better. So to
recap, this is dirtier, stickier, and tastier, which is why I really do hope
you give it a try soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients for 6 portions:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
6 ounces pork shoulder, diced or roughly chopped
1 yellow onion, diced
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced green peppers, or jalapeno 6 ounces cubed spicy smoked pork sausage, like andouille
They say what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, but that’s mostly
because people just don’t remember exactly what happened. Happily, that’s not
the case with this incredible Potatoes Romanoff recipe. About 10 years ago, I
took a trip to Las Vegas with a group of food writers, and while I don’t recall
much, I do remember learning how to make this ingenious potato gratin from Chef
John Schenk, at his restaurant, Strip House.
He credits his Mom for the recipe, but the shallots and
white pepper scream, “This was adapted by a restaurant chef!” Which reminds me,
if you do use shallots for this, be careful. Since they go in raw, a little
will go a long way. To play it safe, you can always sauté them in a little
butter to take off the sharp, raw edge. Besides shallots, some thinly sliced
green onions would be great, as would sautéed leeks, or even just finely minced
yellow onions.
This would be a great side dish for those large holiday
gatherings, since it can be made the day before, and then baked when needed. And
as I said in the video, you can embellish this with all sorts of stuff, including
such obvious choices as bacon, or fresh herbs, but no matter how you
personalize it, I really hope you give it a try soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients for 8 portions:
3 very large russet potatoes (about 2 1/2 pounds), scrubbed
clean
1/4 to 1/3 cup minced shallots, raw, or sautéed for a milder
flavor
3 teaspoons kosher salt (or 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons fine salt)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper, or freshly ground
black pepper
pinch of cayenne
2 1/2 cups grated sharp white cheddar cheese
1 3/4 cups sour cream
- Bake at 425 F. for 30-35 minutes, or until browned and
piping hot.
I’m not particularly picky about my coleslaws, and as long
as they’re properly made, I enjoy a wide variety of flavors and combinations,
but this mustard slaw may be my fav. The combo of hot and
sweet has a proven track record in palate pleasing, and that’s especially true
when we’re talking about a cold salad.
Of course, how sweet, and how hot will be up to your
personal tastes, as well as what you’re going to serve this with. If I’m going
to toss this next too some spicy grilled sausages, then I will tone down the
punch, whereas if I’m topping a sweet, smoky pulled pork sandwich, I might be a
little more aggressive, like I was here.
Regardless of what exactly you put in yours, the key here is
salting, and massaging your cut cabbage first (aka “cassage”). This not only
draws out water, which actually sweetens up the flavor, but it also produces a
flexible, yet still crunchy texture, which I think is lacking in many other
“chop and mix” recipes.
I realize we’ve done coleslaws where we skip this step,
which is fine if you slice your cabbage thin, and serve it relatively quickly,
but for what I refer to as “real” coleslaw, the extra ten minutes is well worth
it. Plus, once preserved in this way, your coleslaw will not only last days,
but maybe get even better.
By the time I’d topped my soon to premiere boneless baby
back rib sandwich, this slaw had been in the fridge for almost two days, and had
developed even more flavor, while still retaining it’s raw crispness. So, stay
tuned for that video, but in the meantime, I really do hope you give this
great, hot and sweet mustard slaw a try soon. Enjoy!
These crispy “everything” flatbread crackers aren’t just
called “everything” because they’re inspired by the “everything bagel,” but also
because they’re everything you’d want in a flatbread. They’re savory, and
interesting enough to eat by themselves, but also pair perfectly with countless
dips, any cheese plate, and of course, anything you’d schmear on a bagel.
I played it safe with the powders, but I’m tempted to try
this with freshly minced garlic and onions, which would get us even closer to
their round inspiration. I’ll tweet a photo if it works, but even with the
dried stuff, it was really close. By the way, garlic/onion powder, and
granulated garlic/onion is the same thing, just ground to a different fineness,
and they’re interchangeable. Just make sure they’re made with pure garlic and
onion, and not a bunch of salt.
This easy technique will work with pretty much any seeds and
flavorings, so I encourage you to go nuts customizing the recipe. Just don’t
forget to flip your dough over before baking, so that your flatbread edges curl
up the right way. For a more rustic look, you can bake these uncut, and then
once cooled, snap them into irregular shards, which is also a great look.
Either way, I really hope you give these crispy “everything” flatbreads a try
soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients for about 48 Crispy “Everything” Flatbreads:
3/4 cup spouted spelt or whole wheat flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt (or 1/2 teaspoon fine salt)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
pinch cayenne
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon onion powder, or to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup hot water, or more as needed
poppy seeds and sesame seeds as needed
- Bake at 375F. for about 20 minutes, or until golden-brown
and crispy.
One of my all-time favorite things to do is take an iconic
recipe, and somehow tweak it to maybe make it easier, healthier, or tastier;
which was definitely not what happened here. This was simply a case of
me wanting hummus, not having garbanzo beans, and making it anyway with sweet
potatoes, which, much to my amazement, came out remarkably well.
I don’t blame you if you're skeptical, but this stuff really does
have almost the same taste and texture as hummus. It has a little bit of a
sweeter finish, which reminded me of a red pepper hummus, but all in all, it’s very close. In fact, my wife Michele, who has a much more discerning
palate than I do, said that if she were blindfolded, she’d have trouble
identifying this as not being actual hummus.
However, to get this close to what you think hummus tastes
like, please be prepared to adjust the ingredient amounts to your liking.
Some folks like just a hint of garlic and lemon, while others like to be
crushed by it. Same goes for the tahini, and other seasonings, so taste, and
adjust accordingly.
Of course, since the name, “hummus” comes from the Arabic
word for chickpeas, one can make a strong argument that this isn’t hummus, and
therefore shouldn’t be called hummus. But those people don’t have to worry about
search engine results, which is why I just worked the word “hummus” into this
paragraph four times. Actually, let’s
make it five, as I say I really do hope you give this easy, and delicious
alternative hummus a try soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients for about 2 cups of Sweet Potato Hummus:
2 cups mashed, roasted sweet potatoes
1/3 cup tahini
2 cloves crushed garlic
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
1 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon chipotle
pinch cayenne
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 lemon, juiced, plus more to taste
2 tablespoons cold fresh water whipped in to lighten
texture, optional
If you have a bunch of cold, leftover rice around, you
should probably just use the classic method, but if you don’t, this easy oven
method for making fried rice will not only produce something very similar in
taste, but the texture of your rice comes out perfectly every time.
That’s because we’re using the same method as we do for rice pilaf, where the grains of rice get coated in fat before absorbing the cooking
liquid. This ensures plump, tender, separate grains, and never sticky clumps of
rice. By the way, this technique will work no matter what you include in your
mixture, as long as you’re using long-grain rice, and cooking it in a similarly
sized pan.
That’s not to say you can’t use other types of rice, or
other size pans, but that will change the cooking time, so just something to
keep in mind. Also, as I warned in the video, some sesame oils can be very
strongly flavored, and if that’s the kind you have, the amount I poured over
the top of my egg could overpower the dish, so be careful. Okay, that’s it for the
warnings. I really do hope you give this baked “fried” rice a try soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients for 4 large portions:
(I used a 11.5” x 8” x 2.5” pan, but your standard 9” x 12”
casserole dish will work the same)
2 cups white long grain rice
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 tablespoon sesame oil (mine was mild, so you may need to
adjust this down)
optional 1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt, depending on the saltiness
of your broth and ham.
Sorry for the late upload, but I had some mysterious modem
issues, and this German potato dumpling video took over 5 hours to upload! I
was having flashbacks to those good, old dial-up AOL days, and they weren’t good
flashbacks. I do miss that cool modem sound, but that's about it.
Anyway, it’s late, but I wanted to post the
ingredient amounts, and maybe I'll add some more info tomorrow, although these are
so basic that’s probably not necessary. The only tip I’ll give is that I
think baking the potatoes works better than boiling them whole. Peeling, quartering,
and boiling until tender will also work, but don’t overcook them, otherwise
they'll absorb too much water.
By the way, if you’re German, or know the same things they
do, I’d love to learn why we're sticking croutons in the middle of these things. I
totally get the crumbs on top, but inside? If you have an explanation, I’d like
love to hear it, and in the meantime, I really do hope you give these a try
soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients for 8 to 10 German Potato Dumplings:
2 large russet potatoes (about 1 1/2 pounds)
salt, freshly ground black pepper, and cayenne to taste
As I may have mentioned on Twitter several times, Michele
and I have both been sick all week, so please pardon the lateness, and brevity
of this post. The good news is this Greek-style baked beans recipe is very
simple, and there’s not a lot of extra info I need to pass along.
One thing I will mention is that while these are baking, be
sure to peek once in a while to see if you need to add more liquid. You can
bake covered, but then you don’t get the crustification on top, so I prefer to
bake uncovered, and stir in a splash of water, or two, if it looks like it’s
getting too dry.
If you can find gigante beans, they really are the best, but
Conona beans also work great, as will any other large dried bean. Just be sure
to soak them properly, and simmer them until tender before proceeding to the
baking step. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m climbing into my big, fat bed.
Enjoy!
Ingredients for 12 portions:
1 pound dried Gigante, Conona, Lima, or other large dried bean (soaked
overnight)
3 quarts cold fresh water to boil in
2 bay leaves
1 large red onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, sliced
2 cups tomato sauce or finely chopped fresh tomato
2 tablespoons tomato paste
3 tablespoons clover honey
1/2 cup chopped fresh dill, plus more for the top
1 tablespoon kosher salt (2 teaspoon if using fine table
salt)
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
cayenne to taste
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 cups water, plus more as needed while baking 4 ounces feta cheese for the top
These deceptively simple, yet devastatingly delicious garlic
noodles were invented in San
Francisco, at a restaurant called, Thanh Long, back in the 70’s. Usually served with roasted
Dungeness crab, the actual recipe is a very closely guarded family secret, but
after lots of investigation, and even more experimentation, I think this is
very close, at least for a non-MSG laced version.
Apparently,
one of their “secret” ingredients is something called, Maggi Seasoning Sauce,
which I decided not to use, since I’m not sure how easy it is for the average
person to find. Besides, I think my assortment of savory, umami-rich
substitutes did the job quite nicely, and everything in the ingredient list can
be found at any large grocery store.
The
most exotic thing here would be the oyster sauce, which is sort of a very
savory, slightly sweet, thick, soy sauce-like condiment. And yes, it does have oyster
extracts in it, in case that matters. If you can’t find it, just add a touch
more fish sauce, soy, and Worcestershire, as well as little brown sugar.
Most
garlic noodles actually call for sugar in the recipe, but I think that makes it
too sweet for my taste, since the oyster sauce is fairly sweet, as is all that sautéed
garlic. Regardless, whether you enjoy this with some roasted garlic crab, or as
is, I really do hope you give it a try soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients for 2 small portions Garlic Noodles: PLEASE NOTE: The saltiness of the following ingredients can vary, as can how sensitive people are to the taste of salt, so you may need to increase or decrease the amounts below.
Brazilian cheese bread is very easy to make, and features a
chewy, cheesy, bready center, encased in a beautiful, thin, pastry crust. It
also happens to be gluten-free, thanks to it being root-rich. These are made
using tapioca flour, which not only makes them grain-free, but is also
responsible for their very unique texture.
Tapioca flour is pretty easy to find these days, and I get
mine from a guy named Bob, who runs a mill, but if your local market doesn’t
carry it, I recommend finding some online. There are lots of fun recipes you
can make in addition to these, like homemade tapioca pearls for bubble tea, just
to give one enticing example.
As I mentioned in the video, you can easily adjust the
thickness of your dough by adding another splash of milk, or more tapioca flour
depending on what you're into. Some folks swear by a thinner batter, which they
bake in muffin tins, but to me those come out too much like popovers, and don’t
have the same chewy, cheesy center.
Happily, Brazilian cheese bread ingredients are fairly inexpensive,
which means you can play around with a few batches, and see for yourself. No
matter what you end up with, I really do hope you give these a try soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients for 24 Brazilian Cheese Breads:
(Please note, I only made half a batch)
2 1/4 cups tapioca
flour, plus more as needed to adjust texture
1/2 cup lightly flavored olive oil and/or vegetable oil
These crispy yuca fries are often presented as a healthier
alternative to fried potatoes, but the taste and texture is so good, I think it
would be more appropriate to describe French fries as a less-healthy
alternative to these. They really are that good, and do a great job of
bridging the gap between regular fried potatoes, and sweet potato fries.
Once fried, the texture is remarkably similar to a russet or
Kennebec potato (the variety most commonly used for fries and chips), and while
these do have a slightly sweeter taste, it’s not nearly as pronounced as a
sweet potato. Like I mentioned in the video, I always regret ordering sweet
potato fries, since, to my palate at least, they’re just not savory enough,
which is not the case with these.
Just be sure to boil them first, since they can be toxic
eaten raw in larger amounts. Why you’d ever want to eat a big pile of raw yuca is
beyond me, but the legal department wanted to mention that regardless. Anyway,
once safely cooked, they can be pan-fried crispy as seen here, or deep fried,
or place them on a foiled sheet pan, brush them with oil, and bake at 425 F.,
turning occasionally until they’re browned and crusty.
I was going to finish by listing off other ways you can use
this delicious root, but to save time I’ll just say that if a recipe works with
regular potato, it will work with yuca. And maybe even work better, which is
why I really do hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
- Yuca root (aka cassava), peeled, cut, and boiled until just tender
in salted water * Please note: on larger roots there may be a tough fibrous part running through the middle, which can be trimmed out after boiling. These didn't really have one, but you'll know if yours do.
They say your greatest strength is also your biggest
weakness, which certainly is true when it comes to sweet potatoes.The starchy sweetness that makes this tuber such
a popular holiday side dish, is also its fatal flaw, since, for me at least, it
quickly leads to palate fatigue. After a few bites of mashed sweet potatoes, or sweet potato
casserole, I’m pretty much over the experience, and I’m reaching for the
cranberry sauce to reset my tongue, but here we’ve mixed in a few ingredients
specifically selected to cut that sweetness, and push this much closer to the
savory side of town.
Lime, jalapeño, and sharp cheddar may seem like odd choices
here, but paired with the green onions, and bacon, they work wonders, and I had
no problem finishing a whole sweet potato. And by whole, I mean two. By the
way, these orange-fleshed sweet potatoes are often sold as “yams,” but they’re
not, in case that ever comes up in conversation.
Besides all the obvious reasons, this is a great choice for
your Thanksgiving table, since you can prep it ahead of time, and then bake
them when you’re ready to serve.They will
also stay hot for quite a while, which is another reason they’re nice around
the holidays, when oven space can be limited. So, whether you make these for a special
occasion, or some completely un-special weeknight meal, I really do hope you
get give these loaded, twice-baked sweet potatoes a try soon. Enjoy
Ingredients for 4 portions:
4 orange-fleshed sweet potatoes, scrubbed clean
8 ounces bacon, sliced
1/3 cup sliced green onions
1/4 cup diced jalapeno
1/2 cup grated sharp white cheddar cheese, plus a little bit
for the top
2 tablespoons crème fraiche, or sour cream
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
salt, freshly ground black pepper, and cayenne to taste
Soufflés have always had the reputation for being a
difficult, and temperamental thing to make, which I’ve never really understood.
As long as you can manage to whip some egg whites, and fold them into your batter
without knocking all the air out, there’s really not much that can go wrong.
And that’s with the traditional method, which requires making a saucy base
first. These soufflés are even easier than that, since mashed sweet potato is
the base. I like to microwave my sweet potatoes, mostly because it’s
faster, but you can certainly roast them in a 375 F. oven instead. Just prick
them as shown, and bake for as long as it takes to get them very soft. I’d love
to give you a time, but that depends on the size.
I kept these very plain, so as not to distract you, but you
can add all sorts of things. Cheese, bacon, and herbs, just to name a
few. And that’s for savory applications, since these will also shine as a dessert.
Just add some maple syrup or brown sugar to the mashed potatoes, to taste,
along with appropriate spices, like cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice, and you'll be in for quite the seasonal treat. But, no
matter how you flavor these, or which course you serve them, I really do
hope you give them a try soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients for 4 to 6 Sweet Potato Soufflés:
2 teaspoon room temp butter to grease ramekins (mine were 5
oz. size)
To many people, “smashed potatoes” are just another more violent name for mashed potatoes, especially when the skins are left in, but those aren’t real smashed potatoes. These are real smashed potatoes, and they’re spectacular. 
