Category Archives: Recipes
Roasted Smashed Potatoes
This is from America’s Test Kitchen and it is on my list to try this weekend while I have some extra time to play in the kitchen. I thought they sounded delicious and a nice way to dress up a side when company comes to dinner.
From America’s Test Kitchen
Roasted Smashed Potatoes
*This recipe is designed to work with potatoes 1½ to 2 inches in diameter; do not use potatoes any larger. It is important to thoroughly cook the potatoes so that they will smash easily. Remove the potatoes from the baking sheet as soon as they are done browning—they will toughen if left too long. A potato masher can also be used to “smash” the potatoes.
INGREDIENTS
- 2 pounds small* Red Bliss potatoes (about 18), scrubbed
- 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
- Kosher salt and ground black pepper
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Adjust oven racks to top and bottom positions and heat oven to 500 degrees. Arrange potatoes on rimmed baking sheet, pour ¾ cup water into baking sheet, and wrap tightly with aluminum foil. Cook on bottom rack until paring knife or skewer slips in and out of potatoes easily (poke through foil to test), 25 to 30 minutes. Remove foil and cool 10 minutes. If any water remains on baking sheet, blot dry with paper towel.
2. Drizzle 3 tablespoons oil over potatoes and roll to coat. Space potatoes evenly on baking sheet and place second baking sheet on top; press down firmly on baking sheet, flattening potatoes until 1/3 to 1/2 inch thick. Sprinkle with thyme leaves and season generously with salt and pepper; drizzle evenly with remaining 3 tablespoons oil. Roast potatoes on top rack 15 minutes. Transfer potatoes to bottom rack and continue to roast until well browned, 20 to 30 minutes longer. Serve immediately.
Spring Rolls
I was in town today for an appointment and took the opportunity to walk through the giant supermarket, looking for some odds and ends on the grocery list. I’ve been meaning to use the tofu I bought the other day and was thinking hot and sour soup ingredients when I spied the spring roll wrappers and grabbed a package. It’s been a little while since I did some. The hot and sour soup will just have to wait a bit.
These have chopped shrimp and chicken breast in them, along with bean sprouts, cabbage, bok choy, green onions, and a bit of grated carrot. Some oyster sauce and soy sauce flavored the fillings. These are the first batch I’ve made in the counter top deep fryer and I can report that it worked well.
I tried some of this sweet and sour chili sauce on mine, I like it a lot, it has just a wee bit of tang to it from the chilies but it’s not a lip burner.
Mmm… spicy shrimp noodles
I watched Alton Brown make some broth for miso soup the other day, he used kelp and shaved bonito for it, then he added miso paste and tofu. Probably some other stuff I’m forgetting. Anyway, I found myself by the Asian grocery store today while we were out playing with the GPS so I went in and looked for the stuff he used to make the soup. I found some miso, the shaved bonito, the seaweed and the tofu and brought it home intending to make the soup Alton made. I got as far as finishing the broth but I just didn’t want to go any farther. Tofu. Yeah, I know, healthy and all. But.
I used the broth to simmer some dried mushrooms and red chilies, and made a sauce with it along with oyster sauce and soy sauce. The snow peas were past their prime and I needed to use them but the miso soup didn’t strike me as being the proper vehicle. A shrimp and noodle stir fry was the result of my puttering this afternoon. I’m sure the cats will love the bonito I strained out of the broth.
Transformer Prime (and a sammich)!
I’ve been playing around with a new Android tablet, the ASUS Transformer Prime, and it’s taking a toll on this old fogey windows user. I’m starting to make some headway but it’s a slog.
This thing is a tablet computer, similar in size to an iPad from Apple. I have the docking station/keyboard accessory for it. Together the two items make a credible notebook computer. There is a battery in the dock that adds to the battery in the pad itself and together they will run all day without needing a recharge. I’ve been adding apps from the Android Market (now named Google Play) but so far I’ve had the most fun with the Google Navigate app. It came standard on the pad from ASUS. There is a GPS module in the pad that doesn’t work very well, something about the metal case ruining the reception from the satellites. ASUS is shipping a “fix” for that – a GPS antenna that fits into the docking port. A really half assed solution.
I went ahead and ordered a bluetooth GPS receiver and have it paired with the pad. Eerie how well the thing places you on the Google map as you are driving along. I have an app called Copilot that works about like the Google Nav app but it uses downloaded maps and works without a data connection. 
My pad is WiFi only but my Verizon MiFi hotspot works great and keeps me connected pretty much wherever I go. It’s a 4G LTE unit that falls back to 3G if there isn’t an LTE enabled cell tower close enough. I like the free Google Nav app better than Copilot because the maps from Google are prettier but this is based only on short jaunts we took while testing it all out.
I wonder if I can pair the Bluetooth receiver with my Windows notebook and run Google Nav on it? Probably can, but this ASUS pad has a lot more horsepower than the notebook. Something for later. LOL Do any of you have any GPS stories or tips? We are new at this stuff!
Lunch Pizza
Another of the individual sized pizzas we make from thin pitas. Not too many toppings on this one, some mozz, a few thin slices of salami, onions, olives, all on a base of my world famous awesome sauce. It hit the spot. In my case “the spot” is a rather large target so a good aim isn’t necessary. LOL
Thursday Recipe Exchange: Steak with Coffee Rub
JeffreyW’s Loaded Baked Potato would be great with Coffee Rubbed Steak
It’s another one of those Colorado weeks where it’s impossible not to want to be outside all day. Beautiful, warm spring weather, the flowering locusts are in full splendor making my evening bike rides fragrant and still cool enough at night to need a blanket…or a cat…or several. I’m halfway through my horseback riding lessons, I’m finally comfortable with my posting trot, but feel like my major accomplishment is being able to adjust my stirrups from the saddle. I also managed to get my deck flower pots planted, though I always want more than I have space for, I’m satisfied with what I’ve done for this season. It is definitely outdoor season here. What’s on your weekend agenda? Planning on grilling for Mother’s Day? What is your favorite food item to grill?
In honor of the great weather, I thought tonight should be about grilling. Steak to be specific. This rub is a favorite of a couple of readers, so I thought it was a good time to repeat it. This can be used with any cut of steak, though I originally had it on rib eye. It’s too heavy to use on poultry or white fish, but I would be tempted to try on swordfish or maybe salmon. Easy to do and adds a real dramatic flavor.
Steak with Coffee Rub
- 3 tbsp chili powder (talking the good stuff here, pure ancho or a blend)
- 3 tbsp finely ground coffee (espresso works best)
- 1 ½ tbsp paprika (again, you want a good one)
- 1 tbsp dark brown sugar
- 2 tsp dry mustard
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp fresh ground pepper
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 to 1-1/2 lb of steak (rib-eye, sirloin, NY strip, etc) in 4 thick pieces
Mix together all spices. Lightly rub each steak with oil and then coat liberally on both sides with coffee rub. Now you can cook in a pre-heated skillet on medium-high heat, 5 to 7 minutes each side for medium rare. You can broil in the oven, using the second slot down from broiler, for 5 minutes each side, again for rare to medium rare, longer for medium. You can grill them outside. Cooking times will vary depending on which steak cut you choose, so watch carefully and you’ll probably have to use a meat thermometer to really judge, because the rub makes it a little harder to eyeball it. Let rest for a few minutes before serving.
Mmm… BBQ’d Ribs
Nothing really interesting about this meal – the “St Louis style” ribs were bought precooked and sauced, I just heated them through. Not really sure what St Louis style ribs are, exactly. The sauce had a strong note of chili powder to it and wasn’t as good as I hoped it would be. The potato salad may be worth a note, it is dressed with a sour cream/mayo preparation with some of the dill that the cat was into this afternoon. I did chop up some of the candied bacon for it but could have saved it for something else, the dressings covered up the taste. There is a little bit of minced Vidalia onion in there, too – left over from the gyros we had the other day. It wanted some minced celery for the texture, it was a bad call to leave it out. The sweet onion helped but there wasn’t enough. I give it three stars out of five.
Candied Bacon with Cayenne
I was at Balloon Juice last night and a commenter mentioned “candied jalapeno bacon” but never answered my plea for a recipe. I went to teh Google and found a recipe or two but they didn’t seem all that. I was of a mind to do the candied bacon thing again so I puttered about in the kitchen this morning for a while.
I dredged some peppered bacon through some pancake syrup, sprinkled on some maple sugar, and dusted the strips with cayenne. I had a few rashers left over after covering the tray so I popped those into the microwave atop a cushion of paper towels. Mrs J had those with her breakfast this morning. The microwave worked pretty well, I kept giving them and extra 30 seconds and lost track of the time but they came out fairly crisp. Mrs J said they were fine.
The rest spent some quality time in a 425 oven, I gave them 15 minutes and then turned them over, sprinkled a bit more sugar and returned them for another 15 minutes. The oven was starting to get a little smoky so I pulled them and let them cool a bit. I turned the oven down and returned them for another few minutes until they crisped enough to suit me.
I think they turned out very well, and the cayenne was just the touch extra that they were needing. Mrs J announced herself ready for lunch so I made her a quick BLT.
All-in-all an enjoyable morning in the kitchen. I guess I need to start thinking about dinner…
TaMara
jeffreyww
LFern7
indylib
