Potatoes Romanoff

Potatoes are a common comfort-food theme for a lot of people, and make an appearance as a side dish on a lot of dinner tables:. They can be roasted, fried, mashed, boiled, and of course, baked, and they can be as humble as oven-roasted potatoes or as elegant as Potatoes Dauphinoise.

Another fancy-sounding potato side dish is my version of Potatoes Romanoff, also a quick and easy way to use up leftover baked potatoes. I almost never have leftover baked potatoes, but it is criminally easy to bake a russet and then chill it, so I don't let the lack of an extra baked potato hanging around in my fridge stop me from making this dish. Since my kids are not potato fans, I did have to scale this recipe back a bit, but it's just as easy to make this for one person as it is for 8 or 16.

Potatoes Romanoff 

Serves 4 as a reasonable side dish, or 2 generously and 1 gluttonously

Ingredients:

• 1 large russet potato (about 11 oz.)
• 1/4 cup shallots, minced
• 3/4 cup extra-sharp cheddar cheese, grated (about 3 oz., moderately packed down)
• 1/4 teaspoon dried dill
• 1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic
• 1 teaspoon sea salt 
• pinch of cracked black pepper
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• grated cheddar
• chopped scallions

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 F. Scrub your russet potato and pierce with a knife or fork in several spots. Wrap it in foil and set it right on the racks and bake for about an hour. Take out, unwrap and let come to room temperature and then chill in the fridge for a few hours.
2. Preheat oven to 350 F and grease a small casserole dish or 2 small gratin dishes.
3. Take the chilled baked potato and grate it, skin and all, with a box grater. 
4. In a large bowl, mix together the shallots, grated potato, salt, pepper and dill, taste to adjust seasoning.
5. Fold in the sour cream and 3/4 cup of grated cheddar and combine well.
6. Pour the mixture into the casserole dish or gratin dishes and top with more grated cheddar and bake for 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
7. Sprinkle with chopped scallions and serve.

Notes:

• This doubles, triples and quadruples easily if you need to serve more people.

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Quick-and-Dirty Guacamole

Raw veggies are a staple snack for me on South Beach phase 1. I usually like some sort of dip as an accompaniment: ranch dressing, hummus and white bean puree are among the top 5. Standing in at number is guacamole. Thank God that according to The South Beach Diet: Good Fats, Good Carbs Guide, avocado is ranked as a good fat, suitable for all phases of the diet.

Avocado is great in a salad with mango and jicama, as a topping for gazpacho, even just sliced and drizzled with cream. Sprinkled with salt and eaten straight out of the shell is also a not-uncommon prep around these parts. My favorite preparation of avocado is in guacamole, whether it's made with a fresh, homemade pico de gallo, cumin, and a shot of tequila or this quick-and-dirty version. When a fast craving for the green stuff hits, it's good to know that I can have guacamole in about 3 minutes - as long as I have an avocado on hand! :)

Quick-and-Dirty Guacamole

Ingredients:

• 1 ripe avocado
• 2 T salsa
• juice of 1/2 lime
• 1 T chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:

1. To cut the avocado: With a large, sharp knife, slice the avocado in half the long way. When the knife hits the pit, rotate the avocado so that you make one long cut all the way around. Twist the 2 halves of the cut avocado as if you're opening a jar. Take your knife and gently whack the pit and twist it off the avocado half.
2. Scrape the avocado in a bowl.
3. Mix with salsa, lime juice and cilantro and serve with bell pepper slices.

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Roasted Brussels Sprouts

I'm back on Phase 1 of the South Beach diet for a while, so that means no carbs for the foreseeable future.  It means plenty of fresh vegetables and lots of creativity so that I don't end up eating the same 5 dishes over the next several weeks.

I try to get in as many cruciferous veggies as I can when doing South Beach: slaw mix with tuna makes a great chopped salad, raw broccoli and cauliflower florets with hummus or a white bean puree is a favorite snack, kale tossed into a lentil soup or cut into ribbons and braised is another popular side dish. Then there are brussels sprouts.

Like many people, I used to hate them. I'd only ever had them boiled into an unrecognizable mushed-up mess of flatulence-inducing leaves until I stumbled across a recipe for roasted, salted sprouts. Roasting them brings out some sweetness and also adds some crunch, while the salt really boosts the natural flavor.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. Brussels sprouts, cleaned and halved
• Olive oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• Shaved parmesan

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and line a roasting pan with foil.
2. Toss the brussels sprouts with olive oil and salt liberally - trust me, the more salt, the better with this dish
3. Roast for 20 minutes, take out the pan and shake them or flip them over. Add a bit more salt and some pepper and roast for another 15-25 minutes until they are nicely browned and some of the outer leaves are crisping up.
4. Add a touch more salt to taste if needed and top with the shaved cheese.

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Rustic Swiss Chard Tart

Tuesdays in summer is the Downtown Farmers' Market. The best thing about working downtown, aside from the whole getting-a-paycheck thing is that I am steps away from a terrific farmers' market. No longer can I use laziness as a excuse not to visit the market and revel in truly fresh and local produce.

I stop in Tuesday mornings on my walk to work from the parking garage and pick up whatever strikes my fancy, as they say. The first week, among other items, I got a loaf of cracked pepper-cheddar bread that was so insanely delicious that it was gone by 10:00 that evening; the next week, I scored some granulated maple sugar that will be a key player in an upcoming maple-walnut apple strudel ; last week the highlights of my produce bag were garlic scapes and a lovely bunch of Swiss chard. Those scapes made a scrumptious pesto which I devoured on rosemary & olive oil Triscuits with slices of provolone while watching Midsomer Murders on Netflix at 2 in the morning, and the Swiss chard  - along with a few scapes - realized its happy vegetable potential by ending up as the star of this Rustic Swiss Chard tart.

When I got to the market today, I found the same vendor and told her how delicious her chard and scapes were. She had some absolutely gorgeous purple basil and some 8-ball zucchini that just begs to be stuffed with something - I'm thinking artichoke hearts, some of that purple basil, sun-dried tomatoes and fresh parmigiano reggiano. Look for those in the coming days here. :)

The next time you visit the farmers' market, be sure to check out Daily Harvest Farm.



Now for the tart.

Look at it. There could be anything in there.

But cut it open and taste a delicious mixture of chard, cheese and herbs.

You just can't beat that.

Rustic Swiss Chard Tart

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. Swiss chard, washed and dried well
• olive oil
• 5 garlic scapes, roughly chopped
• 1 garlic clove, smashed
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1 (15 oz) container of ricotta
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup freshly grated parmigiano reggiano - or the stuff in the green can if that's what you like
• 1 t salt
• 1/4 t black pepper
• 1 T fresh thyme
• 1T fresh oregano
• 1/8 t grated nutmeg
• 1 package of frozen puff pastry - 2 sheets

Directions:

1. Thaw the puff pastry.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
3. Remove the leaves from the stems and slice the leaves into thin ribbons. Set aside.
4. Slice the stems thinly and saute in olive oil of medium high. Add the scapes and let them cook until the stems and scapes are tender.
5. Toss in the smashed clove of garlic and the minced shallot and raise the heat to medium-high and cook for 2 minutes. 
6. Add the chard leaves and let cook down until any moisture that has been released has evaporated, about 5 minutes.
7. Remove from heat and let cool.
8. Roll out one sheet of the thawed pastry between sheets of waxed paper until the pastry is at least a 12 inch square and set it in a 9 inch tart pan. Trim off excess pastry until there is a 1 inch overhang of pastry.*See Notes
9. To the cooled vegetables, mix in the ricotta, beaten egg, parm, herbs, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Mix thoroughly.
10. Put this vegetable-cheese mixture in the tart pan and roll out the second sheet of pastry to a 12 inch square and trim it to an 11 inch circle. 
11. Place it on top of the filling and pinch the edges together and then fold the joined overhanging pastry edges inward and crimp the seam. I like to tuck it inward, even.
12. Slash a few vent holes in the top of the pastry and bake for 40-45 minutes or until starting to turn golden brown.
13. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting into it.

Notes:

• Ever wondered about what to do with scraps of leftover puff pastry?
  
  Check it out: Cinni-minis

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Coming soon...

Dark Chocolate Espresso Brownie Bites

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Peasant Breakfast

Crisis Brownies and other comfort foods is the title of the blog. Yesterday I brought you the crisis brownies - so named because sometimes when you have a crisis, the only solution is chocolate - today I'll bring you one of my favorite comfort foods; but first, a comment.

Sometimes, I derive comfort from making something elegant or fancy, like crèmes brûlées:

Other times, I'll be comforted by taking something simple and homey and presenting it attractively, like kimchi bokeum bap:

But then there are those dishes which are neither fancy nor plated professionally. I have been known to eat Stovetop Mac and Cheese straight off a wooden spoon from the saucepan as I stand in the kitchen.

This next dish is never plated attractively, does not use an elaborate recipe or expensive ingredients. There is no real name for it, and I've called it many things: Potatoes, Eggs and Vegetables, Mess-in-a-Bowl, but most often, I call it Peasant Breakfast.

It is just chunks of potato cooked in butter with vegetables, usually onion, bell pepper and mushroom, and once they've cooked down and browned nicely, I crack some eggs over it, let them set, and then mix it all together. Top it with a little grated cheese and serve. Presto. Yum. Really, for pure comfort bang for your buck, you just can't beat it.

When I was in Korea, I used to make this dish for my friends after a long night of partying in I-Tae-Won. We'd go back to my place, usually at 3 in the morning, and I'd make a huge mess of this in the name of hangover remedies, then we'd crash, sleep late and go out for kong namul guk (spicy bean sprout soup) or budae jjigae ("troop" stew) as additional help with staving off the hangover.

I also craved this dish throughout all of my pregnancies, and still crave it at times when I am cold and need something deeply warming. I made it last night as a mini-celebratory meal. I like to adjust with slightly different ingredients and spicing it differently.

Yesterday, I found hedgehog mushrooms:

They were almost too cute to eat. But I ate them, and yes, I washed them first. :)

Peasant Breakfast

Ingredients

• butter
• potatoes
• onion
• green bell pepper
• mushroom
• Creole seasoning
• Old Bay seasoning
• eggs
• grated romano
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Brown potatoes in butter. You can use leftover boiled potatoes if you have them, though I usually just use fresh. If you use uncooked mushrooms, you'll want to cover it and let them steam. Season with Creole seasoning.
   
2. Add the chopped onions, bell pepper and mushrooms and stir well. Add Old Bay or more Creole seasoning to suit your taste.
   
3. Cover and let cook through until the potatoes are tender and the vegetables browned. I like it when the onions get almost crispy.
   
4. Push the vegetables aside to make three holes, and crack an egg into each. Cover and let cook until the eggs are set, then stir the whole mess together and let cook. Dump into bowls and top with a bit of cheese and season with salt and pepper.
   

Notes:

• I change up the seasoning, sometimes using fresh thyme and rosemary, but I usually go for something spicy, and this does it for me. 
• I also will add in bits of leftover ham or sausage if I have them. I really like linguiça and chouriço in the spicy version or maple sausage in the rosemary and thyme version.

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Mustard-glazed Carrots

Like many moms out there, I am always on the hunt for a vegetable side dish which is easy to fix and palatable to kids', well, palates. Bonus points go to a dish which is also somewhat healthy. Sure, you can batter, deep-fry and then serve a vegetable smothered with some fake-orange cheese sauce made from canned cheese soup and then watch in horror as your kids devour it, but that does not make it the best choice for a veggie side dish. An easy choice, yes, but not the healthiest.

I often set out a platter of fresh, raw vegetables cut into strips and small bowls with hummus, Ranch or Italian dressing. My kids' favorites are red bell pepper strips and chunks of zucchini, while I love the cherry tomatoes and Persian cucumbers. In cooler weather, once summer's fresh vegetables are just a fond memory, we're left with the root vegetables and winter squashes. My kids love carrots, but get tired of the standard raw carrot sticks. I tried this recipe out last week and, color me delighted, my older daughter went for seconds of this, saying, "Gee Mommy, these carrots are pretty good."

High praise, man. Gotta love it. ;-)

Mustard-glazed carrots

Ingredients:

• 4 large carrots, peeled (I ended up with about 3 cups of carrot slices)
  
• water
• 2 tablespoons butter or vegan margarine
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Directions:

1. Slice the carrots on a diagonal, creating long, elliptical carrot slices.
   


2. In a large saucepan, bring carrots and enough water almost cover the carrots to a boil.
   


3. Reduce the heat, cover and let simmer for 10 minutes or until tender to your liking. Drain and set aside.
   


4. In the same pan, melt the butter until it is foamy. Add the brown sugar, mustard, and ginger, cooking over medium heat until the sugar and ginger are dissolved. Add the carrots back to the pan, tossing to coat.
   


5. Serve, adding salt & pepper to taste.
   

Notes:

• You may argue with me about how healthy this is, since the glaze includes some butter and brown sugar, but I don't think that a little butter now and then is a bad thing. It has GOT to be better than a platter of french fries, tater tots and fried mushrooms as a side dish. :D
  

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Healthy Eating

For the past few days this week, I have been eating healthier: More vegan and raw foods, though not totally vegetarian. I can not give up my weekend pizza gorge-fest, so I am trying to offset any potential damage by eating the best foods possible during the week. Besides, when it is hot out, I'd just as soon not turn on the oven.

For breakfast: Raw Apple Breakfast.*

Snacktime: persian cucumbers stuffed with a vegan cashew puree (sometimes called cashew cheese**) and topped with zesty sprouts and sunflower seeds.

For lunch, I had a tomato and avocado salad with watercress and a lime-cayenne dressing on homemade flatbread. Sorry, no picture. I practically inhaled it before it even occurred to me to take a photo.


But about these flatbreads***, one of my favorites. It is amazing how a lump of dough can go from this:

To this, in just about an hour and a half.

This particular recipe I like to cook on a griddle even though it smokes the hell out of my kitchen.

Look carefully, you can see smoke.

But the end result is worth it.

Raw Apple Breakfast

Ingredients:

• 1 tart apple (I like Granny Smiths)
• 1 T almond butter
• agave nectar or honey
  
• 1 T flax seeds, ground in a coffee grinder
• pumpkin seeds

Directions:

1. Take one apple, peel and all, core it, cut it into quarters and toss it into a food processor with the almond butter.
   


2. Process until nicely chopped.
   


3. Then put in a bowl and drizzle the agave nectar or honey over it and top with ground flax seeds and, my favorite, pumpkin seeds.
   
   You can also top with fresh berries or, if you like to live dangerously, some Greek yogurt. Wheat germ sprinkled on top is also a nice option.
   


4. It is filling, packed with fiber and very tasty.

**Vegan Cashew Cheese

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup raw, unsalted cashews
  
• 1/2 cup water
  
• 1/4 cup chopped sun dried tomatoes
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
  
• 2 garlic cloves
  
• 3 T lemon juice
• 8 large fresh basil leaves
  
• 1 T Bragg's Liquid Aminos (or soy sauce)
• 1 tbsp cold-pressed olive oil oil
• 1 tsp sea salt
  

Directions:

1. Put everything in a food processor and blend very well until it is nice and creamy. If it's too thick, add more water slowly through the feed tube until it reaches the consistency you like. If it's too watery, toss in a few more cashews.
   

***Sesame-Flax Whole Wheat Flatbread

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons dry active yeast
• 2 1/2 cups warm water
• 1 cup flax meal
• 1 cup bread flour
  
• 3 to 4 cups of whole wheat flour (or a combination of whole wheat and bread flour)
• 1 T salt
• 1 T olive oil
• 1/3 cup untoasted sesame seeds
  

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, mix together yeast and warm water. Let sit for 10 minutes in a warm place until the yeast mixture is foamy.
   


2. Add the flax meal, bread flour, and 1 cup of the whole wheat flour, one cup at a time, mixing well until you have a rough, shaggy dough that starts to drag on the sides of the bowl.
   


3. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes. When it is done, you will have a messy-looking sponge. Don't worry, it is not supposed to look pretty at this point.
   


4. Add the sesame seeds, salt and oil, mix well and then add the remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time until you have a nice stiff dough. Sometimes you may need only 2 cups of the flour, and at other times, you will need the full 3 cups.
   


5. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead well for 8-10 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic.
   


6. Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise int a warm spot for 1 1/2 hours or until doubled in size.
   


7. Preheat a cast iron griddle or skillet over medium-high heat.
   


8. Punch down the dough and divide in half. Section it into 8 pieces. Roll out each ball of dough to about 1/4 inch thickness.
   


9. Lightly coat the griddle with cooking spray.
   


10. Place a round on the griddle (mine can hold two at a time). Let it cook for 15 second, then flip it. Let it cook for about a minute until bubbles start to form, then flip it back over and let cook another minute.
    


11. Repeat with remaining dough.
    


12. Wrap the breads in a kitchen towel to keep warm.
    

Note: This will smoke the hell out of your house, so have the windows open and the fans cranked, but it is so worth it.

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Herbed Spaghetti Squash

So, it is January and in the wake of my holiday-fueled love affair with heavy cream and sugar - to say nothing of my obsession with bread-baking - the time has come to start up the South Beach Diet again and lose some of my "winter coat."

Yes, this means that I am low-carbing it for a few weeks.

Phase 1's strict rules, like the severe limitation of carbs, does not mean that food has to taste horrible. People! Eating low-carb can be satisfying and delicious!

Herbed Spaghetti Squash

Ingredients:

• 1 spaghetti squash
• 1 T olive oil
• 1 T basil
• 1 tomato, chopped
• parmigiano reggiano
• salt to taste
• cracked black pepper to taste
  

Directions:

1. Cut the spaghetti squash in half and scrape out the seeds and tough fibers.
   


2. Place, cut side down in a large baking dish. Add water to a depth of about 1 inch.
   


3. Cover with foil and then bake for about 45 minutes in a preheated, 375-degree oven.
   


4. Take out of the oven and let cool. Take one half of the squash out and set it on the counter (this recipe only uses one half of the squash)
   


5. With the tines of a fork, scrape the flesh of the squash separating it into strands.
   


6. Dump into a large bowl and drizzle with olive oil. Toss in the chopped tomato, sprinkle with basil and shave fresh parmigiano reggiano on top. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
   

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Cauliflower Gratin

Another one of the dishes from Christmas Eve, and one which was gone before I could get the chance to take a photo, this is a great vegetable side dish which I make quite often: It's easy, requires few ingredients and the kids eat it.

That right there makes it golden.

Cauliflower Gratin

Ingredients:

• 1 head of cauliflower
• ½ cup mayo
• 1 T whole grain mustard (I like Maille)
• a few dashes of Franks Red Hot Pepper sauce
• ½ cup freshly grated parmesan
• sea salt
• cracked black pepper
  

Directions:

1. Clean the cauliflower very well, removing the leaves and cutting off some of the thick stem, but keeping the head intact.
   


2. Par-boil or steam the cauliflower until a knife-point can slide into one of the florets without a lot of resistance - about 7 - 10 minutes, depending on the size of the head of cauliflower.
   


3. Drain and plunge into a cold-water bath to stop the cooking process.
   


4. Preheat the oven to 350.
   


5. Put the cauliflower in a baking dish.
   


6. Mix together the mayo, mustard, hot sauce, salt and pepper and the grated cheese. Coat the cauliflower with the mayo mixture.
   


7. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the topping starts to turn golden.
   


8. Serve hot.
   

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Steamed Green Beans with Walnut Vinaigrette

The forgotten dish from the sauerbraten dinner the other night. I've been making this for years. Sometimes I add some raw onion if I have a really mild, sweet onion like vidalia, but lately I just have the green beans and the walnuts.

This vinaigrette really improves after sitting a day or three. I'd take a picture (I'm eating it right now... yes, at 2 :30 am) but I don't have any daylight for the photo. Maybe tomorrow.

If I don't eat it all, that is. ;-)

Edit: Here it is, right before I devour the last of it for lunch.

Steamed Green Beans with Walnut Vinaigrette

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds green beans
• ½ cup walnut pieces
  

Basic Walnut Vinaigrette:

• ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 heaping tablespoons crushed walnut
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 T finely minced onion, paper-thin
• 1 small clove garlic, finely minced
  
• ½ cup walnut oil
• 2 T canola oil
  

Directions

1. Wash and sort through the green beans, trimming off the ends and cutting them into 1 or 1½-inch pieces.


2. Steam them for 7 minutes, then immediately submerge in an ice-water bath to stop from cooking further. Refrigerate.


3. Make the vinaigrette by mixing all the vinaigrette ingredients together, shaking well to mix thoroughly.


4. Add the vinaigrette to the green beans a bit at a time, tasting until you've got the amount you'd like.


5. Toss in the walnut pieces, put the cover back on and shake, mixing well. Refrigerate for an hour or eat right away.
   

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