Yukon Gold Hash Brown Potatoes!

Yesterday was rainy and gross. What was supposed to be a weekend at the beach became steak night. Not much to say about steak: other than its a lot harder to do in an apartment in Manhattan than a grill on Fire Island. Maybe next time I'll talk about oven grilling steaks in an apartment without the need to call the Fire Department. But for now, for my faux Luger's evening, I wanted to talk about my potatoes. You can make these too: all it takes is a cast iron pan and an oven. I particularly like Yukon Gold Potatoes, but any "new" potato will work. Heck, even Idaho style potatoes will work although they are a bit starchy for my taste.

EQUIPMENT YOU WILL NEED

Cast iron skillet and aluminum foil to cover it.
oven and stove top

INGREDIENTS

3 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, cut intro 1/2 inch pieces with skins on
one large onion, diced
teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3 cloves garlic, sliced thin
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
3 tablespoon of olive oil (don't skimp as this dish is not healthy no matter what you do). An extra tablespoon is a good idea to have around

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Place the potatoes in a pan and start cooking while you prepare the onions. Brown the onion on the stove top in half the oil. Part of the way through, add the garlic. Add the rest of the oil, and the potatoes. Stir around, all on medium high heat. Cover the pan with tinfoil and transfer to the oven. Cook for about 30 minutes and then uncover and stir around again. Test one piece of potato for doneness. You can add another tablespoon of oil at this time, too (yes, i know, thats 4 tablespoons). When brown and soft, the potatoes are ready. Serve immediately.

Grilled Bacon

Ok. Not really grilled, but a new concept in bacon cooking. The lovely wife recently gave me a Weber Summit Grill, which is sort of the Land Rover of Grills. I've been using it pretty religiously, although mostly to cook the same things that I usually do. Its been a summer of comfort cooking, with little new thoughts. But today I did have one. And the idea was bacon. I am out here on Fire Island, and boy's one and two wanted bacon for breakfast. I am happy to cook the stuff, but had no desire to clean up the kitchen (or be yelled at for not cleaning up to kitchen) after woods. So I decided to try grilling the stuff. You can do this, and it works. But you do need a griddle, preferably with a drain hole, and a covered grill. I wish I had a photo of this, but my camera has fallen apart yet again. If anyone knows of an indestructible digital camera, please let me know. I admit I treat them badly.

EQUIPMENT YOU WILL NEED

Covered gas grill. Make sure the grease trap is empty and ready to take more grease!
Griddle, which will fit on the grill covered. If it has drainage holes, so much the better.

INGREDIENTS

Bacon (duh)

Light the grill, and make sure that the elements under the griddle are on high. You need to be able to cover the grill. Other elements should be off. Place bacon on griddle and cover (this really helps). Open in a few minutes and turn bacon. Remove when brown to paper towel covered plate. Spill grease into grill (yes it will flame a little, but if you spill where its not lit you should be fine) and repeat with rest of bacon. One pound of bacon makes less grease than one whole butterflied leg of lamb.

Your non grease filled house will thank me for this tip.

Grilled Clams: You Can Make These, Too

The lovely wife and our friend from London, staying at the beach with us for the weekend, wanted to make grilled clams. Who am I to say no. Now that I've done it, it is perhaps easier than steaming them. Because the natural saltiness of the clams is not diluted by the water they are steamed in, grilled clams have a very distinctive, briny taste. Its worth trying once to see if its for you. Personally, I think I prefer steamed, but these are good for a change

INGREDIENTS
Clams

EQUIPMENT YOU WILL NEED
Grill with cover
tongs
bowl

INSTRUCTIONS
Place grill on high. Wash clams thougroughly and place on grill. Cover. Check every few minutes until the clams fully open. Keep on grill about one minute longer than that and remove with tongs to bowl. Try to keep the clam juice that builds up at the bottom of the shell. Serve with lemon, hot sauce or cocktail sauce.

Smoked Leg of Lamb (easy)

I hope everybody had an excelllent July 4th weekend: I know I did. As the summer progresses, I am always looking for new ways to use my smoker. Although we've gotten pork and brisket down, and are not doing badly with chicken, I have never made a whole leg of lamb. Granted, I have butterflied them and grilled them plenty, but I have never tried to cook a bone in one. So when I saw half a leg (the proximal half) at King Kullen on the way to Fire Island, something compelled me to buy it and give it a shot. And I'm glad I did. Smoking a lamb was remarkably easy, fast (for smoking), and was a huge success at dinner. It also looks cool, all Henry the VIIIth and all, before you carve it up. I created this rub with the help of boy 2.

INGREDIENTS YOU WILL NEED

leg of lamb, bone in
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon thyme
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar (for rub)

basting sauce ingredients
white vinegar, 1 cup
one tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
some lemon juice if available

INSTRUCTIONS

Either use a smoker or grill on indirect heat, at about 250 degrees. I guess you could try this in the oven as well, but without wood. I used mesquite, but you could use any wood you want. Mix all the spices together, and rub over the lamb. Place in a tray and place in the smoker. Ignore for at least three hours. Baste once or twice with the basting sauce ingredients (yes, you should combine those!). Using a thermometer, check doneness. I like this lamb at about 165 to 170 degrees. Let it sit a bit, carve and serve. Easy!

Really Good Mexican Style Corn Condiment

I know I stole this recipe from somebody, but I can't remember who. Anyway, its really easy to make and you can now steal it from me! The general idea is to grill corn (although steamed or boiled works fine as well), and, prior to serving, slather this stuff on top of it. Three ingredients! You can do it.

INGREDIENTS

Roth Kase Cojita Cheese (what is it about those folks in Wisconsin? I am really liking their products, which I have been buying at Zabars. ). You can also find the real thing in Mexican Supermarkets, but I have come to like our friends from Green Bay Country.
Mayonnaise
can of Habernero peppers

Shred the cheese and mix about 1:1 with mayonaise. Mush peppers with your hand and add to taste (they can be wicked hot, so add slowly). Slather on corn.

It was a great success last night.

I ate this Striped Bass: Would You?

This is me. And that was a very big striped bass. Thirty Eight inches to be exact. Caught, as you can see, near 23rd Street on the East River in the great City of New York aboard Tony Dilernia's Rocket Charters. Would I, a physician, gastroenterologist, and a bit of a chicken, eat this fish? I did (see recipe below), and it was tasty. But don't believe me on safety, believe (for once), the State of New York, which says, that for men above 16 and women "beyond the age of childbearing" that its ok to eat the stuff once a month. You have to go out pretty far to avoid that warning in New York. So eat it I did. In addition to the striper pictured above, there were several shorts, and a ton of bluefish.

So, get your fishing jones in right here in NY. And then cook.


Fish Marinade

Striped Bass Fillets (clean off all dark meat, and use a pliers to get rid of pin bones). For a large striper, I will cut the fillet at the pin bone line.

Olive oil
Lemon
Salt

Add one juiced lemon to each of 4 tablespoons of olive oil along with 2 teaspoons of salt. Add fish, put in a bag, seal and refrigerate about 1/2 hour. Cook on a clean grill that has been well oiled. My new favorite for this is PAM grill spray, which works like a charm.

Mexican Style Flank Steak Marinade

Flank steak is another inexpensive grillable meat that, when seasoned properly, can be a tasty part of any summer get together.  Marinating it adds flavor, and also helps tenderize it.  It also helps to slice it real thin.  Although I claim no authenticity at all in this recipe, the meat tasted great on tortillas served with some salsa and my not for vegetarians black beans (below).  The marinade recipe here is useful for 6 pounds of flank steak; you can certainly half the recipe if you want.

INGREDIENTS

1 bottle of beer (I used Corona this time, but Negro Modelo works well, too)

3 limes, cut up and juiced

1 1/2 tablespoons salt

3 tablespoons olive oil

optional (teaspoon pepper)

Combine all of the ingredients and place in plastic "zip-lock" bag.  Add the meat, and store in refrigerator for about 45 minutes, turning occasionally.  

Before grilling the meat, shake off the excess fluid and salt the meat as you would if there were no marinade at all!  Really.  I think flank steak tastes best cooked medium rare to medium.

Black Beans from Scratch are Easy!

Ah, black beans. Good, and, perhaps good for you. But not necessarily for those near you. Also, easy to make from scratch...so do it. It takes a few hours, but you won't be doing anything much, so what are you worried about? Also, not for vegetarians, at least the way I make it. But why should they enjoy vegetables? Make them look as you enjoy these tasty black morsels of goodness.

INGREDIENTS

1 pound dry black beans
8 ounces bacon, chopped into small pieces
One large onion, chopped fine (Vidalia or other sweet onion is better, if available)
3 cups chicken stock
salt to taste (a bit, I should add)

Before cooking, look through the beans for gross things (its amazing what you will find) and also wash them off. Place in 2 quarts hot water and bring the water to a boil. When there is a rolling boil, turn off the heat and let the beans soak for an hour. Drain the liquid (Julia Child says it is this liquid that leads to the root-a-toots, and whom am I to argue??)

While soaking, take a sauce pan and brown the bacon. Without draining, add the onions and make sure everything browns. Add the drained beans, bacon, onions to the three cups of chicken stock plus a cup of water and about 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Bring to a simmering boil. Add more water as needed throughout the cooking process, which takes about 45 more minutes or so, but can take longer. Reseason with salt and serve. Serves many! and you can half the recipe if you want although the beans will keep a few days tightly covered in the refrigerator.

Skirt Steak Marinade is Good!

Unless you've been on Mars, or live on the rarified parts of the Upper East Side and don't care, you've noticed that food prices have been shooting up recently.  As they say, the cheapest thing for a dollar is a dollar.  With salt.  But I digress.  

I have always enjoyed braising or smoking less expensive cuts of meat, but the summer is coming and its getting a little warm in the MM kitchen to have the stove going for hours late at night.  Also, everyone gets hungry.  So I have been working with ways to make less expensive cuts of meat tastier on the grill.  The lovely wife likes skirt steaks, as do I, but they can be a bit tough and a bit greasy tasting if cooked with just salt.  Most of the marinades that I have seen seem overcomplicated and, to be honest, a bit silly.  So I tried my own.  And it was good.

MARINADE

1/3 cup white wine

5 cloves garlic, chopped fine

1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon white vinegar

dash of white pepper

Mix all of the above together.  Put in plastic bag with steak, seal, and leave for 20 minutes to a half hour.  The nice thing about skirt steaks is they absorb the marinade quickly.  Dry off,  resalt, and grill to medium (medium rare if you are the lovely wife).   I used a cast iron stovetop grill, but I have a very good fan!   I learned on "Top Chef" not to cook skirt steak rare (its too tough if you do), and yet again, they were right.

Linguine with White Clam Sauce: Actually Easy

I've always been a red sauce kind of guy...me and tomatoes go way back. The Lovely Wife, however, really likes white clam sauce, and marriage is sometimes founded on compromise. So after watching our children play baseball, we Vespa'd up to Morningside Heights, where we purchased clams and some other stuff. I have made white clam sauce a few times in my life, but, after forgetting to buy clam juice this time, I had to adjust my recipe. The results: delicious! And rather easy as well. It looked good, too, but my camera is in bad shape: I must get a new one.

INGREDIENTS

18 Fresh clams (we really like clams) /rinsed and ready
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium sized "sweet" onion (example Vidalia): finely chopped
4 cloves garlic /sliced thin
pinch of red pepper flakes
1/2 of a bottle moderately dry white wine plus ( we used Goldwater Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2006, FYI)
salt (have a teaspoon ready)
Fresh thyme (~1 1/2 teaspoons)
Linguine (1/2 pound for this much is fine, 3/4 of a pound for bigger eaters.)

EQUIPMENT YOU WILL NEED

Covered large pan for sauce and clams
pot for pasta
colander

INSTRUCTIONS:

Heat a large pot with salted water to boiling for linguine. Cook as per package instructions.

Add 2 1/2 tablespoons oil to pan, heat and add the onions. After they have started to cook for a few minutes, add in the garlic. Keep stirring, and when the onions begin to brown, add the wine, half the salt, red peppers and thyme. Cook down on a low flame for about 10 minutes. Add the clams, and cover tightly. Cook until the clams are open, about 8 minutes. By this time the pasta should be ready and drained. Reserve a little pasta liquid. Add a few tablespoons, as well as the remaining oil, and cook down a bit. Salt to taste. Serve in bowls.

Whipped Parsnips

Ah. Parnips. This tasty tuberous wonder, related to the carrot, is a bit of a pain to clean but relatively simple to cook. This recipe is another in a long line of ways to make a really starchy, sort of unhealthy vegetable, even tastier and less nutritious. We did this at the seder instead of mashed potatoes and it was a great success. This is one of those "taste" recipes; as much as I can give measurements and cooking times, nothing beats sticking a fork in the food or taking a tiny taste as you prepare. If you don't want to boil them, there is a pretty good looking recipe for "roasted" parnsips at Simply Recipes. Having said that, I think that boiling allows you to control the done-ness of the parnsips better which leads to a lessy mushy dinner.

EQUIPMENT YOU WILL NEED

Food Processor
Large pot to boil parsnips

INGREDIENTS

2 pounds parnsips
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup heavy cream + more to taste
salt (at least 1/2 teaspoon and likely more)
white pepper to taste (I use 1/4 teaspoon but you can add more)

Boil heavily salted water. Peel the parsnips, and cut into one inch chunks. Try to make them as evenly sized as possible: its not easy! Boil for about twenty to thirty minutes. When ready, you should be able to stick a fork in them with a bit of resistance. If you overcook them, they taste too mushy for my liking. Remove, drain, and place in food procesor. Add cream, butter, salt and pepper. Puree, resting every now and then to make sure that little pieces get mixed around so you can. It should be well whipped but a bit firm. Season as you rest.

Charosset: Yet Another Recipe

Happy Passover! We have just finished the seders in our family: the first night the traditional extended family event hosted by my wife's uncle (17th year of this tradition, I should add) and last night at our house for the immediate family (and a few friends as well). Although tradition rules the roost at these events, there is always some room for experimentation. One area where you can experiment a little and not get burned is in the making of Charosset (harrosset? haroset?), the sweet stuff which represents the mortar of our slave ancestors. I am not a huge fan of the apple based stuff common in Ashkenazi households, so I have taken to "borrowing" from our Sephardic co-religionists. One thing they use a lot is raisins, which are not a favorite of the lovely wife. So I decided to drop them and use wine instead: its good. Like all haroset recipes, this one is mutable, the general concept that dried fruit, nuts and wine go well together.

EQUIPMENT YOU WILL NEED

Food processor

INGREDIENTS

10 ounces dates (pitted)
5 ounces figs
1 cup walnuts
1/2 cup shelled pistachios (no salt)
1/3 cup sweetish red wine (we used an inexpensive Tuscan)


Chop the nuts in the food processor. Add the dates and figs and chop some more. You may have to move things around or you will get a non-moving lump of stuff. When the dates and figs are reasonable well chopped add the wine and chop either 1) until you truly have a paste like thing or 2) just a little (your choice). If its sticky, you can add a little more wine.

Choosing a Beef Roast

I've been thinking about roasts recently; actually I've been thinking about them since this morning, when our friend from London emailed me a question about them. Gotta love the roast; as long as you have a thermometer and a big enough pan you can feed as many people as you want. The question is this; which roast is best?? There are many different types at many different price points; how do you choose.

First a word about "prime fillet." This is the roast that, if cut into pieces, would be fillet mignon. Feh. Its really expensive, a bit of a pain to cook (the sweet spot for getting the doneness right is rather narrow), and in my humble opinion, flavorless. Leave it for the Bar-Mitvahs.

Chuck roast is cheap, reasonably available, and is quite tender. The biggest issue is its toughness. I use chuck roasts to make chili and many other types of stewed meat. I recently tried to make it as a pot-roast. The concept seemed to work but it needed to cook a lot longer than I gave it (2 hours +). It also smokes well. When I perfect the pot roast recipe, I will post it.

Round roasts are commonly seen in supermarkets. I often buy them at King Kullen on the way to Fire Island. When roasted, they are tasty but need to cut extremely thin because of their toughness. I have smoked a few and they are much better this way.

My favorite type of roast is the prime rib roast with the bone in. Although you will need a second mortgage to buy one, it makes an incredibly tasty piece of meat. The bones are always a favorite for some people, and, if large enough (>5 pounds) its possible to have a range of doneness to make most people happy. There is always some guy who likes it gray, and this person can not be helped.

A question I recently was asked is which roast would I serve cold. Obviously any of the cheaper cuts that are smoked or braised could be served cold without a problem. They probably taste better this way. For roasted meat, I'd still go with rib roast. I might not do bone in however: guests gnawing on cold bones may be a bit gross. The roast pictured above is such a roast.

Applegate Farms Sunday Bacon Is Excellent

Sometimes, its just about the pig. And good pig is hard to find. Bacon, in particular. I have always found many large national brands to be sliced to thin, fatty and therefore difficult to cook properly (see below for my favorite method). An exception to this is the nitrate free, antibiotic free, uncured, hardwood smoked "Sunday Bacon" from Applegate Farms, which is available at Zabar's and seemingly every other fancy food store in New York.

Given how free it is of everything, Applegate is not free of taste: it tastes pretty good. It also cooks easily, without too much curling or burning. And it is available in 8 ounce packages, which is as close to "diet" as bacon comes.

As for how to cook bacon: I like to place the bacon on a cold griddle and then heat it to medium high. I turn the bacon once with tongs, and use the tongs to straighten out any curling. I will give the strips another flip if needed. Remember, bacon cooks for a few seconds after you remove it from the grill, so don't overcook! If you need to make multiple batches, I try to clean the griddle as much as possible between batches. This prevents that black stuff from getting on the bacon and also cuts down on curling.

Squash: Not Bad If You Know How To Buy

Ok, they are not great. But every now and then I get the hunkering for winter squash. Although there are many varieties, I can always find either acorn or butternut at a local grocery. Its been ridiculously warm here on the Upper West Side all winter, so todays miserable, cold temperatures made me immediately think "squash." It also made me think "why did I take the Vespa to the hospital?" and "Will my life be the same after two of my toes freeze off?" but that is another story.

Although the squash you see here were stuffed with bread and mushrooms, I am going to concentrate today on the basic purchasing and preparation of butternut and acorn squash.

First a thing about buying them. Both squash are members of the "winter squash" group, meaning they are harvested in cool weather and can be stored for an extended period of time in a cool, dry place. One thing about buying squash in New York City is to make sure that the squash you buy have not exceeded this generous period of freshness: this is especially true in the late winter and spring.

When looking at winter squash, look for a firm, heavy feeling squash. The skin should be tough: soft skin is a sign that the squash was picked to early. Small variations in the color are not important. Holes and marks are no good. I like to thump them, but I'm not sure it adds anything to the process.

Cooking the squash is actually pretty easy. Cut in half, using a big, sharp knife. Clean out the seeds and stringy stuff. Butter a jelly roll and the exposed halves of the squash liberally. Add another pat of butter to the hole where the seeds were and place squash cut side down on the jelly roll. Preheat the oven to about 450 degrees.

Cooking time varies considerably depending on the size of the squash, but it takes at least 40 minutes and likely more. The squash are cooked when they are tender. I often flip the squash for the last few minutes to allow them to brown some more. Adding some more butter, particularly to the long flat parts of butternut squash, is not a bad idea, either.

Parmesan Spaghetti: How Good is This

As I promised yesterday, my new recipe for Parmesan Spaghetti. Perhaps the easiest, most caloric pasta dish ever, this dish was a hit with all age groups. Just remember to renew your gym membership prior to eating. This recipe is a variation of one I saw in "Adventures of an Italian Food Lover: With Recipes from 254 of My Very Best Friends," by Faith Heller Willinger. I added garlic, cranked up the amount of Parmesan, and a bit of salt. I also adjusted the recipe a bit for American Spaghetti boxes.

INGREDIENTS

8 ounces spaghetti
1 1/3 cups shredded (or 1 cup grated) Parmesan cheese. You can substitute Pecorino Romano for a zingy taste, but it will not be as universally loved.
salt to taste (about 1/2 teaspoon to one teaspoon depending on the type of Parm used)
3 garlic cloves, sliced thin
3 tablespoon olive oil

EQUIPMENT YOU WILL NEED

colander
Pasta pot
4 quart pot to finish off pasta
serving bowl

INSTRUCTIONS:
Boil the pasta "al dente:" about minutes less than recommended cooking time. Remove 1 1/2 cups of the liquid and drain. Do not rinse, or the pasta will stay a little too al dente'.

Put the oil in the 4 quart pot and saute the garlic until brown. Add (carefully!!) 3/4 of a cup of the liquid and then the pasta, cheese, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Stir around on medium heat, making a white sauce. You can add some more liquid if necessary. Serve immediately.

Scratch Polenta Sort of Easy: Thanks to New Book

Every Chanukah I get a cookbook from the lovely mother in law and this year was no exception. I am now the proud owner of "Adventures of an Italian Food Lover: With Recipes from 254 of My Very Best Friends," by Faith Heller Willinger, a woman who has lived in Tuscany for thirty years and clearly wants to let you know this fact. This book is about her travels to various restaurants in Italy complete with recipes (and lots and lots of plugs). It is organized by region, in a way that would make Mr. Fodor, but not Julia Child, proud. She also had her sister do the drawings for the book. While the illustrations are not what I would put in my book, and the writing style is sort of acceptable, there are a few recipes that may make it worthwhile for you to buy the book.

Many of the recipes are simple, most look tasty, and the two I tried both worked. A spaghetti and Parmesan recipe was so simple I am embarrassed to post anything about it (but I will, in the next few days) yet devoured by the lovely wife, me, boy 1 and boy 2 with relish (the quadrifecta!). I also tried a polenta dish, a variation of which is below, which was also quite simple. It also represents the first time in my life I had made successfully polenta from scratch. The trick is to boil it briefly and then pour it into a double boiler to cook. This made it quite tasty and not at all gloppy. The polenta was then topped with sausage and tomato sauce.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt for the cornmeal
6 cups water

2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups tomatoes (I used on can and one cup of chopped fresh tomatoes. In season, I would just use the fresh)
2 tablespoons olive oil

6 sausages (about one pound): 3 sweet and 3 hot
freshly grated Parmesan cheese

EQUIPMENT YOU WILL NEED

Fry pan
Fouble boiler
Second pan
Whisk


Boil the water. Slowly add the corn meal, whisking as hard as you can to avoid lumps. Add the tablespoon of salt. After it boils a bit, transfer the whole thing to a double boiler. Keep whisking out lumps (there will be lumps). Cook about 45 minutes, whisking when you remember too. You will likely have to reseason with more salt prior to serving. The polenta shouldn't be to thick (it thickens when it cools a little).

While this is going on, remove the sausage meat from its casing and sautee until brown. Set aside.

Brown the garlic and add the tomatoes. cook about 10 minutes, until everything is soft. Salt and pepper to taste.

The original recipe calls for just throwing everything together into the center of the table. However, I found that combining the ingredients into single servings in a bowl (you could use a plate) worked well and was a lot neater.

New Potato Latkes

I usually make Latkes, those powerful puffs of Hanukkah potato goodness, from Idaho potatoes. But it was cold today, and I didn't want to walk to 85th street to get them. Fortunately, Zabar's had an excellent stock of red new potatoes, so I bought those. New potatoes tend to be sweeter and less starchy than Idaho potatoes, so I was a little worried if the potatoes pancakes I was making would "stick" together when cooked. I also bought sweet "Vidalia like" onions, which work well with the new potatoes.

The major adjustment I had to make was adding more flour than I usually do as the potatoes produce less starchy liquid than their shoestring producing cousins. The lovely wife, who ended up cooking the potato pancakes themselves while I was in the Tundra picking up boy #1 from hockey practice, added a bit more flour still, which really helped the potatoes hold. Besides their superior flavor, new potatoes don't need to be peeled, which saved a lot of prep time. This recipe is based on what I think I did, and is clearly more of a suggestion than an actual recipe. But it works and its tasty!

INGREDIENTS

1) 3 pounds new potatoes, grated with skins on
2) 2 chopped sweet (Vidalia style) onions (taste them BEFORE using)
3) tablespoon salt
4) 5 eggs, beaten
5) full handful of flour
6) Olive oil AND vegetable oil

EQUIPMENT YOU WILL NEED

1) Food processor with grating attachment for potatoes (you can use a grater with Idaho potatoes, but you will have bloody, bruised hands if you try to grate those little new potatoes
2) Large frying pan
3) Large bowl to put all those potatoes

INSTRUCTIONS

If possible, try to do all the prep at least an hour before cooking. The potatoes will release their starch over this time and cook better.

Shred the potatoes in the Cuisinart. Chop the onions and combine (you do not have to add all of the onions). Beat the eggs and and add the salt to the eggs. Add this mix to the potatoes. Throw in some of the flour and mix really well with your hands. Let sit.

Add about 1/3" mix of vegetable and olive oil to the pan and heat until almost smoking. Grab handfuls of the potato mix, making sure to get liquid off the bottom (it helps to keep stirring it). You may need to add a bit more flour at this time. Scoop the handfuls into the oil (carefully!), flatten slightly with a spatula, and cook until golden brown on both sides. Serves many, many people.

On the Hunt for Papadum (Papad)

Anyone who has ever been to an Indian Restaurant is familiar with papadum, those flat, round crackers with the bubbled up appearance. I have always liked them, and with my recent forays into Flushing, have been trying many different brands and flavors. I have also been experimenting with various ways to prepare the papadum.

When you go to an Indian market, you are literally confronted with a wall of papad. For the uninitiated, deciding which one to purchase can be a confusing decision. But since papadum are cheap, I am off my diet, and I was also interested in various ways to prepare them, I bought several brands and varieties. After much consideration, I have decided that my favorite is jeera (cumin seed). Coming in a close second is plain, which is anything but. Both of these were Lijjat Brand, which is recognizable because of a green paper dot about 2" across displaying the papadum. Other brands include Ganesh and, unless you read Urdu, a brand only recognizable as the "Scare Bunny Brand." Some papad were almost too spicy to eat.

Cooking papad is a bit of a process. There is an excellent photo-essay on Instructables detailing how to cook papad over an open fire (a.k.a. a gas stove). There is also an excellent picture of scary bunny brand papad. Several posters on the website noted that they (or their mothers) deep fried the papad. I have pan-fried them, and it works but is time consuming. Cooking over a fire works, but I tend to have blackened papad more than I would like. I am a big fan of cooking papad in a toaster oven, at about 450 degrees, which allow you to make several at once without the burning. As you can see from the photo, there is excellent bubbling and minimal burning.

Really Pretty Good Banana-Granola Muffins

You can stop smirking. I made this recipe several times, and I have to say, its really good, considering what it is. The impetus behind this was the bake sale sponsored by Boy 1's class at school. After some discussion, I decided it was better to bake ourselves rather than buy baked goods and donate them. However, our kids school is, as they say "nut free," at least as it applies to legumes and tree nuts. I wanted to make something that would last the whole day, and I didn't want to bake a chocolate based item. And thus banana-granola muffins were born. Starting with a recipe from the Joy of Cooking and significantly changing the proportion of ingredients: butter (more is better), amount of bananas (more is better) and sugar (less is better) I came up with an easy, reproducible recipe that you can feed to your health conscious friends to lure them into a false sense of security before whipping out the bacon.

INGREDIENTS

6 bananas
1 cup "breakfast" granola, chopped a bit in a food processor

1 3/4 sticks butter
1 cup and two tablespoons of sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 1/2 cups flower (measured a bit heavy)

2 eggs and 2 egg whites (use a third egg if the eggs are on the smaller side)

EQUIPMENT YOU WILL NEED

Food processor
Muffin pan, lightly greased

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl.

Add the butter and sugar to the food processor with metal blade in. Mix together until you form a well mixed paste of these items. Add the dry ingredients to this and mix together. Add the eggs and mix thoroughly. Crush three bananas a bit with your hand and mix those in thoroughly, too. Crush the other three bananas and add these and the granola and just mix to distribute these ingredients in the batter.

Pour the mixture to just below the top of the muffin tins. There will likely be a bit left over, which you can use with a second tin or make a thin "muffin top" in with a pie tin (this cooks in 15 minutes, tops).

Place in the oven. The cooking time is estimated to be about 25 to 30 minutes in my oven. In general they are ready when they look light brown in a uniform manner. Cool a bit before removing them from the tins.