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How To Make Perfect Home Fries

Written on July 19, 2013 by Wannabe Chef in Side Dish

Well cooked home fries are one of my favorite foods. I always look for them on a menu when I’m out to eat(clearly I only choose very classy places that would serve home fries at 6pm); they beat plain old french fries any day.

Years of cooking these spuds have taught me that home fries are all about two things: Seasoning and cooking time. Salt, herbs, and onions all make for a really taste treat once the flavors are absorbed into the home fries. You also can’t rush perfection. The best way to get a golden, crispy outside and a soft starchy inside is to cook these low and slow, giving each side a chance to sizzle on the bottom of the pan.

You’ll definitely want to double or even triple the recipe if you’re cooking for a crowd because these’ll fly off the plate. Season them to taste as always; you can add any number of herbs and spices to make them spicy, garlicky, or even slightly sweet.

How To Make Perfect Home Fries

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

2 par-cooked medium Russet potatoes*
2 Tablespoons chopped onion
3 Tablespoons olive oil, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt
Couple sprigs of rosemary
1/4 teaspoon pepper

*I usually bake mine for 40 minutes, let them cool, and then keep them in the refrigerator to have on hand whenever I want to make these. You can also par-cook them in the microwave or by boiling them as long as they’re firm enough to slice when done.

Method:

Heat 1 Tablespoon of oil in a frying pan. Add in the onions and sauté them until they become translucent.
Dice the potatoes into small bites, about 1/2-inch squares. Leave the skins on for a rustic look and texture.
Add the potatoes into the pan with the onions along with the remaining 2 Tablespoons of oil and salt.
Cook on medium heat, tossing the pan every couple of minutes to flip the potatoes. Cook for 10-15 minutes until most of the sides look browned and crispy and the oil has been soaked up.
Finish by seasoning with pepper.
Serve hot.

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4 Killer Potato Recipes

Written on April 5, 2013 by Wannabe Chef in Recipe Round-Up

It’s no secret that I love potatoes. They aren’t the healthiest vegetable for you by any stretch of the imagination but there’s not much you can’t do with some potatoes, oil, salt and pepper. Besides—they’re gluten-free naturally and less than a dollar a pound so there’s a lot to love.

I make potatoes a lot because they fit in as a side dish with just about anything. It helps that there are so many different ways to cook them. If I’m baking some, I’ll throw a few extra in the oven to dice later and turn into home fries. So that’s why I have enough potato recipes on this website to feed a small army; here are four of my favorites that I end up making again and again:

Rosemary Hasselback Potatoes are probably the most impressive to look at out of these recipes. They come out as fun to eat as they are to make. Using olive oil as the fat instead of traditional butter makes them healthier and have a lighter flavor while the slits let more of the potato soak up the oil to cook in.

Grilled Potatoes are a lot like thick-cut, deep fried potato wedges except without all the added oils, flour, and fat. They have a smoky, charred flavor that you can’t get in the oven or in a frying pan making them all the more irresistible in the Summer time. They also just look darn impressive coming off of the grill.

Balsamic Herb Oven Fries are a step up from your regular fries because they already have a sweet tanginess baked into them. I’ve gotten into a habit of buying frozen fancy french fries at the store and popping them into the oven before dinner; fortunately recipes like this remind me it’s cheaper and almost easier to make them yourself.

Vanilla Rosemary Potatoes are great if you want to try something new and a little foreign with the same old ingredients you have at home. The vanilla adds a sweet and savory flavor that’s hard to put you finger on if you don’t know it’s there. This is one potato recipe where it’s better to skip the pepper and just enjoy a touch of salt.

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Balsamic Herb Oven Fries

Written on March 18, 2013 by Wannabe Chef in Side Dish

When I think about the foods I eat most often, potatoes climb that list far too high. Potatoes are almost always my side dish of choice; there’s just so much you can do with them.

Personally I’m a fan of any potato that’s roasted. These aren’t quite your traditional french fries; they’re more accurately roasted potatoes in your classic french fry shape. The balsamic vinegar and herbs add a unique flavor that puts these a step ahead of any fries you can get at a restaurant.

You don’t need to go very heavy at all on the wet ingredients and they bake off fairly quickly in the oven. If you don’t have herbes de Provence, make a mix of your favorite savory herbs and use that instead.

Balsamic Herb Oven Fries

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 45 minutes

Ingredients(Makes about 4 servings):

1lb Russet potatoes, scrubbed and washed
2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 Tablespoon herbes de Provence
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Method:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Slice the potatoes into 1/2-inch thick fries lengthwise.
Toss the fries with the oil, vinegar, herbs and seasonings
Lay the fries out in a single layer on a non-stick baking tray
Roast the fries for 45 minutes to an hour until the ends brown.
Remove the fries from the oven and serve hot.

With some tangy ketchup of course.

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Low-Fat Garlic & Herb Mashed Potatoes

Written on February 1, 2013 by Wannabe Chef in Side Dish

There are two things that you can expect with every new year: A host of people looking for healthy recipes online and about triple the normal crowd at the gym.

When Stonyfield asked their Clean Plate Club members to lighten their favorite comfort food with yogurt, I knew exactly what I wanted to make. Few things are as comforting as mashed potatoes and they’re perfect for lightening up.

Yogurt instead of butter makes these potatoes soft and creamy while garlic and herbs adds a ton of flavor without adding any fat. You’d never guess that they were better for you.

Like most cooking, you should work with the ingredients to however you taste the finish dish best. Use 1 garlic clove for a subtle flavor or 3 for a garlic-lover’s helping of potatoes.

Low-Fat Garlic & Herb Mashed Potatoes

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 60 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 4-6 servings):

1lb yukon gold potatoes
4oz Stonyfield low-fat plain yogurt
1-3 garlic cloves, roasted and grated
1/2 Tablespoon dried herbes de Provence
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1-2 Tablespoons milk

Method:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
Roast the potatoes for an hour until the insides are tender. Remove the potatoes from the oven and let them cool until they’re cold enough to handle.
Peel off the skins and collect the rest of the potato in a pot or bowl.
Mash the potatoes along with the yogurt, garlic, herbs, salt, and pepper until smooth. Add a touch of milk depending on how starchy the potatoes are until they’re the right consistency.
Serve hot.

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Vegan Rosemary Hasselback Potatoes

Written on January 3, 2013 by Wannabe Chef in Side Dish

Potatoes are one of my favorite foods. You can mash them, hash them, fry them, roast them—cook them just about any way imaginable(you can also distill them and make vodka but that’s a whole different blog post entirely). And they’re so healthy, too. It’s funny how many times I get asked if I can eat potatoes and if they’re gluten-free; they’re probably one of the foods I eat the most.

Hasselback style is just one more ingenious way to enjoy potatoes. Slicing them creates more surface area for the fat to coat the potatoes and cook in, adding tons of flavor. It also gives the potatoes a nice presentation that’s sure to brighten up a meal.

You can use any oil or solid fat in making these. Truffle oil would be a great way to add an expensive flavor. If you want to use butter or a butter substitute, melt it first before mixing it with the salt and rosemary and pouring it onto the potatoes.

Vegan Rosemary Hasselback Potatoes

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 1 hour

Ingredients(Makes 4 servings):

4 medium-sized russet potatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 Tablespoon dried rosemary

Method:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Slice each potato about 1/4-inch apart most of the way through without cutting through the entire potato.
Place the potatoes on a baking tray.
In a small bowl, quickly whisk together the olive oil, salt, and rosemary.
Drizzle the infused oil over each potato, letting the oil drip into the slices.
Bake for 60-70 minutes until the potato is cooked through and the edges are crispy.
Serve hot.

Enjoy!

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Vanilla Rosemary Potatoes

Written on August 15, 2012 by Wannabe Chef in Side Dish

A few weeks ago a good friend of mine asked me to teach her how to cook. I can’t think of any other time I’ve ever taught someone to cook; I don’t think I’m very good at it. When I write a blog post I just say what I did. But when I’m in the kitchen, I don’t usually follow a recipe; I just feel my way around and do what I think I should do and if it doesn’t work out—well, that’s what the garbage can is for.

The hardest part was picking what to make. We ended up settling on Mediterranean chicken, a pretty basic salad, sautéed broccoli, and this potato recipe. I’d seen vanilla used with savory roasted vegetables on blogs before and had been wanting to try it. The idea isn’t to have the potatoes become sweet like candy but rather gain a subtle flavor that’s familiar but hard to pin down.

We learned three things that night:

1. A little sugar in any recipe is a good thing. I love to add just a tablespoon of sugar to marinades or dressings, sauces and vegetables to help bring out the natural sugars.

2. I make really good chicken for a vegetarian(or so I’m told).

3. Vanilla rosemary potatoes are shockingly delicious. There were some skeptics who thought vanilla on vegetables couldn’t be good, but by the end of the night everyone was converted.

Vanilla Rosemary Potatoes

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 60 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 4-6 servings):

5-6 medium Russet potatoes, cut and cubed
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves
1 1/2 Tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

Methods:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
In a large bowl, toss all of the ingredients together until the potatoes are covered in oil.
Lay the potatoes out in a single layer on a baking tray.
Bake for 60 minutes shaking the pan halfway through.
Remove from the oven and serve hot.

This is definitely more of a Fall and Winter dish than it is Summery, so you might want to bookmark it and hold onto it until October. Then again, potatoes are always plentiful and cheap so what’s not to love even in the Summer time?

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Perfect Grilled Potatoes

Written on June 13, 2012 by Wannabe Chef in Side Dish

I don’t like to throw around the word “perfect”, but some occasions just beg for it. If you’re looking for a grilled potato recipe, look no further. This is the best there is.

These potatoes are soft and starchy on the inside with a crunchy, crispy, slightly smoky crust. The hint of rosemary along with the salt and pepper brings out a softer flavor in the potato. The result isn’t too oily or too dry, too herby or too charred—it’s just perfect.

The one piece of equipment you need to make these is a mesh wire vegetable grilling rack. It’s a great addition for any griller that quickly pays off. You can grill any vegetables from potatoes to peppers to asparagus with it and it keeps them all contained so you’re not reaching around the whole surface or losing any through the grills while you’re cooking them.

Russet, red, or sweet potatoes will best stand up to the heat of grilling. Something fluffier like golden or yellow potatoes would not, so make sure you’re starting out with the right kind of potato.

Perfect Grilled Potatoes

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 45 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 4 servings):

4 russet potatoes, washed
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Tablespoon white vinegar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3 sprigs of rosemary

Method:

Heat your grill up to around 350 to 400 degrees.
Cut the potatoes into quarters or eighths depending on how thick you want them to be.
In a large bowl, toss the potatoes with the olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and rosemary.
Dump the potatoes into a vegetable rack and place them on the grill.
Toss the rack to turn the vegetables around every 10 minutes. Cook for 40-50 minutes until the potatoes are soft and the outside is crispy.
Plate and serve hot.

See? Perfect.

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Yellow Mashed Potatoes

Written on November 30, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Side Dish

Every year for Thanksgiving we’ve had mashed Russet potatoes, and they’ve never really caught my attention. This year, since I’ve started to warm up a lot to the organic yellow potatoes I find at Whole Foods, I thought I’d try making mashed potatoes with those. They’re slightly waxier and starchier than Russet, which makes them perfect comfort food.

This recipe uses no cream or milk—just butter, which makes it very low in lactose and milk proteins. You could easily substitute a vegan margarine for dairy-free alternative. The chives and seasoning help to give it a subtle flavor while still highlighting the potatoes. I keep the skin on since it adds some fiber and nutrients and gives the dish texture.

Yellow Mashed Potatoes

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 80 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 10-12 servings):

5lbs organic yellow potatoes
1/2 cup butter
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 Tablespoons chopped chives

Method:

Bake the potatoes skin on for an hour and 20 minutes at 350 degrees until all of them are cooked through.
Let the potatoes cool enough to be handled. Dice them into quarters for easy processing.
Add half of the potatoes, 1/4 cup of butter, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/8 teaspoon of pepper and puree until mostly smooth. Scoop the potatoes into a serving bowl and repeat with the same ingredients.
Fold the chopped chives into the potatoes. Garnish with extra chives. Serve hot.

Maybe if I start recipe testing now I’ll master the art of gluten-free gravy by next Thanksgiving.

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My Favorite Comfort Food

Written on November 16, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Entree

I think you can tell a lot about people based on what they love to eat: If they go to bed dreaming of bagels slathered in cream cheese, or wait each year until grilling season for authentic BBQ, or haunt the same local restaurant week after week for all-you-can-eat sushi.

A few years ago if you asked what my favorite comfort food meal was—the dinner I couldn’t get enough of—I’d say buffalo wings and pizza. It was the same thing we got every Tuesday night from a downtown restaurant where the pizza was particularly doughy and greasy and the wings drenched in batter and hot sauce. It wasn’t a particularly gourmet(or even good) meal but just the sight of it was familiar and inviting.

A lot’s changed since then. Having to stop eating gluten and becoming a vegetarian have opened my eyes up to a whole new set of foods. Most of all it’s shown me that there are healthier options than greasy pizza and fried chicken that can be just as familiar and comforting at the end of a long day.

When I was little I spent most of my Summer at my grandparent’s apartment since both my parents worked and they lived 1.5 miles away. My grandmother knew how to cook a few things, one of them being scrambled eggs that she cooked with a large wooden spoon and served with buttered toast. Now whenever I need that taste of home I go straight for the scrambled eggs—occasionally made with a wooden spoon—and served next to buttered home fries and a bed of steamed kale for color.

A lot of people will tell you the secret to good scrambled eggs is adding milk to the batter. I don’t think that’s it. The key to making good eggs is to take them off the heat before they’re finished cooking—when they’re mostly cooked but still have a glossy, wet shine on top. Eggs, like any protein, continue to cook even when they’re cooling; if you cook them fully on the stove, they’ll dry out as soon as you take them out of the pan.

And the secret to good potatoes? Time. Time in the oven, and then time on a hot pan on each side to get a brown crust. Oil, butter, and sliced onions never hurt either.

And of course there’s nothing more comforting than the whole plate covered in tangy, salty-sweet ketchup, coarse sea salt and fresh black pepper.

What’s the one meal that feels like home to you?

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The Best Red Potatoes

Written on October 31, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Side Dish

Happy Halloween! I love Halloween; it’s hard not to love a holiday that encourages dressing up and accepting candy from strangers. But since you can’t really make a meal out of candy corn and Reese’s(well, you can, and that would be my idea of heaven, but I won’t) I was cooking a lot through the relaxing weekend including these potatoes I had to use up.

I picked up red potatoes from my farmers’ market. After having them baked plain one night, I remembered I really wasn’t a fan of red potatoes. They don’t seem as starchy as other varieties, and if I’m having a potato I’m looking for that warm, starchy comfort food.

Since I had almost a pound to use up, I knew I’d need to find a way to make them taste irresistible. This method of soaking + roasting with garlic makes the potatoes soft, crispy, and full of flavor. Red potatoes still aren’t my favorite, but this recipe makes me like them a whole lot more.

The Best Red Potatoes

Prep time: 30 minutes

Cook time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

1lb red potatoes
2 Tablespoons olive oil
5 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
3/4 teaspoon salt
Diced chives(optional)

Method:

Wash the red potatoes thoroughly but keep the skin on.
Cut the potatoes into halves or quarters depending how big they are into bite-sized wedges.
Soak the wedges in hot water for 20-30 minutes
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Drain the potatoes from the water but don’t dry them. Toss with the olive oil, garlic, and salt until evenly covered.
Lay the potatoes out on a roasting tray and roast for 45 minutes or until the potatoes have started to brown and wrinkle.
Remove from the oven and serve hot. Garnish with chives if desired.

Most of the garlic burns by the time the potatoes are ready. You can pick them out and discard them; by now the garlic flavor has totally soaked in. I’ll admit: It’s a lot of garlic. If you have plans to be in public later or dress up like a vampire, you may want to save this for another time.

Luckily I wasn’t a vampire. Who was I? Ron Swanson.

This may be hard to believe, but that’s not my actual facial hair(I know—absorb the shock). And now I have 10 extra fake mustaches to wear whenever I feel like it. Cool beans. I also like to think Ron Swanson would enjoy these potatoes, even if he wouldn’t care at all how they’re made and insist on eating them with all the bacon and eggs he has.

What were you/will you be for Halloween?

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