Showing posts with label side dishes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label side dishes. Show all posts
I have seen quite a variety of these crisp buttery potato stacks on the Internet over the past few years. Some done like roses, some simply stacked. All attractive and crisp edged. All requiring a certain amount of faffing about.
At the weekend, I decided to put a different spin on them, and decided to try just layering them in concentric circles, radiating in size from larger overlapping slices on the bottom, topped with slightly smaller ones, all the way to a couple of really small slices in the centres, if that makes sense.
I was completely pleased with the end result. I ended up with beautiful rosettes of potatoes . . .
with buttery crisp edges, some of them being ruffled . . .
and yet at the same time meltingly tender in the middle . . . the tip of a sharp knife will slip very easily into the centres without any resistance . . .
Aren't they pretty? I think so . . .
At the same time they are beautifully flavoured . . .
with fresh herbs . . . earthy rosemary, grassy thyme, sweet parsley . . . .
fine sea salt and coarsely ground black pepper. Such a delicious combination!
You could add some garlic if you wanted to, but do be careful it won't burn. Burnt garlic can be quite bitter. These are actually quite perfect as is.
They look so pretty on the plate and would go with just about anything . . . poultry, meat, fish . . .
They would also make a beautiful side dish for dinner parties, especially if you are serving more than one course and you don't want people to fill up too much on any one course . . .
For a dinner party with multiple courses the recipe below could easily serve twice the number . . . as you would only want to put one rosette on each plate . . .
Such a pretty addition. I can hear all of the oooohs and aaaahs now!
I can't get over how very pretty these turned out and how incredibly delicious they are. Especially if you are a fan of crisp edges mixed with flavourful tenderness!
Yield: variable
Crispy Herbed Potato Rosettes
Crisp and buttery on the outsides, meltingly tender inside, with plenty of flavour. Pretty too!
ingredients:
- 2 pounds potatoes, washed, dried and unpeeled
- 2 TBS butter, melted
- 2 TBS light olive oil
- 1 tsp finely chopped rosemary
- 1 tsp finely chopped thyme
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp coarse ground black pepper
- low fat cooking spray.
instructions:
How to cook Crispy Herbed Potato Rosettes
- Preheat the oven to 195*C/375*F/ gas mark 6. Line two or three baking sheets with foil and spray generously with low fat cooking spray. Set aside.
- Trim the ends of each potato and then cut the remainder into 1/8 inch thick slices. Put into a bowl along with the melted butter, oil, herbs, salt and pepper. Toss together with your hands to combine well and coat all the potato slices as best as you can.
- Arrange the potato slices in layered rosettes on the prepared baking sheets, by creating circles of overlapping potatoes, with the largest size slices on the bottom, topped with smaller slices of overlapping potatoes, placing the smallest slices in the centres. You should get three or four layers, counting the centres.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, until the edges are golden brown and the potatoes are tender when you prod them with the tip of a knife. Keep a watch on them to make sure they don't burn, depending on how thin you have sliced them. Remove from the baking sheet with a spatula to a heated serving plate and serve immediately.
I really hope you will try these out at your next dinner party or occasion! I am having people over for Todd's Birthday later this week and really wanted to be able to present something as a delicious and yet very simple side for the Roast Beef I am planning on serving. I think this is it!
Up Tomorrow: Garlic Cheddar Chicken Bake
When I was a young newly-wed, I relied a lot on magazines and newspaper clippings for new and delicious recipes to cook for my husband and growing family.
I did not own many cookery books at the time. I had The Fanny Farmer Cookbook, and several volumes from the BHG Cooking Library.
There was no Internet to source recipes from. Half the time recipes did not even have photographs to go along with them.
You really didn't have much of an idea of how they were supposed to look when done, or how they were going to taste.
Another way of gleaning tasty recipes was to have them shared with you via family and friends. Those were the best recipes of all.
You knew that if they were tasty enough for people to want to share them with you, then they were tasty full stop!
This recipe comes from my ex MIL, Elizabeth. She also gave me my basic fried rice recipe, which was one she had gotten from one of her neighbours when she was living in Winnipeg.
Both recipes used prepared minute rice, which was (I'm ashamed to say) pretty much the only rice that we used back in the day.
I didn't grow up in a household that served rice. The only rice I had ever eaten came from Chinese restaurants, so minute rice was my bar of experience.
Thankfully I have grown tons since then and now I would rather die than serve anyone minute rice.
This recipe I am sharing is for a delicious casserole type of side dish. Country Style Casserole. The card on which it is written is yellowed with age and stained.
It is one of my tried and true treasures. It is a recipe which has withstood the test of time.
Cooked rice is mixed with grated carrots, almost but not quite in equal measure . . . and sliced spring onions . . . the original recipe only called for one, but I think two is better.
I love recipes that you can tweak a bit here and there to make them your own.
Added to the mix is a good quality mayonnaise. I have my favourite, and you probably have yours.
If I am not using homemade, I am using Hellman's. It is the best in my opinion, but I am open to trying new things.
Mom always used Miracle Whip. I still miss Miracle Whip . . . it was the best on a fresh Tomato Sandwich, in the summer, fresh tomatoes from the garden, on soft white bread, with salt and black pepper.
To me this is the taste of summer. A fresh tomato sandwich with miracle whip. I think mom had a tomato sandwich for lunch just about every day of her life!
But I digress . . . along with the mayonnaise you will need one large free range egg, lightly beaten. I only use free range, rspca approved (if I can get them) eggs. I like to think I am eating happy eggs from happy chickens.
If I could, I would have my own chickens, and they would all have names. Names like Ditsy and Fluffybutt, and Little Red. They would be like family.
Along with the egg, carrot, mayo, and onion there is also cheese, whole milk and seasoning. Remember cheese is salty. I use a good old strong cheddar as it has a beautiful flavour and I choose un-dyed white cheddar.
There is enough orange in there from the carrots. Poured into a baking dish, tightly covered and baked, this casserole is really delicious and goes well with just about everything. Its even great on it's own.
A sprinkle of chopped parsley and voila! A delicious side that doesn't cause you to break into even the least amount of a sweat.
Country Style Casserole
Yield: 6
This deliciously easy casserole goes together very quickly, especially if you use a ready cooked pouch of rice. Gleaned from a magazine ad, the original recipe used prepared minute rice, which I might have used once upon a time, but would never use now. Instead I like to use brown rice. I have been making this tasty side dish for years!
ingredients:
- 320g cooked rice (2 cups) (Use your favourite, long grain, basmati, brown)
- 165g peeled and grated carrot (1 1/2 cups)
- 120g grated strong cheddar cheese (1 cup, old cheddar) (I like the white)
- 110g good quality mayonnaise (1/2 cup)
- 80ml whole milk (1/3 cup)
- 1 large free range egg, lightly beaten
- 2 spring onions (scallions) thinly sliced
- salt and black pepper to taste
- chopped parsley to garnish
instructions:
How to cook Country Style Casserole
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter a 1 litre/4 cup casserole dish.
- Mix together all of the ingredients, seasoning to taste with some salt and black pepper. Pour into the buttered casserole dish. Cover tightly and bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes.
- Remove from the oven, uncover, sprinkle with parsley flakes and serve immediately!
We enjoyed this with a Costco rotisserie chicken and some runner beans from the garden. It was a quick, easy and quite enjoyable meal. If you have a vegetarian in your life this would make a great main dish, especially if you add some toasted nuts.
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com
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I cooked my husband a Roast Beef Dinner for Father's Day at the weekend, with all the trimmings. Even Yorkshire Puddings. He was in Man-Food Heaven!
He loves my roast beef and my Yorkshires! These are recipes I learnt from my late FIL who was a cook in the Canadian Forces. As you know an army marches on it's stomach, so as you can imagine he was an excellent cook!
Normally with a Roast Dinner over here they will serve cabbage of some sort, or Brussels sprouts. Usually the crinkle leafed Savoy Cabbage (lower left above). I never realised there were so many kinds of cabbage until I moved here to the UK.
They love their cabbage. In the photo above, going clockwise from the Savoy you will see Sweetheart Cabbage, Chinese Cabbage, Red Cabbage and White Cabbage, which is the type I was used to cooking with from home.
I didn't have any other kind or even any Brussels Sprouts to cook for Todd, just a white cabbage. It is lovely fried, and in cabbage rolls, or coleslaw . . . but it just doesn't shine when it is boiled or steamed.
Then I realised I had never shown you my favourite recipe for Creamed Cabbage and so I decided to make that as a side dish!
What this recipe may lack in bells and whistles, it more than makes up for in taste!
Creamed Cabbage might look and sound quite unremarkable, but I can assure you, it is anything BUT unremarkable!
Its just cold cooked cabbage, mixed with a rich cream sauce, covered with buttered cracker crumbs and baked until bubbling and golden brown.
This is a lucious twist on traditional creamed vegetables however.
The cream sauce is rich and flavoured with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
You could add some hot pepper sauce or dried mustard powder if you want it to have a bit of a bite.
Taste and make sure you have enough salt. The cabbage won't be very salty, and it will need the lift.
I know we are not supposed to eat too much salt, and we try not to, but some things just need it I find. This does.
Once you have it mixed with the cream sauce, you simply pour it into a buttered baking dish and cover it with buttered cracker crumbs.
Into the oven it goes until it is golden brown . . . those cracker crumbs all crisp and buttery . . . and the cabbage and sauce are bubbling away.
Oh boy, but this is some good. This is a dish I really love and it makes an excellent side dish for roast dinners!!!
Creamed Cabbage
Yield: 4 - 6
This is a good old fashioned dish that we really love. I love cabbage in any way shape or form, but when you combine it with a delicious creamy sauce and cover it with buttered cracker crumbs, I just think it's the best! I could eat a big plate of this and nothing else, and in fact I just may have the leftovers for my supper tonight!
ingredients:
- 2 cups cold cooked cabbage, chopped (About half a medium head of white cabbage)
- 1 TBS butter
- 2 TBS plain flour
- 2 cups hot milk (480ml)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
- cracker crumbs
- 2 TBS butter, melted
instructions:
How to cook Creamed Cabbage
- Pre-heat the oven to 180*C/350*F/gas mark 4.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the flour and cook for one minute. Whisk in the hot milk, whisking continuously, and cooking until the mixture bubbles and thickens. Season with the salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste.
- Place the cabbage in a buttered shallow casserole dish. Pour the cream sauce over top, covering it completely. Mix the cracker crumbs together with the melted butter and sprinkle on top.
- Bake for 35 to 40 minutes in the heated oven, until bubbling and nicely browned on top. Remove from the oven and allow to sit for a few minutes before serving.
I don't know why I don't make this more often . . . . wait . . . yes I do . . . its because I could eat the whole thing all by myself! Yes, I could possibly be that greedy when it comes to things I really like! Oh, and if anything, this tastes even better the day after! Oh boy . . .
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com
Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
I wanted to make a side dish the other night using potatoes, but of course I couldn't do anything that was baked, and we didn't feel like mashed or boiled.
I went through my cookbooks, and decided to pick one from one of my Company's Coming library. I've been collecting them for years.
I got my first Company's Coming cookbook back in the 1980's as a gift from my friend Mabel. It was the Cookies and Squares one. I about wore it out. I fell right in love with it.
They are like community cookbooks, but the recipes work. They are pretty much a Canadian Institution. This recipe today was adapted from their Potato Cookbook.
This is Potatoes O'Brien. Its not a British dish I am afraid. Its very North American. I researched the history of it and came up with this.
"The dish has been claimed to originate in the early
1900s from a Boston restaurant known as Jerome's and from a Manhattan
restaurant known as Jack's during the same time period."
This is a pretty basic version, using only salt and pepper as seasoning. You could also add garlic powder and or paprika.
I added some paprika. I like the colour it adds to potatoes when you are frying them.
Basically it is like a potato hash, except it doesn't use already cooked potatoes.
You peel and dice raw potatoes and add them to some hot fat, along with chopped onion and the seasoning.
The recipe also called for chopped pimento, or jarred roasted peppers. I didn't have any of those.
You can also use chopped red, and/or green peppers in their place, which is what I did.
Just make sure your fat is nice and hot and you use a non-stick pan. That's what works best when you are pan-frying potatoes.
If the oil isn't hot enough, they will absorb the oil, and if you use a regular pan, the natural sugars in the potatoes cause them to stick. Non-stick is the way to go.
You can get them as brown as you like.
I actually browned these for a bit longer than I am showing you, but I was losing the light, and wanted to take some photos, so am showing them to you a bit lighter than what they ended up.
Its all personal preference really. Some people like them darker, and some lighter.
These reminded me very much of my first MIL's fried potatoes, except she used to fry hers in salt pork fat. Oh boy but they were some good.
I learnt a lot about cooking from her. She lived to be 100! She was a farm wife and probably one of the best cooks I ever had the pleasure to know and learn from.
Potatoes O'Brien
Yield: 4
Such a simple and homey dish. Goes with anything. Quick easy and delicious!
ingredients:
- 450g peeled, diced potatoes (2 cups)
- 1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 1 TBS cooking oil
- 57ml jar of chopped roasted peppers (2 ounces) (alternately you can use 75g diced red or green pepper (1/3 cup))
instructions:
How to cook Potatoes O'Brien
- Heat the oil in a large non-stick skillet. Add the diced potatoes, onions and seasoning. (I like to add a sprinkle of paprika as well.) Cook over medium high heat, stirring frequently, for about 15 minutes, or until the potato is tender and browned. Add the chopped roasted peppers and heat through. If you are using fresh peppers, you can add them at the same time as you add everything else. Such an easy and forgiving dish!
There are only two of us and so we had leftovers. I divided them into foil packs yesterday, sprinkled them with cheese and then reheated them on our outdoor grill. Even better. We had them with BBQ'd Pork Chops and grilled Cauliflower and Broccoli Cheese. So Yummy!
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at mariealicejoan at aol dot com.
Thank you for visiting! Do come again!
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