Potatoes, mashed and otherwise

It is very difficult for me to adequately stress the necessity of potatoes.  In my house, though we don’t eat potatoes every day, we could: it is the one starch my children never grow tired of.  Pasta, bread, even rice you can only fix so many ways; potatoes are versatile.  For instance, last night I made a chicken stew for my parents.  My mother is gluten intolerant, so I’m in the habit of making a separate flour-free portion for her.  The recipe called for 3/4 cup of flour to thicken the sauce.  No can do for Mom, so I whisked some leftover mashed potatoes into hot broth instead.  The sauce thickened up nicely, and no one was the wiser.  I’ve been toying with the idea of keeping a box of those powdered potatoes on hand for just such an emergency.  If I do, I’ll let you know how they work as a gluten free sauce/gravy thickener.

Potatoes are good.  When I was younger living in New York City and continually strapped because I kept spending any leftover salary on Joan & David shoes, I used to stop at this little knish shop on the corner of 5th and 13th street.  A hole-in-the-wall was spacious compared to this shop, which was made up of a counter, a guy behind the counter and an oven to warm the knishes his mother had made earlier in a kitchen in Brooklyn.  If you didn’t get there before 6:30pm, they’d be sold out, and there was always a long line of yuppie guys in rumpled suits grabbing a knish to snack on before hitting the bars.  For me, the knish was dinner.  At about $1 a knish it was filling and economical.  I particularly loved the cheddar and spinach combo.  I’d wrap my dinner in several napkins and nibble at it while walking home.  If I didn’t have a buck, 25 cents bought a single potato from the bodega on the corner which I could bake at home and eat with butter, or, if the cupboard was completely bare, with just a bit of salt.  I was never so skinny, and I never again had such beautiful shoes.  I owed it all to my utter love for potatoes.

Potatoes are the ultimate comfort food, are they not?  Particularly when it's been raining for several days and I want something hot and filling.  My convection/toaster oven bakes up a crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside russet or Idaho potato in about 15 min.  A little Irish butter, and I am over the moon.  Last week I had a lot of leftover mashed potatoes because we’d had people over for dinner and I wasn’t sure how much they’d eat.  (My husband is always remarking that I never make quite enough... I’ve been working hard at changing that reputation...and have perhaps gone a bit overboard.)  Of course, I could always warm them up by sticking them on a burner and adding a little more warm milk, but that seemed like the easy way out.   Perhaps because so many of my friends have been planning Passover meals, I found myself thinking of potato pancakes.   Could I make pancakes out of my left over mashed potatoes?  Would they hold together?  

I mixed the potatoes with some shredded cheddar, flattened about 1/2 a cup of this mixture in my hand, dipped them in a whisked egg then dipped them in breadcrumbs.  Then I fried them up in a bit of olive oil until they were golden and crispy.  As Emma would say, OMG!  Friends, I can tell you my little mashed potato pancakes not only held together, but they were unbelievably yummy and satisfying.  Almost as satisfying as that perfect hot knish from my salad days.  Almost.  

Now if I could only find a way to recreate those perfect little Joan &David pink and white spectator pumps...

Basic Mashed Potatoes (feeds family of 4 with leftovers)

4 Russet or Idaho potatoes

1 cup of milk (I use 2% lactose free milk, but you can use anything)

2 tbslp unsalted butter

Kosher salt to taste

white pepper to taste

Wash and peel potatoes.  Cut into chunks that are all about equal in size.  Stick into a large enough pot and cover with water.  Throw a little salt in the water.  Bring to a boil and simmer until you can easily stick a knife or fork into the potatoes.

Meanwhile, warm the milk over low heat.  (** sometimes I stick a smashed garlic clove into the milk, then I discard the clove before I add it to the potatoes.  You can also use the same amount of chicken stock if your family has lactose issues.  Your potatoes won’t be as creamy, but there will be more protein)

When your potatoes are done, mash them up -- I’ve got a nice heavy potato masher from OXO that Maddy loves to use, but a fork, a large spoon, the back of a ladle, anything will work here.  Then add your milk and butter a little at time until your potatoes are as creamy and buttery as you want them.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Mashed Potato Variations

I know people who use 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup sour cream -- and people who leave out the butter and add some shredded cheddar.  Very delicious.  Some parsley tossed in is good (my girls hate parsley, but perhaps yours don’t).  Bacon, of course, the perfect addition... Oh, and you can always throw several carrots in the water with the potatoes, or parsnips, or turnips and mash them up with the potatoes and milk. Roast a yam or a sweet potato, scoop out the flesh and toss it in the pot with the boiled potatoes. The possibilities ... Good Lord I’m hungry now!

Crazy Leftover Potato Pancakes

Left over mashed potatoes however much you have

Cheddar cheese, shredded 

1 or 2 eggs

2-3 cups of breadcrumbs

Kosher salt

Olive or Canola oil

Mix the mashed potatoes with the cheddar and form into small not-too-flat(1/4 in?) pancakes.  Crack the egg(s) and whisk ‘em up in a bowl or pie plate.  Dump the breadcrumbs in another pie plate and add a little salt.  Set your oven to warm and pop in a paper towel lined cookie sheet.  Heat the oil in a skillet or saute pan until it is shimmering.  Carefully drop your potato pancakes in and let cook until golden on one side, then turn.  This won’t take more than a few minutes.  Put the cooked pancakes in the warming oven and cook the next batch or batches.  It all depends on how many leftovers you have.

We actually ate these as a vegetarian meal one night -- with some sauteed broccolini and a salad.  Plates were cleaned and no one was hungry until breakfast.

Eggs for Dinner

My mother believes I'm the only person on earth who reads cookbooks before bed.  But I know this isn't true.  I know for a fact that several of my friends read cookbooks like novels.  (Laura, I'm specifically thinking of you, here.) Last night I was particularly enthralled by Marion Cunningham's  The Breakfast Book, originally published in 1987 and which I bought used off Amazon.  This book is filled with all sorts of things you'd never think to have for breakfast, but which sound amazing.  I'm particularly anxious to try the Pumpkin Mush, which sounds scary until you realize it's pumpkin puree, ginger and cornmeal all cooked up into something nutritious and filling.  I plan to add a little pumpkin pie spice to it, but that is for another day.  I'll let you know how it turns out.

So, it's Wednesday, I haven't been to the grocery again for a long time and I'm down to about 8 eggs, a shriveled half onion, kale (also shriveled), some boursin, some Parmesan, and Marion Cunningham has me thinking frittata.  I like frittatas better than omelets because they are less labor intensive, and you can throw pretty much anything into them and they'll still taste good.  I've made them with meatballs and tomatoes, green beans and a can of artichoke hearts, last night's left over baked potato (sliced), garlic and cheddar.  Left over penne pasta is especially yummy and gives the dish a nice chew.  It's good to have some cheese to bind it all together, but not entirely necessary.  I've made it without.  And I've used weird cheese, like goat, or ricotta or even cottage...  Of course I was the girl whose favorite sandwich in college was grilled baloney, yellow mustard and cottage cheese.  I know, it's a bit Elvis, but it was what I could afford at the time, and it was good. 

Anyway, I think eggs make a great dinner, and a frittata makes them kind of special.  Plus you don't have to clean more than one pan at the end of the night, which for me, is a major bonus.  

The only downside to a frittata or an omelette, or even a pile of scrambled eggs, however, is that you really need at least six eggs (eight to ten is better) to feed a family of four this way.  Sometimes I go to the fridge and it is bare as a bachelor's.  Inside are four sad looking eggs, and maybe a rind of Parm.  When that is the case, I boil some pasta (angel hair is particularly good),  throw in some frozen peas right before the pasta is done,  drain, then sprinkle with some olive oil.  While the pasta is cooking, fry one egg per person.  I like to heat the pan, swirl with olive oil and fry the eggs over easy, but sunny side up is good too.  After plating up the pasta, I'll slip an egg on top of each serving.  At this point you can sprinkle some sea salt and pepper on top of the whole shebang, and no one would argue if you grated some parmesan over it all either.  The yolk breaks all over the pasta and everything is just creamy and warm and incredibly satisfying. 

And if there are only two eggs --  or God forbid, one -- well, the girls like noodles and peas on its own and Smith and I plop the egg on a double serving of pasta, and fight over who gets more. 

To Make a Frittata: (NOTE: you need a pan that can withstand the heat of the broiler -- I use a cheap, but nicely seasoned Lodge cast iron skillet, but anything that is heat proof will work)

1. Preheat your broiler to low.  (If you don't have a broiler, I'll tell you what to do later.)Preheat your pan too, over medium flame. 
   
2. Roughly chop whatever onions you have lying about (old onions are fine, leeks are good, green onions, shallots, who cares)and then swirl about a tablspoon of olive or canola oil into the pan and toss in the onions.  Sautee until translucent.
   
3. Dice and toss in whatever else you have -- redpeppers, say, or kale, like I have right now.  Maybe you have some bacon, or a little chicken left over from another meal.  If you have garlic throw that in.  If you have frozen peas (I always seem to have frozen peas) throw those in.  Cherry tomatoes -- whatever.  It's all good. Stir that around for a bit.
   
4. Crack your eggs into a bowl -- use as many eggs as you have. Six is really the minimum you can get away with.  Tonight I have eight. Beat those eggs quickly with a fork or a whisk or a good old fashioned egg beater.  If you have some cheese whisk 2/3rds of that in too, then dump it all into the pan, right on top of everything there.  Stir a minute, to distribute all the goodies, turn your heat to medium low, and let it cook until the edges start to look set.
   
5. Sprinkle the top of your frittata with Parmesan or your remaining 1/3rd of cheese (or both) and stick it in the broiler. DO NOT MOVE FROM THE OVEN.  I constantly believe I have several minutes to do something else (thumb a catalog, feed the dogs, web-surf) and then I burn the top.  Keep an eye on the frittata. Do not leave the frittata.  Respect the Frittata. When its top is all slightly brown from the cheese, and the whole thing looks fairly set, take it out and let it sit a minute.  Then, serve it up!  Everyone loves a frittata.
   

OH -- if you don't have a broiler, cook it a little longer, then flip it onto a clean plate (put the plate over the skillet, flip it, remove skillet, voila, frittata on plate) then slide the uncooked side back into the skillet and cook a minute or two more.  Sprinkle the left over cheese onto the new top. 

Comfort Food

Emma and I had a rough week last week.  Part of it is middle school.  One minute it's good, the next it's the 9th circle of Hell.  Frankly, you couldn't pay me to go back to middle school.  I wouldn't take a billion dollars delivered by Bruce Springsteen to go back to middle school.  All those complicated relationships, which are complicated further these days by facebook, email, text messaging... according to Emma, you can be friends with someone on facebook, but never speak to them in school.  It gives me angina just thinking about it.  

The issue here, is that it all rolls downhill.  Complicated middle school relationships for Emma translates to crabby relationships with everyone at home.  And who can blame her, really?  She can't say or do what she feels all day long -- it has to come out sometime.  As the oldest of four girls, I remember vividly the brutal pinches, bra snaps, nuggies and snipes I doled out to my sisters.  I'm quite sure they remember them too.

Which brings me to comfort food.   

When I was in middle and high school, the only time I got along with my sister Elizabeth was when we made oatmeal cookies on a Saturday morning.  Usually we'd mix all the ingredients together, and then eat half the batter before it made it into the oven.  The consequent stomach ache was well worth the time spent together.  So I made cookies for Emma:  Chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.  I also made applesauce muffins from a Martha Stewart recipe, which was clearly missing baking powder as an ingredient because they didn't rise.  (The recipe called for baking soda only and had no other leavener other than eggs).  And finally, I made raisin bread.  For me, toasted raisin bread with good butter is the ultimate comfort food.  So throughout the weekend, the girls snuck cookies and I surreptitiously toasted slices of bread.  By Monday everything was gone.  

Time to make more.

Here is the recipe for cookies.  The muffins I have to experiment with again and I'm going to create a separate post for the bread:

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies:

(adapted from The Cook's Bible, Kimball, Christopher, 1996)

2 sticks softened unsalted butter (*see tips below)

1 cup brown sugar (light or dark, what ever you have)

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs - room temperature (* see tips below)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp Kosher salt (or 1/4 tsp table salt - Kosher is better)

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp nutmeg - OR 1/4 tsp cinnamon (don't use both,it's too much - but some kids don't like the taste of nutmeg)

3 cups rolled oats

1/12 cups milk or dark chocolate chips depending on preference

1. Heat oven to 350.
   
2. In bowl of electric mixer beat butter until creamy then add sugars and beat until fluffy.  Beat eggs in one at a time.
   
3. Sift flour, salt and baking powder and cinnamon or nutmeg together. 
   
4. Add to butter mixture using a spoon or rubber spatula.  Stir in oats and chips.  
   
5. Scoop a heaping tablespoon of batter onto parchment lined cookie sheet  (Parchment just makes life easier, but if you don't have it just plonk the cookies onto a cookie sheet, no need to grease it)  Now, I like to get all my cookies plonked onto sheets of parchment, instead of just letting it all hang out in the bowl while the first batch bakes.  This seems to cut down on the amount of fingers swiping chocolate chips from the bowl.  Since I only have 3 cookie sheets, I reserve one cookie sheet for the parchment, and make layers -- batch of cookie dough, new parchment on top, batch of cookie dough new parchment etc.  
   
6. Bake each batch for 15 - or so minutes -- until the bottoms turn brown.  Then slide the parchment with the cookies on it off onto a cooling rack (if you don't have one of these use the rack of the broiler pan that came with your oven, and if you don't have parchment, let your cookies rest on cookie sheet 2 min or so before spatulaing them onto the rack.  I just made up a new verb: spatulaing) and let them cool.
   
7. Rinse your cookie sheet to cool it down before you slide the next parchment of cookie dough onto it.  If you don't your chocolate will start to melt too soon, and your cookies could burn and stick.
   
8. If you can manage it, let your cookies cool 15 minutes or so before digging in.  I can never manage it, and always have burnt fingers and tongue after making cookies.

**Tips**:

You really should use unsalted butter because otherwise your salt ratio in the recipe will be all messed up.  That said, I never remember my mom having unsalted butter in the fridge when my sister and I made cookies, and I never remember my cookies being too salty. Then again, I have a high tolerance for salt. Buy some unsalted butter and leave it in the freezer.  The softening tip below works as well with frozen butter -- it just might take a wee bit longer.

I can never seem to remember to take the butter and eggs out early enough for them to get soft, but I've found that if you cut the butter into teeny tiny pieces and spread them out on a large plate, by the time you've gathered together all the other ingredients and the bowls, and found the beater attachment for the mixer, and looked in the basement for another tube of parchment, and slapped your children's hands away from the chips, your butter will be just the right softness.

Eggs can easily be brought to room temperature by sticking the whole egg into a bowl of warm water for a minute.  Or you can crack the eggs into a bowl right after cutting up the butter, but before gathering, looking, arguing.  They'll warm up to room temp this way too.

 

I haven't been cooking

I really haven't been cooking much at all.  Two reasons: I'm sick of doing dishes and Mads asked me to knit her a black and fuchsia hat.  With ear-flaps.  I've never made ear-flaps before and I'm a little freaked out.  (When I finish it, I'll post a picture.)

But today my new silent Bosh was delivered, and I am giddy with relief.  My cuticles are singing Alleluias, and I have retrieved my rings from the dish beside the kitchen sink.   Tonight I will finally roast and simmer those chicken bones that have been sitting in my freezer since January for stock.  I'm going to saute broccoli with garlic and broth and a touch of lemon and toss it with cherry tomatoes and Orzo pasta.  I'm going to make several loaves of bread, one to eat, the rest to freeze, and for dessert I'll whip up a three berry crumble.  If I have any energy left over, I'll make muffins.  Every darn pot and dish (with the exception of my All-Clad saute pan) will go in the dishwasher.  I might not even pre-rinse.  Ok, I'll probably pre rinse.  After all, my dishwasher is new and I don't want to mess anything up this early in our relationship.

  I think I shall call her Betty.

Yummy Chicken Stock, With 2 Secret Ingredients:

Left over chicken carcass, including bones you've snatched your off plates before they could be tossed into the trash. (The bones, not the plates.  Mixed modifer, sorry)

Olive oil

1 yellow onion, peeled and quartered

1 leek, washed well to remove grit and cut up a bit.

3 Carrots, just washed and snapped in half

3 Celery ribs, same as above

1 Parsnip (if you don't have one, just leave it out)

1 bay leaf

1tsp of whole pepper corns

4 cloves (This is one of the secret ingredients!  I saw this in The Cooks Bible published by Cooks Illustrated -- these 4 little cloves add unbelievable depth -- Bless you Chistopher Kimball!)

a few sprigs of parsley (or cilantro, also good)

32 oz of Swanson Organic Chicken Broth (the other secret ingredient -- makes very intense broth!  However you can leave this out, and just use water.)(I'm using a lot of !s -- still giddy about dishwasher, I guess)

Water to cover chicken and veggies. (about 4 cups if you are using the above broth, 8 or so if not.  Or what ever your pot will hold -- six cups is fine as long as all the bones and veggies are covered)

Set oven to 400.  Plonk the chicken bones, the onions, carrots, celery and parsnips and leeks on a baking dish and swirl with a bit of oil.  Roast for for 20 min, or if you have the time, up to 45min.

Then, heat a heavy stockpot over high heat and swirl in a bit of olive oil.  Toss in all the roasted stuff, as well as the pepper and cloves.  Let this saute for a second or two and then pour in the store bought broth, as well as the water.  Bring to a boil, then turn it down and let it simmer for an hour, then throw in the parsley.  Let it simmer another hour.  

All these cookbooks tell you to skim the foam, but I never skim because I'm too lazy. Plus, its gross. Once my stock has simmered 2 hours and it looks all goldeny and delicious, I use my skimmer to scoop out all the solids along with any foam that may have accumulated. (If you don't have a skimmer, use a ladle)  I put the solids in a strainer and smoosh them so that any yummy juices goes back into the stock.  

Then I strain the stock itself by putting a piece of cheese-cloth in a colander and setting the colander in a very large bowl or another stock pot. (This also gets rid of any foam.) I'm a spaz,so I never pour the stock from one pot to another because I have actually burned the tops of my feet that way.  (Yes, my feet. Another story, for another time) Instead I use my 4 cup pyrex measuring cup to scoop the stock and pour it into the colander.  This is not as tedious as it sounds, and is preferable to burned feet.

Let the stock cool until you can comfortably stick a finger in it. Then pour it into a glass jar, or pyrex or, if you must Tupperware. I never use plastic because I'm convinced plastic leeches into our food.  Freeze (it's fine for 3 months) or if you don't freeze it, use it in 3 days.

Another little trick: Instead of freezing it all, I measure out 1 cup, 2 cups and 4 cups of stock into different containers and freeze it that way.  Some people like to freeze stock in ice cube trays so you have a table spoon or so at a time.  I never do this because I just wind up making a big mess all over my counter.  

To Hell in a Handbasket

Whenever I get sick, all the household chores seem to go fallow.  I've had this cold for a week now, and it's one of those viruses where I wake up in the morning believing I'm getting better, but by the afternoon, all I can think about is getting into bed with a cup of tea and a hot water bottle.  Of course, when you have children, you can't do this because they need stuff like food, or for you to break up fights, or check homework, or drive one to the orthodontist.  And you can't let your job go, because, well, it's your job.  Plus, the dogs must be walked or they get crazy. Because of this, dishes languish in the sink, and the laundry sits unwashed.  Usually my husband will pick up the slack when he gets home from work -- but he recently had this ankle surgery and can't stand on two feet for another couple of weeks.  Oh, and have I mentioned that our dishwasher is broken?  Right now it's no more than a very large dish drainer.  So we've eaten a lot of pizza lately, and last night we had Chinese food (except for Emma who prepared herself a box of mac n' cheese).

But, I can't take it any more.  I need something green.  So do my kids.  And I need some protein that's healthy, not greasy.  So this morning, while I feel okay and I'm not hocking up a lung, I'm going to make a turkey meatloaf that my gimpy husband, or even my 12 year old can shove into the oven without my help. Since I have no dishwasher, it is imperative that I use as few pots and pans as possible, so, for my green, I'm going to throw some thawed frozen spinach into the meatloaf.  This is actually a great addition, because turkey meat can be a little dry and the spinach helps moisten it up.  And, if I'm feeling too tired to make a salad, or if I can't get the 10 year old in my house to do it, at least I'll know we'll all be getting something green into our bodies.  If I'm feeling better, I might cut up a few Yukon gold potatoes and toss them with olive oil and salt and stick them on a cookie sheet in the same oven as the meatloaf.  But only if I'm feeling better.

Turkey Meatloaf

1/2 cup of breadcrumbs (I usually buy these, but if you have an old loaf of french bread, grind them up yourself -- its much better)

1/4 cup of milk

2 or so-pounds of lean ground turkey breast

2 or so pounds of ground turkey thigh

1 yellow onion chopped (I usually quickly saute these, but I won't today, just to keep the dish washing down)

2 large eggs lightly beaten

1/4 cup of ketchup (plus more for the top of the loaf)

1 TBLSP Worcestershire Sauce (or to taste)

1/2 cup of thawed drained frozen spinach

1 TBLSP kosher salt

Several grinds of Pepper

Preheat oven to 350 (unless you're making this in the morning).

combine milk and breadcrumbs and let sit a bit.

combine turkey, onions, eggs, ketchup, Worcestershire Sauce, spinach, salt and pepper with the breadcrumbs and form into a loaf.  

Spread a bit more ketchup over the top and sides of loaf.  Put loaf onto a jelly roll sheet lined with parchment (for easier cleanup). You can bake this right away, or do as I do and cover it with foil and let it sit in the fridge until you're ready to bake it.  If your organized, take it out of the fridge about 1/2 and hour or so ahead of time to let it come to room temp.  I'm not usually that organized.  But it will sit out while I'm waiting for the oven to preheat, and that helps some. 

Bake until the center of the meatloaf reaches 165 degrees -- about 1 1/2 or so hours (longer, by about 15 to 30 min if it was stone cold from the fridge).  If you don't have a meat thermometer, make sure all the juices are running clear when you poke it with a knife. (throw the cut up Yukon golds in after the meatloaf has been in for about 45 min.  If I do this, I might even toss them onto the same jelly roll pan as the meatloaf and let them soak up all the meatloaf juices.  Or you can just shove them onto another rack below the meatloaf.)

Take it out, cover with foil and let it sit 10 minutes while you beg your 10 year old to make a salad.