I made these to go with some ribs we made for Spurs-watching party we had last weekend.  (Go Spurs Go!)  I was really trying to perfect my rib recipe, but alas, they were dry, (either because I overcrowded the pan I roasted them in, or I had company over…not sure which).  Anyway, we had these potatoes too, and, well, I didn’t find them perfect either. But, they were GOOD, without a doubt.

I used small red potatoes, and those, for me, never have the satisfying crunch and roasted, fluffy texture that Yukon Golds or russets have.  But, can you buy small russets or Yukon Golds?  Maybe you could make this work with larger potatoes by cutting them in half?  Also, I should have salted the water more aggressively, seasoned the potatoes more aggressively, and used more herbs.  But these are easy fixes.

I’m still searching for my next awesome potato recipe, since I’ve already made my favorite for everyone I know, and the second favorite for almost everyone I know.  These have the potential, so I’ll be making them again soon!

4 heads baby bok choy (about 1 pound)
1/4 C. white-wine vinegar
2 T. tomato-based chili sauce
2 t. light brown sugar
2 T. vegetable oil
Coarse salt and ground pepper

1. Heat grill to low. Trim large leaves from baby bok choy; halve heads lengthwise. Rinse well under cold water to remove grit.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together white-wine vinegar, tomato-based chili sauce, light brown sugar, and vegetable oil; season with salt and pepper. Add bok choy; toss to coat. Remove from bowl reserving sauce.
3. Place bok choy, cut sides down, on grill; cover, and cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Serve bok choy drizzled with reserved sauce.

This is from the Amana cookbook that was Mom’s. Jean gave it to me for Christmas!

1 C. milk
2 1/2 C. flour
2 eggs
1 t. salt
6 C. simmering water
1 t. salt
4 T. butter
1/2 C. dry bread crumbs

Add milk to flour slowly, stirring constantly to keep mixture smooth. (It wasn’t really smooth, more like pie crust, but when the egg is added it smooths out.) Add one egg at a time, beating well after each addition. Add salt and mix well. Bring water in pot to a simmer. Pour batter into shallow bowl, tilt it over pot and with a sharp knife slice batter into boiling water, being sure to dip knife into water before each slice to prevent batter from sticking to knife. (Just dip the knife into the pot each time.) Let boil for five minutes, then drain in colander. Put in serving dish and top with crumbs which have been browned in butter. Serve hot, with applesauce. (I served them without applesauce. They certainly could be served with gravy or cut into chicken cooked for chicken and dumplings. It was hard not to get them too big. They need to be skinny to work the best.)

Thought I would post this one because it’s one that we’ve made multiple times, usually when Matt is grilling steaks.  They are so good.  The recipe comes from one of my very favorite cooking blogs, Smitten Kitchen.  If you don’t read this website, please start immediately.  I’ve made a few different recipes from her site, and I’ve never been disappointed.  About this recipe, I have used red potatoes, but more often I’ve used Russets and just cut them into wedges.  Also, I thought this recipe had red wine in it, and I’ve made them with red wine before, and I told Matt tonight that we needed to open a bottle to make the potatoes.  Then I looked and it doesn’t actually call for it.  Not sure what this says about me, but go ahead and add a splash anyway, and enjoy the rest of the bottle! 🙂

Mustard-Roasted Potatoes

From Smitten Kitchen

Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1/2 cup whole grain Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick or 1/2 ounce) butter, melted
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
3 pounds 1- to 1 1/2-inch-diameter mixed unpeeled red-skinned and white-skinned potatoes, cut into 3/4-inch-wide wedges

Position 1 rack in top third of oven and 1 rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 425°F. Spray 2 large rimmed baking sheets with nonstick spray. Whisk mustard, olive oil, butter, lemon juice, garlic, oregano, lemon peel, and salt in large bowl to blend. Add potatoes; sprinkle generously with freshly ground black pepper and toss to coat. Divide potatoes between prepared baking sheets, leaving any excess mustard mixture behind in bowl. Spread potatoes in single layer. Roast potatoes 20 minutes. Reverse baking sheets and roast until potatoes are crusty outside and tender inside, turning occasionally, about 25 minutes longer.

Transfer potatoes to serving bowl.

Do ahead: Can be made 2 hours ahead. Let stand on baking sheets at room temperature. Rewarm potatoes in 425°F oven 10 minutes.

This recipe further proves my theory that people don’t like vegetables because they insist on boiling all the flavor and texture out of them.  If you haven’t tried roasted cauliflower, do it!  Then try mashed cauliflower…you won’t believe it!

This recipe was pretty good!  The cauliflower part was awesome.  The dressing is good on it, but I think next time I will just roast the cauliflower, squeeze some lime juice over it, and sprinkle some chopped cilantro on top.

Roasted Cauliflower with Cilantro Dressing
Serious Eats

Ingredients

1 head cauliflower
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
Freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Juice of 1/2 lime
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1/2 small bunch cilantro (leaves and delicate stems), roughly chopped
2 small cloves garlic. roughly chopped

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 425°F with a rack in the center. Wash and thoroughly dry the cauliflower and cut into large florets.

2. In a small bowl, combine the two tablespoons olive oil, chili powder, 1/4 teaspoon of the salt and some freshly ground black pepper. Place the cauliflower florets on a baking sheet and toss well with the oil mixture. Roast for 25 minutes, turning once with a spatula mid-roasting.

3. While the cauliflower roasts, combine the extra-virgin olive oil, lime juice, vinegar, cilantro, garlic, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt in a blender. Blend until smooth, stopping to scrape down sides as necessary.

4. Drizzle the roasted cauliflower with the dressing and serve immediately.

Make Your Man Happy, Meal 3

I’ve made three meals that have gone into the Matthew Parker “Chicken Parmesan Hall of Fame.” Chicken Parmesan is the first, obviously. Tortellini Soup was the second, and last night’s was the third.

Matt had suggested teriyaki chicken, so I got to work. I found this recipe from my ex-boyfriend Tyler Florence. (We had a long relationship in the early days of Food Network, but we had to part ways when he started shilling for Applebee’s.) Anyway, this teriyaki sauce served as a great marinade, and I saved half, added a little more orange juice, and cooked it down to more of a glaze. My only change might be to use less soy sauce because it was bit salty for the Wilhelm palate. I think the chicken was in a 375 oven for about 45 minutes, covered for half the time, with the marinade in the dish to keep in moist.

Fried rice was the side dish, modified from the blog Steamy Kitchen. I didn’t use the crab or the sausage, and just started by cooking the eggs, then adding ginger, oil, frying the onions, then rice, then veggies. It has fish sauce in it, but don’t tell Matt! Using day-old rice was the key here! It was great, and super easy.

Here are the recipes! Enjoy!

Teriyaki Sauce

Ingredients

* 1/2 cup soy sauce
* 2 teaspoons dark sesame oil
* 2 oranges, juiced
* 2 tablespoons honey
* 2 tablespoons ginger, peeled and minced
* 1/2 cup scallion, chopped
* 2 teaspoons garlic, minced
* 2 teaspoons sesame seeds, toasted

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Refrigerate for 1 hour. May also be used as a great marinade for chicken, shrimp or beef.

Fried Rice
1 can crab (6-8oz)
1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger (grate on rasp grater)
1 teaspoon cooking wine
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
Salt & Pepper
2 Eggs, beaten
3 cups cooked rice, break up the chunks
2 stalks green onions minced
1/2 cup frozen vegetable mixture (peas/corn/carrot) – defrosted for 15 min
2 teaspoons fish sauce
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1/2 cup diced Chinese sausage
1 teasp cooking wine

1. Marinate the Crab: Drain all the water from the can of crab meat. Marinate the grated fresh ginger, cooking wine, sesame oil.

2. Fry Sausage, Crab & Eggs: Heat up your wok to medium-high. Add the Chinese sausage to the wok, turn the heat down to med-low. Cook until the sausage releases its fat – about 5 minutes. Remove sausage, leaving as much oil in wok as possible. Turn heat to med-high. Add eggs to wok. Add crab to wok. Fry the mixture gently until eggs cooked through but still very soft. Remove, leaving as much oil in wok as possible.

3. Fry Rice: You should have about 1T of oil in the wok. If not, add cooking oil to the wok. Turn heat to high. Once the wok is very, very hot, add green onions, stir fry for 15 seconds. Add the rice – breaking up as many chunks at possible. Let the rice heat up in the wok. Add vegetables. Stir-fry until all is hot. Add fish sauce, soy, salt & pepper Add the Chinese sausage, egg/crab mixture. Stir fry until all ingredients are combined and steaming hot.

Betsy just requested this one… 

I love this potato salad, especially living in California, because we can get such fresh veggies.  I’m not a huge fan of mayo/mustard potato salad, so this kind of mixes it up.  It’s beautiful on the plate too! I can’t access the Roasted Potato recipe part, so we always just guess how many potatoes to use (we use 2lbs of Yukon Gold potatoes, spread them on a roasting pan with olive oil and S&P, roast at 450 degrees until soft), or you can just use the recipe for Roasted Potatoes posted below by Betsy.  I love the flavor of roasted Yukon Golds and the roasted corn. Yum!

Roasted Potato Salad

recipe courtesy Finecooking.com

1 ear fresh corn, in the husk
1/4 cup plus 1 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cups red, yellow, or orange cherry tomatoes (or a combination), halved
1/2 red bell pepper, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1/2 green bell pepper, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1/2 small red onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1/2 yellow bell pepper, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
2 small cloves garlic, finely chopped
2lbs roasted Yukon Gold or Red Potatoes
3 Tbs. red-wine vinegar

Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 450°F. Remove the husk and put the corn on a small baking sheet. Drizzle 1 tsp. of the oil onto the corn and rub it over all the kernels. Sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper. Roast, turning the cob occasionally, until the corn kernels are light brown in a few spots, about 20 minutes. Let the corn cool. Cut the kernels from the cob.

I made these last weekend, and they really are the perfect roasted potatoes.  There’s nothing fancy about them, (this is more a technique than anything else), and I’m sure you can add a thousand different things to them to suit your tastes.  But these came out crunchy and delicious!

Perfect Roasted Potatoes

From Chocolate and Zucchini

– 2 1/2 pound potatoes (waxy or floury — both types will work equally well)
– 2 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil
– kosher salt

Serves 4 generously.

Preheat the oven to 410°F.

If your potatoes are smooth-skinned, scrub them well and peel them in alternative stripes so that strips of skin remain. If, on the other hand, the skin of your potatoes is rugged and grainy, peel it off completely (no need to scrub) then rinse the potatoes well in cold water.

Cut the potatoes into even chunks, about the size of a bite. Place them in a saucepan large enough to accommodate them, cover with cold water, and add a teaspoon coarse salt. Set over high heat, cover, bring to a low boil, then lower the heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes.

As soon as the water boils, pour the fat into a rimmed baking sheet, and place the sheet in the oven, so the fat and baking sheet will heat up.

After the 5 minutes of boiling, drain the potatoes — they will not be cooked at that point — and return them to the saucepan. Place a lid on the saucepan. Holding the lid firmly shut with both hands (the saucepan will be hot, so wear oven mitts or use dish towels), shake the saucepan vigorously for a few seconds, until the surface of the potato chunks is fuzzy; this will help the formation of a crust.

Remove the baking sheet from the oven, pour the potatoes onto the sheet, sprinkle with sea salt, and stir well to coat with the fat.

Return to the oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, flipping the potatoes halfway through, until cooked through (when you insert the tip of a knife in one of the pieces, it should meet no resistance), crusty, and golden.

Serve immediately.