Pages, Pucks and Pantry

Blogher Food '09

Wahoo, I'm off the waiting list and headed to Blogher Food '09! It's my first blogher conference and I'm really excited about learning some new stuff and meeting fellow food bloggers. Anyone out there going?

Grandma Rosies Garbanzo Stew

I'm calling this 'Garbanzo Stew' so as not to confuse people, but honestly, in my family it's just called 'Garbanzo'. I'm sure we garnered some interesting looks when we went grocery shopping by saying  "Mom are we having Garbanzo for dinner?". People probably thought we were a bit crazy by getting excited about eating a bean for a meal, but Garbanzo's the only name I've ever known this dish as.

In wanting to find a dish to make for the Family Recipe event, I came across one mom had included in the Filipino recipes she has written down for the family. Except the directions were more like my mom and Grandma cook, not a lot of detail (she never uses recipes when cooking family dishes anymore).  While the original instructions had ingredients like "tomato sauce" or directions like "saute onions" I wanted a bit more information such as "how much tomato sauce" and "do I saute in oil and how cooked are the onions supposed to be?". I was on the phone several times with my mom while making this dish trying to clarify exactly what needed to be done. And I had to laugh when I took a sample to her to try and she mentioned that maybe I didn't add enough water to make soup. Water? There was no water listed!

But a recipe like this is exactly why I want to participate in the Family Recipes: Memories of Family, Food and Fun. I want to be able to not only make old family dishes, but be able to pass the directions on to far flung family that might not be local enough to learn at my mom's side (my Grandma Rosie passed away many years ago). I did ask my mom to give me some background regarding this dish and this is what she wrote:

"I don't  know when I started eating garbanzos cooked this way.  Probably before WW II.  But my memories when going back that far are so dim now.  When we got to the states Grandma Wing started cooking it.  Everybody loves this dish in my family.  It is so easy to make....your Grandma Rosie learned by watching Grandma Wing cook it.  She wrote down the ingredients and that was it.  And, that was how I learned to cook it too.  Over the years I have tweaked this recipe to suit my taste.  Such as the different spiced stewed tomatoes and not just plain canned tomatoes and tomato sauce as Grandma Rosie cooked it.  I left out the raisins that my aunt puts in hers because I did not like it.  I put more sauce than some.  Some cook it the way you did - not much sauce.  But I just know we have always eaten this dish in our family as far back as my memory goes."

This is one of those dishes that can be tweaked quite easily to fit individual tastes. Add tomato paste for a more pronounced tomato flavor, use different types of stewed tomatoes (I happen to like the Muir Glen Fire Roasted), add raisins, more potatoes, extra garlic etc. This is also one of those recipes that is inexpensive and you can double or triple the ingredients to feed a crowd.

GRANDMA ROSIES GARBANZO STEW

2 Tablespoons bacon grease
1 large onion, diced
1 pound ground beef
1 potato, peeled and diced
1 8-oz can tomato sauce
1 14.5-oz can diced stewed tomatoes (any variety)
1 15.5-oz can garbanzo's (with juice)
Salt
Pepper
Cooked Rice

Melt bacon grease over medium heat. Add onions and saute until soft. Add garlic and stir for a minute being careful not to burn.

Add ground beef and cook until no longer pink. Add potatoes, garbanzos (with juice from can), stewed tomatoes and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to simmer.

Cover and cook until potatoes are soft and garbanzos are tender (time on this depends on how big you dice your potatoes, mine took a little over half an hour). Salt and pepper to taste. Serve over Rice.

Note: My mom likes hers a bit soupy. She adds some water, about 8-oz or so (or use beef broth etc) when she adds the potatoes (this would probably help the potatoes cook faster).

Note: This dish always seems to need a lot of salt for me after cooking. I may have to try adding a bit during the cooking process next time.

Note: We serve this over medium grain rice.

Golden Olive Oil-Roasted Potatoes

When I first came across this recipe in the December 2008 issue of Sunset Magazine, I didn't pay much attention. I mean come on, I roast potatoes in olive oil all the time. But what eventually caught my eye with this recipe was part of the directions. Soaking the peeled and cut potatoes in water for at least a day (and up to two days). The result was supposed to be pieces of potato that were crispy on the outside and creamy in the middle. I don't know about you, but that sounded like a fine final product to me. So I gave the recipe a try for this months Potato Ho Down.

Well, the final product totally worked for me. I love me the crispy bits on potatoes. The outside of these had the required crunch with the insides being light and fluffy. My mind fast forwarded to dicing the spuds smaller next time, adding some onions, bell peppers and bacon to make some great breakfast potatoes.

This is a great make ahead dish. Peel and cut the potatoes the night before, stick them in some water and the next night when you are ready for dinner, just drain them and roast.

These did not microwave well as leftovers a few days after the original roasting (lost all their crunch) but they did fair a bit better throwing them in a pan on the top of the stove. I think they are at their best fresh out of the oven after their original roast.

This is my entry into this months Potato Ho event hosted by Krysta from Evil Chef Mom. Be sure to check her blog for the round up on Wednesday June 17th. And thanks again to Noble Pig for giving me permission to eat potatoes at least once a month, low carb diets be damned!

GOLDEN OLIVE OIL-ROASTED POTATOES

5 lbs large Yukon Gold potatoes
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
About 1/2 tbsp sea salt such as fleur de sel

Peel potatoes and cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes. Put in a large bowl, cover with cold water, and refrigerate overnight.*

Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil over high heat. Add potatoes and cook until barely tender when pierced, about 10 minutes. Pour into a colander and let drain and dry 10 minutes.

Set potatoes in a single layer in a large rimmed baking pan. Drizzle evenly with olive oil and sprinkle with 1/2 tbsp salt; stir gently to coat.

Bake potatoes until golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes, turning halfway through baking. Mound hot potatoes on a platter or in a shallow serving bowl; sprinkle with more salt to taste. Serves 8. 255 calories per serving.

*Soaking the potatoes at least a day (and up to 2 days) ahead makes them even crisper on the outside and creamier in the middle.

Note: Though I did have about 5 lbs of potatoes I didn't measure the oil and salt. I just kind of threw it all together and being me, that meant lots more salt than requested.

Note: 5 lbs really filled up my large baking pan. It was hard to toss the potatoes in the oil with that many potatoes. Also, even with the oil, the potatoes did stick a bit to the pan so be careful when you turn them at the halfway point.

I seriously can see making these potatoes and then tossing with roasted veggies and of course bacon...and maybe even cheese!
 

Quick and Easy Wine Cake

My Grandma W used to make what she called a "sherry cake". I have fond memories of sitting around her little kitchen table in the summertime waiting for her bundt cake to come out of the oven. I can picture the summer light filtering through her kitchen curtains, the little table covered with a bright tablecloth. Though I am not a fan of sherry, the smell of the cake while being made was wonderful and the finished product delectable. Not too sweet, the cake was moist and had a great flavor that wasn't very "alcoholic".

Though I have thought of that cake off and on for years it wasn't until I was cleaning out the liquor cabinet the other day that I decided I needed to make Grams cake. Years ago I had bought a cookbook, The California Wine Country Cookbook, which I knew had a cake similar to the one my grandma made.

I realize this is a "semi-homemade" kinda cake since it uses a packaged cake mix. Don't dismiss it because of that. I searched online and found many different "sherry cake" recipes, all basically like the one in the book. Prepackaged cake mix, box of pudding, oil and sherry. Some used corn oil, some had an icing (I think my Grandmas had an icing, I'll have to ask her for the next time). I found several recipes that were the exact same recipe as this except for a different liquor was used, such as rum.

The final product has a wonderful flavor. It's also very easy to transport which makes it a great cake to serve without utensils, to take to potlucks, or to wrap pieces of to sell at bake sales. Moist without being sticky which I like. I did add powdered sugar to the top but it would have been fine without. Simple. Basic. Quick and Easy. Would work well for a nice brunch, tea party or just a nice cake to have after a summer meal.

The recipe asked for "cocktail sherry" which I'm not sure is the best stuff. The only sherry I had in the cabinet was a bottle of Fairbanks Medium Dry Sherry which turns out to be cocktail sherry. Worked for me. I believe my Gram used to use Cream Sherry. The recipe also asks for a 4 1/2 oz box of pudding...the small boxes these days are 3.5 oz., the large 5.1 oz, so I just threw in the entire contents of the large box.

This is my entry into the "Family Recipes: Memories of Family Food and Fun" event hosted by The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch. It's an event where you post family recipes from your mother, your grandmother, your daughter, your aunt...pretty much from anyone that brings back a memory of family, food or fun. Check out the Grumpy Honeybunch's blog for wonderful recipes too. I have many recipes from my Mom that I hope to contribute to future events.

QUICK AND EASY WINE CAKE

1 package yellow cake mix
1 4 1/2 ounce package instant vanilla pudding
4 eggs
3/4 cup oil
3/4 cup Grey Riesling or Cocktail Sherry
1 teaspoon nutmeg

Combine all ingredients, mix with electric beater about 5 minutes, at medium speed. Pour batter into greased bundt cake pan and bake in 350 degree oven for 45 minutes or until done.

This recipe came from Jeani Martini from Martini & Prati Wines. Jeani pairs this cake with their Fountain Grove Grey Riesling. I don't think the winery or the wine is around anymore.

Note: I used Fairbanks Medium Dry Sherry. I used Duncan Hines Butter Recipe Golden Moist Deluxe cake mix. I used Pam Baking Spray. I used a full 5.1 ounce box of Jell-O Vanilla Pudding.

Note: I baked this in the "Anniversary Bundt Pan" from Williams Sonoma. It gives a great look to the final cake. You could dress up this simple cake by putting flowers in the center or maybe fresh raspberriess, strawberries, blueberries...and then maybe serve with a raspberry puree...yep, endless possibilities.

Note: I questioned the "five minutes beating" but I checked other recipes which also said the same thing and it worked out fine.

Note: The cake "settled" after sitting for five minutes in the pan so don't be surprised that it deflates quite a bit on you.

Note: A lot of recipes call for a simple glaze made with powdered sugar, water etc. I just dusted some powdered sugar on once the cake cooled (be sure to let the cake cool before dusting with powdered sugar or you'll have a mess).

Trixie Belle cooks Twice-Baked Potatoes with Greek Yogurt

After having two root canals on the same tooth in a three day span, my oral surgeon recommended I only eat soft foods for the weekend. So I piled up with mashed potatoes, yogurt, jello, pudding and cottage cheese. Which got boring after a while. So I decided to make this mashed tater dish to add a little spice into that soft food mandate. Don't worry, root canal or not, I'm having a steak for dinner tonight.

I do not own a "ricer" and not really wanting to spend the money on one at this time, I just used my trusty metal mesh strainer to "rice" the potatoes. That took a bit of time, but other than that, this is pretty quick to put together, it just needs a lot of cooking time (an hour and a half for the original bake and then another 30 minutes or so for the second bake).

I liked the flavor. A bit different than normal mashed potatoes with sour cream added. The recipe specifically states that regular yogurt cannot be substituted, you need to use Greek Yogurt. The dish had a nice creamy consistency, no lumpy mashed potatoes here. Not sure if a real potato ricer would have made that much of a difference. Both Mr. L and I enjoyed the flavor the yogurt gave the potatoes...and this went very well with Kentucky Fried Chicken. And of course I saved the potato peels. They will be great buttered and cooked up with some bacon.

I only found one of my cute little ramekin type things so I filled that one and just put the rest in an 8x8 pan. This would be great to make for company as it was a nice presentation in the ramekin and I'm sure you could prepare most of this ahead of time.

This recipe came out of the April 2009 edition of the Martha Stewart Living magazine. It's my entry into this months Potato Ho Down. This month the Ho Down is being hosted by the ever popular and cool Noble Pig. Be sure to check her blog after May 20th for the round up of all the wonderful potato recipes she received for this event.

TWICE-BAKED POTATOES WITH GREEK YOGURT

4 russet potatoes (3 pounds) pricked all over with a fork
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 cups reduced-fat (2 percent) Greek yogurt, room temperature
2 tablespoons minced fresh chives, plus 2-inch pieces for garnish (optional)
Coarse salt and fresh ground pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Arrange potatoes on a rimmed baking sheet, and bake until fork tender, about 1 1/2 hours. Let cool slightly.

Warm butter and cream in a small saucepan. Carefully peel hot potatoes, and cut into thirds. Pass potatoes through a ricer into a large bowl. Fold in cream mixture, yogurt and chives. Season with salt and pepper.

Place eight 6-ounce ramekins on a rimmed baking sheet, and divide potatoes among ramekins. Bake until tops are slightly puffed and golden brown, about 30 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes. Garnish with chives if desired before serving. Serves 8.

Note: I used Fage Greek Yogurt. I added the chives.

Note: I didn't add the salt because I'm trying to cut down on salt, but do add the salt cuz it so needed salt.

Note: I used a metal mesh strainer to "rice" the potatoes. I put them in half at a time and pressed the potatoes through the mesh using a spatula.

Note: If baking in an 8 x 8 pan instead of the ramekins, bake for 40 to 45 minutes.

Trixie Belle cooks Bacon-Wrapped Potato Bites

When I came across this recipe on The Kitchn website I knew that it would be perfect for this months Potato Ho event. First, it had potatoes. Second, it had bacon. What's not to fall in love with?

Quick. Easy. Did I mention it has potatoes AND bacon?

The recipe came with a Spicy Sour Cream Dipping Sauce. It worked fine but I can see making many other little sauces to dip these little appetizers in, like maybe adding a little spicy salsa verde in the sour cream. But if you don't want the sauce don't worry, these bites taste fine without it. They also taste pretty dang good the next day cold right out of the fridge.

I bought small yukon golds and cut them in half. I thought they would be small enough to wrap the bacon around but the half strip of bacon barely fit. I think I'll make the potatoes a bit smaller next time as it will make it easier to wrap the bacon and easier to pop a full one in my mouth. Taking bites is so messy and if you pop a whole one in your mouth you only burn the roof of your mouth and tongue instead of adding your lips to that list. You can find the original recipe with step by step photos from the Kitchn here.

BACON-WRAPPED POTATO BITES WITH
SPICY SOUR CREAM DIPPING SAUCE

1 pound small or medium red potatoes
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped, fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
freshly ground pepper
12 ounces to 1 pound thick-cut bacon
1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
1 teaspoon hot sauce
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Wash and dry the potatoes. Chop them into 1-inch pieces, keeping the chunks roughly the same size, even if they aren't the exact same shape. Put the potatoes in a medium pot, cover with cold water, and bring to a boil. Season the water with salt. Once the water begins to boil, cook the potatoes for about 3 to 4 minutes, until you can stick a fork into them without too much resistance. You want the potatoes to be almost, but not fully, cooked through (so they won't fall apart during the next steps).

Drain the potatoes and put them in a large bowl. Add the rosemary, olive oil, salt, and a few grinds of pepper, and toss until the potatoes are evenly coated.

Cut the strips of bacon in half (with a short, vertical slice). Wrap each piece of potato in a half-strip of bacon, securing it with a toothpick. Put the potatoes on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or aluminum foil. You may need to cook potatoes in two batches.

Cook the potatoes for 15 minutes, then flip each piece. Cook for another 10 to 15 minutes, until the bacon is cooked through and crisp. Mix the sour cream and hot sauce in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Pile the potato bites on a plate and serve alongside the dip.

Makes about three dozen bites.

Note: I used small yukon gold potatoes. I used Tabasco Sauce.

Note: I added more than a teaspoon of Tabasco as one teaspoon just wasn't enough. I cut the recipe in half. I used aluminum foil.

Did I mention potatoes AND bacon?

This months Potato Ho Down is being hosted by Donalyn on the Dlynz blog. Be sure to check out her blog on Wednesday for an update.

Pan-Roasted Chicken on Bacon Mushroom Ragout

This is the dish that hurt. Literally. This is the dish I burnt the crap out of my hand on. You can read more about it here.

It's really simple. When you put a cast iron skillet in the oven, you need to remember when you take it out of the oven to finish cooking on the stove, that the handle is hotter than hell. DO NOT, and I repeat, DO NOT do what I did and get distracted and take your nice sweet tender little hand and try to pick up the piping hot out of the oven handle. Sigh. Ouch. Hand in ice water for a couple of hours. Ever tried using the facilities with one hand? Seriously, make sure once you take that pan out of the oven that you put something on the handle so you don't make the mistake I did. It's taken me almost six months to post this recipe...no, my hand is fine now, it's my brain that is still embarrassed I was so stupid. The burn actually wasn't that bad, it just hurt quite a bit. I guess I have quick reflexes. The hand was red and tender for a couple of days but I was lucky to have Mr. L around. Not only did he play doctor for my hand, but he was the one that finished cooking the recipe, plating up the vegetables and serving me at the table (hard for me to do while I had my hand in a bowl of ice water).

That being said..YUMMY! Seriously the mushroom bacon ragout was awesome. I wished I'd had twice as much of the ragout as it was terrific. Great flavor. So glad I didn't drop the whole thing on the floor. This also made a nice presentation on each plate with the mushrooms on the bottom and the chicken on top.

I used some damn expensive chicken breasts from Lunardi's for this meal. $18 worth of chicken but it cooked up nice and tender. I'm finding the quality of their chicken so much better than those I find prepackaged at regular grocery stores. They were pretty thick pieces of chicken and with the 20 minutes in the oven and being covered with foil for a bit, they came out perfectly cooked. If you use small or thin chicken breasts, I'd check before the 20 minute time in the oven is completed.

Again, very tasty recipe. There is a bit of work involved but the results are worth it. The recipe came from the September issue of Sunset magazine. I've been meaning to post this for weeks for Cream Puffs in Venice's  Magazine Mondays event (which will probably substitute for the now defunct Weekend Cookbook Challenge) but keep forgetting. Thanks to Noble Pig for reminding me.

PAN-ROASTED CHICKEN ON BACON MUSHROOM RAGOUT

1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/2 oz. dried porcini mushrooms
3 oz. thinly sliced bacon or pancetta, cut into thin strips
8 oz. shallots, thinly sliced crosswise
About 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 1/2 pounds fresh mushrooms (wild, common, or a combination), rinsed and thickly sliced
6 boned chicken breast halves (skin on; about 8 oz. each), rinsed and dried
Salt and freshly cracked black pepper
1 tablespoon butter
3/4 cup Grenache or other dry red wine
1 tablespoon chopped fresh lemon thyme or regular thyme leaves, plus sprigs for garnish

In a small saucepan, bring broth to a boil. Add dried porcini, remove from heat, and let stand until soft, about 15 minutes. Lift porcini from broth, squeezing out any extra liquid, and chop finely. Strain broth.

In a large frying pan over medium heat, stir bacon often until fat is rendered. Add shallots; stir over medium-high heat until bacon begins to brown, about 5 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer shallots and bacon to paper towels. If pan is dry, add about 1/2 tablespoon olive oil. Add fresh mushrooms and chopped porcini; stir often over high heat until liquid has evaporated and mushrooms begin to brown, 12 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Sprinkle chicken on both sides with salt and cracked pepper. Heat butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large, ovenproof frying pan over medium-high heat. Add chicken, skin side down, and cook until well browned on the bottom, 5 to 7 minutes. Turn chicken and transfer pan to oven. Bake just until chicken is no longer pink in center of thickest part, about 20 minutes.

Set chicken on a platter and keep warm. Pour wine into pan and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring to scrape up browned bits. Pour mixture into pan with mushrooms and add porcini-soaking liquid, bacon-shallot mixture, and chopped thyme. Stir often over high heat until almost all liquid has evaporated, 8 to 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mound ragout on plates, top with chicken, and garnish with thyme sprigs. Serves 6.

Note: I used some thin sliced bacon we had bought at the Japanese market. Belly Bacon, very thin, but probably not the best bacon to use in this dish. I'd love to try it with pancetta. I used a combination of white and brown mushrooms I'd bought at the farmers market along with the dried porcini. I used lemon thyme.

Note: I used Two Buck Chuck not only in the dish but in my stomach. Before I had to start drinking water because of the burn.

Note: I put the chicken aside under some tinfoil while the sauce was made. I used a cast iron skillet to cook the chicken and it worked beautifully. Except for that part where I had to put the liquid from it into that other pan and forgot the handle was hot...sigh.

A little bit of work for the finished dish but I'm sure if you don't burn your hand while making this recipe it wouldn't be too hard to make.

Pan-Fried Angel's Food Cake

Okay, lets talk about Aunt Sandy as she is known. The Food Networks Sandra Lee.  A lot of people HATE her. They say she is not a cook because she uses, oh the horror, pre-packaged food. And OMG, she makes a cocktail with every show. The nerve of the woman.

Ina Garten on one of her recent shows makes a quick version of her Sticky Buns using, oh the horror, pre-packaged frozen puff pastry. No she did not make the dough from scratch. Did I mention the horror? And I seem to recall quite a few alcoholic drinks Giada's been making lately (she put alcohol in her morning coffee, the horror!). Don't get me started on how un-30-minute-like I find Rachel's meals. I also don't see folks who use pre-made sauces and such from Trader Joe's vilified like poor Sandra. I think she gets a lot more flack than is warranted.

Is Sandra Lee's Semi-Homemade my favorite show? No. Do I want to make everything semi-homemade? No. Do I get ideas on how to make things maybe a bit faster when needed by watching this show. Sometimes. Do I mind her tablescapes? Actually that's my favorite part of the show. I get a heck of a lot more useful (and doable) table ideas from Aunt Sandy than I get from Martha Stewart (who, truth be told, I adore). I still have episodes of Sandra Lee's halloween show's on my DVR for reference next year.

The whole point is I, and a lot of folks in this country, don't always have the time to cook everything from scratch. And unless you do lots of product prep and meal planning on the weekends, getting a good quick meal on the table when you get home at 7PM at night and are dead tired isn't always an option. So yes, I, like many other folks in this country, rely on semi-homemade meals every now and then.

After all that, no, this is not a Sandra Lee recipe. In fact, the original dish came with a recipe for making angel food cake from scratch. But I'm still leery about those "beating till stiff" egg whites not to mention dealing with the leftover egg yolks (please no e-mails about all the things I can make with egg yolks, trust me, I have a file full). So, I cheated. I went to my local gourmet grocery store and bought one of their angel food cakes from the bakery. Wait. No, I cheated even more. They had packages of already sliced angel food cake for sale. So I bought  a package of those and used them in this recipe. Since the recipe was pretty dang good without baking the cake from scratch, if you have the time and confidence to make this using a scratch backed angel food cake, I think it would be awesome. But for a quick dessert on a Sunday night after spending all day shopping and cooking, this was dang tasty, even if it was semi-homemade.

This came from the December 2008 issue of Better Homes and Gardens. I altered the recipe to fit my needs. Originally we had only planned on eating two slices of cake each. We are really bad people cuz we ate more than that.

PAN-FRIED ANGEL'S FOOD CAKE

1 Angel Food Cake, or slices of Angels Food Cake
melted butter
Homemade or purchased jam or honey

Cut cake into slices (unless you buy the presliced kind :). Lightly spread cut sides of each cake slice with melted butter. In a non-stick pan, add buttered slices of angel food cake and cook over medium-high heat. Cook until golden brown (original recipe said 3 minutes but it was more around 2 for me). Turn slices over and cook the other side until golden brown (watch as the second side cooks faster). Transfer slices to serving plate.

While slices are cooking, heat some jam or honey.  After putting slices of cake on the serving plate, drizzle some of the jam or honey over the slices. If you really want to be decadent, sprinkle on some powdered sugar.

Note: I used pre-bought angel food cake slices. They were a bit heavier than what a normal angel food cake is like. I used Trader Joe's Organic Blueberry Preserves.

Note:  I melted the butter in the microwave and applied it with a pastry brush. I just melted the jam in the same dish.

My grocery store had a lemon angel food cake that I'm thinking would work great with some lemon curd drizzled over. Ummm...how about some melted chocolate? Yeah, this was good, quick, and easy to make and I'm sure I'll make variations of it many times over the coming years. Maybe I'll even make the cake from scratch sometime. 

This is going to be my entry into the last Weekend Cookbook Challenge. I'm disapointed that the Challenges are ending. I only recently became a participant and have had a great time going through all my cookbooks finding something that fits. This months challenge was leftover from February and had the theme of "Love". I'm entering this because I love to cook for Mr. L. I also love to eat. It's not from a cookbook but I thought it would work. Do check the I Like To Cook's Weekend Cookbook Challenge site for the round up after the 15th.

Trixie Belle cooks Gruyere-Stuffed New Potatoes

I admit I didn't expect much from this recipe but it actually turned out really good. It was an entry by Erin Patil in the Queens of the Holidays cookbook.

It's not a quick recipe as you have to bake the potatoes, let them cool, and then bake them again. They aren't hard to make though so definitely give them a try. Very tasty little morsels. This makes twelve little stuffed potatoes. They're pretty rich. and not exactly diet food. I dare you to not want to eat them all.

This is my entry into this months Potato Ho event hosted by Evil Chef Mom. Be sure to check her blog for the Potato Ho update on March 19th.

GRUYERE-STUFFED NEW POTATOES

6 medium new potatoes, washed
Olive oil
2 green onions, minced
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 pound Gruyere cheese, grated
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon ground coriander
Salt and Pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Coat potatoes with olive oil and bake for 45 minutes or until tender when pierced with a fork. Remove from oven and let cool.

When cool enough to handle, slice in half and carefully remove the pulp, taking care not to tear the skin. Set skins aside and place pulp in a bowl.

Cook green onions in butter over medium heat for 2 minutes. Add to the potato pulp. Add cheese, sour cream, coriander, salt and pepper; mix well. Taste and adjust seasonings. Stuff mixture back into the potato skins and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Serve potatoes hot.

Spicy Soy Dipping Sauce

Potstickers, Jiaozi, Gyoza, Mandu, I don't care what it's called I like it. I always have to get an order when I get food from the local Chinese place and even if I sit at a counter for sushi, I usually get an order of gyoza from the kitchen.

Trader Joe's has some great bags of frozen potstickers. When you are busy (when are we not?) they make a great, quick meal. Just pop them in the microwave and you have a snack, or in our case, dinner. Yes, you can deep fry them or cook them by frying first and then steaming, but in a pinch, I usually just microwave them.

You can buy some packages of potstickers that have a packet of sauce included. And while that sauce is okay, that's just it...they are just okay. I've made my own potsticker sauce before but I never had the correct combination of ingredients and that too, just turned out okay.

When I saw this simple recipe in the Martin Yan Quick and Easy cookbook, i figured it was a great excuse to go buy a bag of potstickers and indulge.  So off I went to buy the sauce ingredients.

Chinese black vinegar? Couldn't find it at a regular grocery store so when I was near the Chinese market I stopped in to see if I could find it. It's a nice big market with tons of things I wanted to try. I searched up and down the isles looking for black vinegar. I went up and down the Chinese vinegar section. I checked the Japanese section. I checked the Korean section. No luck. I asked a clerk. No luck. The clerk went and got the owner/manager. The owner came smiling. I asked for 'Chinese Black Vinegar'. He looked at me like I was crazy gaijin messing in his Chinese market. Black vinegar? Yes. And then feeling like I had to explain my craziness, I volunteered in a small little voice "Really. Chinese Black Vinegar. It's from a recipe in a Martin Yan cookbook". The owner/manager still looked at me like I was crazy. He and the clerk looked at all the vinegars (seriously, there had to be at least 50 kinds in the Chinese section alone) and then shrugged and apologized, he had none. I ended up using balsamic vinegar which Martin Yan said was an okay substitute.

This tasted really really good. I will never use the packet stuff again since this was so quick and easy to make and the ingredients are pantry staples. The recipe mentions that this could also be used on white rice (which was a great idea) or spring rolls. This recipe made way more sauce than was needed for one package of potstickers. This was so easy to make and tasted so good that it will definitely be the go to sauce when I need it.

This is my entry into the Weekend Cookbook Challenge being hosted by Sara. The challenge was to use a recipe from a cookbook that had 5 ingredients or less.

SPICY SOY DIPPING SAUCE

6 tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 cup Chinese black vinegar or balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons chili garlic sauce

In a bowl, combine all the ingredients and stir until combined. Store in a covered container in the refrigerator; it will keep for up to 3 weeks. Makes about 3/4 cup.

Note: I used good balsamic vinegar

Note: I am still on the hunt for Chinese Black Vinegar