Hasselback Potatoes

• 2 large baking potatoes
• 6 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup butter, stick
• 1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese, shredded
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 2 sprigs fresh rosemary, chopped
• kosher salt
• freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Scrub two potatoes clean.  If you do not like the potato skin you can peel them as well.  Then cut slits every 1/8 inch into the potato.  Make sure to not cut the potato all the way through.  Leave about 1/8-1/4 inch uncut on the bottom of the potato.

Slice the garlic into thin slices. You can use a knife or a slicer.  You just want the garlic paper thin.  You also want to slice the 1/4 cup of butter into thin slices.

Starting at one end of the potato insert a slice of garlic into the last slit. Then insert a slice of butter into the adjacent slit.  Continue alternating garlic and butter into each slit until you have filled up the potato.

Repeat with the second potato.

Place the potatoes onto a baking sheet and cover each potato with 1 tbs of olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper.  Then top with the rosemary.

Finally top each potato with half of the Parmesan cheese.

Bake in the preheated 425 degree oven for 1 hour.

Remove and serve.

These potatoes are awesome.  They look cool, taste great and will definitely keep the vampires away from you. To make this a tad bit more kid friendly, substitute cheese for the garlic slices.  A nice mozzarella would work.

Herb Roasted Potatoes

• 5 Russet baking potatoes, medium/large
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbs fresh thyme, chopped
• 1 tbs fresh rosemary, chopped
• 1 tbs kosher salt
• 1 tsp black pepper

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Wash the potatoes and then dice them into 1 inch cubes.  Try to keep them all around the same size.  They will cook more evenly that way.

Place the potatoes in a large bowl and toss with olive oil.  Then add the herbs and toss.

Pour the potatoes out onto a large cookie sheet.  Spread them out into a single layer.

Place the cookie sheet in the preheated oven and cook for 20 minutes.  Remove from the oven, stir, spread the potatoes back out into a single layer and then continue to cook for another 20 minutes.

Stir and place the potatoes into a serving bowl.

Serve with your favorite meal.

These potatoes were crispy on the outside and nice and soft on the inside.  The herbs were delicious.  As always the garlic amount is a suggestion, you can always add more if you want to scare away some vampires.

Baked Sweet Potatoes

• 2 sweet potatoes
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 2 tbs butter
• 2 tbs brown sugar
• pinch cinnamon
• pinch nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

These start out just like my perfect baked potato.  Wash the sweet potatoes.  Then coat them in olive oil and top with 1 tsp of kosher salt each.  Bake salt side up in the oven for 35-45 minutes.  This will depend on the size of the sweet potato. When a fork can be easily inserted remove from the oven.

Cut a slit halfway through each potato.  Then insert 1 tbs of butter into each potato.  Next top each potato with 1 tbs of brown sugar and a pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg.

Place the potatoes back into the oven for another 5-10 minutes or until butter and brown sugar melt.

Serve as a side for your favorite meal.

Hashbrowns – (serves 4)

• 6-8 potatoes
• 3 tbs vegetable oil
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp freshly cracked pepper

The key to perfect hashbrowns is perfectly cut potatoes.  I have found that using a food processor with the shredding attachment is the way to go.  If you don’t have one, try a box grater.  It is a bit of work, but the results are fantastic.  Once you have the potatoes shredded let them soak in a bowl of water for 20 minutes.

Make sure to change the water twice.  Soaking the potatoes will help remove the excess starch from the potatoes.  If you skip this step the potatoes will stick together and create clumps.

Next drain the water and wring out the potatoes.  To do this, I layer up a couple of paper towels and then use them to filter out the water.  Squeeze hard to get all of the water out.  The dryer you can get the potatoes the better.  Dry potatoes make crispy hashbrowns.

I have found that cooking hashbrowns on an electric griddle or fry pan creates the best results.  Set your pan to 350, and add the oil.   You can use a fry pan, but try to get the pan to a constant temperature around 350 degrees.  I find that this is usually around medium/high on most stove tops.

Once the oil is hot add the potatoes and then season with the salt, pepper and paprika.  If you don’t have smoked paprika, regular can be substituted.  Smoked paprika will give you a nice smokey flavor and just a tad bit of heat.

Stir the potatoes on the griddle and let the cook for 8-10 minutes or until the potatoes soften.  Then arrange the potatoes into a single uniform layer.  Cook for 3-5 minutes.

When golden brown, flip the potatoes and cook until the other side is golden brown.  This will be another 3-5 minutes.

This will give you the perfect hashbrowns.  Crispy edges with a nice soft center.

By opening up the packet you can add the cheese and make these potatoes completely delicious.

Grilled Cheesy Potatoes - (Adapted from About.com Grilled Potatoes)

• 6 large potatoes, peeled and sliced
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 cup monterey jack cheese
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tablespoon butter or margarine
• 1 tablespoon dill, chopped
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)

Preheat the grill to medium/high.  Roughly 350-400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Peel and dice the potatoes.  I have found that they turn out better if you give them a good rinse before using them.

Place potatoes topped with onions and butter, on a large sheet of aluminum foil.

Top with salt, pepper, paprika, cayenne, dill, and garlic. Seal potatoes in foil and place on the grill.

Cook for 20 minutes on medium/high heat. Turn potatoes once during cooking process.

During the last five minutes of cooking, open foil and sprinkle potatoes with cheese.  If you wrapped your foil to the point where you can not open it, use a sharp knife and cut a slit on the top of the foil.  Leave the potatoes unwrapped and cook an additional 5-7 minutes.

When the cheese is melted you are ready to eat.

These are similar to my original foil wrapped potatoes, but the cheese makes them so much better.

Coated with cheese and baked to perfection, this was a meal that fed us for a couple meals.  It only gets better each time you reheat it.  I love this meal.

Scalloped Potatoes with Ham and Cheese

• 6 cups thinly sliced peeled potatoes, roughly 3 pounds
• 3 cups milk
• 2 cups chopped fully cooked ham
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 3/4 cup onion, finely diced
• 1/4 cup flour
• 4 tbs butter
• 1 tsp kosher or fine sea salt
• 1/2 tsp dried parsley flakes
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/4 tsp pepper

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter, flour, parsley, thyme, salt, pepper and paprika.  Whisk together until the mixture is smooth.

While whisking, slowly add the milk.  Once the milk is fully incorporated and smooth, bring to a boil, stirring frequently.   When the mixture starts to boil, cook until thick and creamy, Roughly 2 minutes.

Slice the ham into bite sized pieces.  Using a mandolin or other food slicer, slice the potatoes to 1/8 – 1/4 inch thick slices.  The thicker the slices the longer you will have to bake the potatoes for them to be done.  I used the shredding blade on my food processor to shred the onion.  Then I flipped the blade over to the slicing side and then sliced the potatoes.  Food processors can be really handy.  Plus, they can be cleaned in the dishwasher.

Grease a 9×13 glass baking dish or a similarly sized dish.  Add the potatoes, ham, onion and cheese.  Mix to combine.  Then gradually pour the milk mixture over the top.  Using a rubber spatula, smooth out the top and make sure that the milk mixture is evenly distributed throughout the potatoes.

Cover the dish with aluminum foil or a lid and place in the preheated 375 degree oven for an hour and a half, 90 minutes.  Then remove the cover and continue to cook for 10-15 minutes or until the edges of the potatoes start to brown.  This sounds like a long time to bake, but you want the potatoes to be fully cooked.  Crunchy potatoes are bad potatoes.

Serve with some chewy rolls and you family will love you.

The potatoes can be made ahead of time and kept in the refrigerator.  Like I said, these are the perfect side.

Cheesy Potatoes - (From Mom)

• 2 pound bag of Shredded Hashbrowns- thawed
• 1 eight ounce bag of shredded cheese
• 1/2 stick of butter or margarine diced up
• 1 pint of sour cream
• 1 can of cream of chicken soup
• 1 small onion diced up or 2 tablespoons of dried onion flakes
• salt and pepper to taste

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9×13 baking pan.

Mix all of the ingredients in a large bowl.  Make sure to fold the ingredients so that the potatoes don’t fall apart.

Pour into the baking pan.  Cover the baking pan with foil and place it in the oven.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours.

If you pre-made the potatoes and had them in the  refrigerator, bake them for 2 hours.

My ham was at 375 degrees so I placed them in the oven and baked them for 1 hour and 10 minutes.  They came out perfectly.  These potatoes adapt pretty easily.

These are the creamiest, cheesiest and tastiest potatoes around.

I shaved some slices of Parmesan onto the potatoes for this shot.  It is unnecessary, but added yet another punch of cheese flavor to the dish.

Garlic Parmesan Mashed Potatoes

• 2 pounds russet potatoes
• 1 tbs kosher salt
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 tbs butter
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated
  
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
• salt and pepper for seasoning

Peel and dice the potatoes into uniform sized chunks.  Try to get the potatoes to even sizes so that they all cook in the same amount of time. Place the potatoes into a large sauce pan.  Add the salt and cover the potatoes with water.  Bring to a boil and cook until the potatoes fall apart.  This time depends on the size of the potato chunks and your altitude so I am not about to estimate how long it will take.  You will know that the potatoes are done, when you can touch them with a fork and they fall apart.

In a small/medium saucepan add the cream, butter and garlic.  I like to finely grate the garlic into the pan.  I find that the garlic is more evenly distributed throughout the potatoes when when you grate it.  If you don’t have a grater, use a garlic press or finely dice the garlic.  Place the pan over medium low heat until the potatoes are ready.

When the potatoes fall apart, remove them from the heat and drain the water.  Mash the potatoes a bit with a masher and then add the cream.  Continue to mash until you get the consistency that you like for your potatoes.

Next add the Parmesan cheese and mix it into the potatoes.

Taste the potatoes and adjust the seasonings, they may not need anything as the Parmesan cheese tends to be a little salty. In theory every part of the meal should be seasoned to perfection.  But when you simmer gravy, the water evaporates and the flavor intensifies.  So I like to always warn people to remember that the potatoes will be served with a pat of salted butter or covered in gravy that is usually seasoned pretty heavily.  I tend to leave the potatoes needing a little salt but then again this all depends on how they are served.  You do not want everything to come together and taste like a salt lick.

Serve the potatoes with gravy or butter and enjoy!!

Heck, top with an egg and you are good to go.

Breakfast Potatoes

• 1 lb Russet potatoes
• 1 bell pepper
• 1 medium onion
• 3 tbs vegetable oil
• 1 tbs paprika
• 1 tsp rosemary
• 1 tsp oregano
• kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Peel and wash the potatoes.  Place them into a pot of boiling water and partially cook them till fork tender.  10-15 minutes.  When cooked remove the potatoes from the boiling water and run them under cold water to stop the cooking.

While the potatoes are cooking dice the peppers and onions into bite sized pieces.

When the potatoes are cooled dice them up into bite sized pieces.

Heat a large skillet to medium/high heat and add the vegetable oil.  Toss in the peppers and onions and cook for 5 minutes or until the onions and peppers soften.

Add the potatoes and the seasonings.

Cook until the potatoes are golden and crisp, roughly 10 minutes.

Serve as a side to your favorite breakfast dishes.

I love potatoes….

They were creamy and delicious.  They had just enough goat cheese to taste the cheese without overpowering the potatoes.  Amazing!!!

Goat Cheese Mashed Potatoes

• 3 lbs Mashed Potatoes (peeled and quartered)
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 4 oz goat cheese

Peel and quarter the potatoes.  Place them in a large pan and cover them with water.  Bring to a boil and continue to boil until tender.  Roughly 20-25 minutes.

When the potatoes are done drain and add butter heavy cream and the goat cheese.  Season with salt and pepper.

Mash with a potato masher.

You can use a mixer to get them extra creamy, but I find the lumps to be really nice.  It shows that the potatoes are real potatoes.  Not re-hydrated potato flakes.  Nothing wrong with re-hydrated potato flakes.  They make a nice crust for a fish fry (but that is another post), but for mashed potatoes I prefer the real thing.

The goat cheese added a great flavor to the potatoes. You have to try this out.