Skillet Potatoes with Shallots and Lemon

My mother-in-law (Justin's mom) had shared a recipe she saw on Facebook for skillet potatoes.  They reminded me of our Accordion Potatoes, only sliced all the way through and in a cast iron skillet.  I really liked the concept and wanted to give it a try.  Anything in a cast iron skillet is delicious!  But I wanted to combine what I was doing with the Accordion Potatoes... so I decided to add shallots and lemon.

They came out delicious!  Sort of pretty, as far as presentation goes... but the taste!  Man!  So delicious!  The lemons were thin enough that they sort of candied and you could eat them, rind and all, a fantastic flavour along with the potato and shallots.   The potatoes had so many different textures... some on the outside were as crispy as potato chips, the tops crisped up great, the bottoms were just tender, delicious, seasoned potatoes.  I loved this dish, and I am not a lover of potatoes! 


I chose some Off With Their Heads for this recipe - "Nightlife".  I dig this band.  I swore I had used them before on a recipe, but I can't find anything... so here we go.  -jen 
 

SKILLET POTATOES WITH SHALLOTS AND LEMON
Prep Time:  30 minutes
Cook Time:  75-90 minutes
Serves:  6

• 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 2 large shallots
• 2 large lemons
• 4 medium garlic cloves
• 3 large baking potatoes, skin on (we used russet)
• 1 tablespoon Caldo de Pollo (dried bouillon - optional)
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 teaspoons black pepper
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 4 tablespoons butter (1/2 stick)
• 2 tablespoons bacon fat (if you don't keep bacon fat, you can just use 2 more tbsp of butter)
• 1/2 a lemon, juiced
• one-gallon-size Ziplock bag
• 12" cast iron skillet

Before baking

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Use 1 tablespoon of olive oil to coat bottom and sides of cast iron skillet.

Using a mandolin, thinly slice shallots, lemons, garlic cloves and potatoes.  (If you don't have a mandolin, just make sure you slice everything super thin... like a potato chip.)  Place the sliced potatoes into the gallon-size Ziplock bag.  Add 3 tablespoons olive oil, Caldo de Pollo, salt, pepper, paprika, chili powder, cumin, and cayenne.  Seal bag and use your hands to move the potatoes around and really mix it all up, separating all the sliced pieces so everything gets coated.

Arrange one layer of potatoes around the outer most edge of the skillet.  Once neatly arranged, carefully intersperse 1/3 of the lemon and shallot slices between the potatoes.  Repeat with a second and third layer inside the first.  Once the skillet is full, sprinkle the garlic slices over the top.  Melt the butter and the bacon fat (about 30-45 seconds in the microwave).  Pour all across the arranged potatoes.  I sprinkled a little more salt and pepper over the top.

Bake in the oven at 350 degrees F for about 75 minutes.  Using a fork, test by piercing the center potatoes.  The fork should easily pierce the potatoes when cooked through.  If there's resistance, bake for another 15 minutes and fork-test again.  Baking times may vary since potato sizes vary and how tightly you arrange them - if your potatoes were bigger than mine, it could take up to 90 minutes.  Just keep fork testing every 15 minutes after the first 75 minutes.

When potatoes pass the fork-test and are golden brown, remove from oven and pour the lemon juice over the top while hot.  Serve hot (we served it with homemade pesto over the top).

Topped with homemade basil pesto

Before baking

Crab-Stuffed Chicken Thighs with Pesto Alfredo Sauce

Justin's cousin Mike was visiting us from St. Louis and we'd had all these amazing things we wanted to cook for him, but it was his first visit to Northern California and we stayed busy (and lazy and purple hazy) and hadn't made anything after several days into his visit.  So I brainstormed some things I'd been craving and was originally going to make stuffed chicken breasts with a pesto ricotta, cheese, sun dried tomatoes, and olives.  Then Mike kindly reminded me how his mother's side of the family was Italian and his mom could make some mean Italian food.  I'm going to admit it... I chickened out of the challenge, at least part of the way.  What if after all the recipes he's seen, I try to make something "Italian", but really it comes off as a pathetic botched American version?!  Could I stand for him to go back to St. Louis and tell his mom?!  I wasn't sure.  So I compromised and changed it up to a little coastal crab stuffing!  Something he wouldn't get a lot of in the midwest, so it'd be both appropriate for his visit and it'd be something I'd been wanting to make for a while (crab stuffing).  But I was bound and determined to show him that I wasn't too much of a slouch in the ethnic cooking arena, and I kept the Pesto-Alfredo sauce.

Didn't take too long to cook for as "fancy" as it might have sounded, and it was delicious!  And we ate the hell out of it!  Oh!  And got some crab cakes out of it, too, the next night!  Sadly, we were too busy enjoying our company and food to take some nicer plated pictures.  :)

I don't even remember what we were listening to when we made this.  But I love the band Against Me!, and this song is so great, albeit the acoustic version.  No matter how many times I hear this line, "...and we'll dance like no one was watching... with one fist in the air," I get chills.  Actually the whole damn song gives me chills.  Though I'm still trying to get behind their more recent sound, I really love their earlier years.  Good band.  Good song.  Good food.  -jen

CRAB-STUFFED CHICKEN THIGHS

• 8-10 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup shallots, diced fine
• 1 cup mushrooms, diced fine
• 1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes, diced fine
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 pound crab meat 
• 3/4 cup green onions, chopped
• 1.5 cups panko bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup finely shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup finely shredded parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large skillet,  heat olive oil on a medium-high heat.  Add shallots, mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, thyme, and Italian seasoning.  Cook until shallots and mushrooms are tender, about 5 minutes.  Add garlic and crab meat and cook for another 3 minutes.  Turn off heat and stir in bread crumbs and cheeses.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.  Set aside.

Place chicken thighs between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound until 1/4" thick.  Place 1/4-1/3 cup stuffing into each thigh and fold over like a taco.  Place in a lightly oiled baking dish and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes, or until chicken is thoroughly cooked.

PESTO ALFREDO SAUCE

• 12 tablespoons (1.5 sticks) butter
• 1/3 cup shallots, diced finely
• 2.5 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup grated Asiago cheese
• 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, finely shredded
• 3 heaping tablespoons pesto

In a medium-sized sauce pan, melt butter on medium-high heat.  Add shallots and cook for 3-5 minutes, until tender.  Add heavy cream and bring to a boil.  Turn heat to a simmer and cook, stirring constantly, until cream becomes to thicken. Add a small handful of the cheeses and stir until cheese is entirely blended in before adding another small handful.  Continue until all the cheese is incorporated.  Then stir in the pesto and remove from heat.