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

Greek Summer Salad

I know it's the middle of winter, but sometimes, you need some summer food.  Something light, refreshing and easy.  So I came up with this the other day and it's been great.  We've eaten it straight up, we've eaten it on top of a lettuce salad, we've eaten it with an olive, salami and cheese platter.  And you can't beat something that tastes great and is still healthy.  Good New Year resolution food, if you're into that kinda thing.  I hadn't initially planned on adding beans... then I saw them sitting on the shelf and thought, "Yeah!"  I liked how it turned out a lot! 

I was listening to some Boston punk, so I decided to post a little Darkbuster, playing "Whiskey Will".  I should have saved this song for a recipe with whiskey in it but... I don't think I'll be at a loss for punk songs about whiskey. ;)  -jen

GREEK SUMMER SALAD
Time:  20 minutes, no cooking
Difficulty:  Can you use a knife?  If yes, then easy.
Yields: 4-5 cups

• 2 cucumbers, seeded and chopped
• 2 roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 1/2 cup green olives, chopped
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 can (15oz) white beans, rinsed
• 3/4 cup feta cheese
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients and toss!  Can't get much easier than that!

Italian Chopped Salad with Dressing

In keeping with Justin's summer theme on the last post, I made this fantastic summery vegetable salad with a homemade Italian dressing.  I'd been feeling like raw veggies lately, and one thing with veggie salad is that it's usually cut into large pieces that you can fit two, maybe three veggies on the fork.  I wanted this salad chopped a little smaller so that I got all the flavours with every bite.  It reminds me of a large-chopped relish.  But it was really good... especially after it sat refrigerated overnight.  And it's versatile!  The first night, we just ate it in a bowl.  The next night, we sprinkled it onto lettuce greens.  I was thinking it might be tasty warmed and served on crustini, too!

When we make olive oil and vinegar based dressings, we usually just whisk all the ingredients together and you get big bits of dried herbs.  It's always good, but I was thinking about the dressing packets you can buy at the store, so I took all my dry dressing ingredients and blended them into a fine powder with our herb grinder and then used the stick blender to blend it into the oil. It came out good, so you could do it that way... but for the ease of those without herb grinders or stick blenders, I posted regular blender instructions

As soon as I started thinking about posting this salad as a summer salad, I got The Atari's "Boys of Summer" song stuck in my head.  Well really, it's Don Henley's song, I guess, but it's their version that got stuck on repeat.  It's a little poppy... but so was the original, and I still like that one too. :P  -jen


the Ataris - boys of summer by dairygalpal

ITALIAN CHOPPED SALAD WITH DRESSING
Time:  15-20 minutes prep
Difficulty:  Can you handle a knife?
Serves:  About 6, as a side dish

• 3 medium zucchinis (about 2 cups), large dice
• 2 carrots, large dice
• 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
• 1 orange bell pepper, large dice
• 1 cup crimini mushrooms (about 7), large dice
• 1 medium shallot, diced 
• 3 green onions, diced
• 1/4 cup parsley, chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
• 1 and 1/2 cups mozzarella (12oz), diced
• 1/2 cup rough chopped green or kalamata olives 
• 1 can (15oz) garbanzo beans, drained
• 1 can (15oz) red kidney beans
  
• 3 teaspoons capers, drained
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1 and 1/2 cups Italian Dressing (see recipe below)
• 1/4 cup pepperoni, diced (optional)

Place all ingredients into a large bowl.  Toss with dressing.  Serve at room temp.
Note:  I'd have put some fresh herbs in this if I'd had any on hand, but since I didn't, I didn't want to put it in the recipe.  Maybe 1/4 cup chopped basil or flat leaf parsley.

ITALIAN DRESSING
Time:  7 minutes
Difficulty:  E-Z
Makes:  1.5 cups

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon Accent or MSG (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon coriander
• 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/3 cup white wine vinegar
• 1 cup olive oil

 In a blender, combine all dry ingredients and vinegars.  While blending, remove the middle spout of your lid (most blender lids have these) and very slowly drizzle in the olive oil so that ingredients emulsify.