The final day without the boyfriend. Felt a bit better. Yay! Almost like a productive member of society again.
You might notice that I’m somewhat obsessed with food (particularly potatoes), but you might not know that I have recipes in a cookbook THAT’S IN PRINT. That you can go all on your little lonesome and buy and read and cook and think, awww… isn’t that Bridget nice for sharing such deliciousness with me? It’s called From Asparagus to Zucchini and my recipes are Spinach Feta Brown Rice Bowl on page 87, Spinach and Cheese Phyllo Pie on page 143, and Late Summer Bruschetta on page 170. Try them out! My contributions aside, it’s a great cookbook for veggie lovers.
Potato Recipe Finale:
I’m posting your recipes! From comments, e-mails, etc. these are the best of.
Disgusting Tasty Potatoes from John Zimm
John says: I’ve got the most disgusting, tasty potato recipe. First, peel and boil some potatoes. While that is going, put some butter and salt in the bottom of a 9×13 pan. Slice the boiled potatoes into the pan and spread them out, then pour butter and salt on top then bake in the over for a while until the top gets a little crunchy. Man, they are so fattening and tasty.
Alkelda the Gleeful says: I’m a fan of garlic mashed potatoes. I roast the garlic cloves in the oven as I’m cooking the potatoes over the stove, and then mash the cloves in when they’re nice and soft. Can one put in too much garlic? I haven’t yet discovered any limits!
1 large onion
3 cloves garlic
1 medium zucchini
1 medium yellow squash
I small eggplant
1 red or yellow pepper
Mushrooms
1 can tomatoes (15 oz)
1 can tomato sauce (8 oz)
1 cup marinated artichokes
½ cup Kalamata olives
Oregano
Thyme
Basil
Salt, pepper, and seasoning salt
Sauté onions and garlic, add zuke and squash and cook until starting to soften. Add other veggies, tomato sauce and spices. Simmer 10 – 15 minutes
6 medium potatoes
3 cloves garlic
Salt
Seasoning salt
Butter
½ cup Asiago cheese
½ cup sharp cheddar cheese
Chop and boil potatoes with whole garlic cloves and salt. Mash garlic cloves with a small amount of potatoes. Mash into the rest of the potatoes. Mix in butter, seasoning salt, and cheeses. Pour vegetables into a 9” x 13” pan and spread potatoes over the top. Sprinkle with more cheese. Bake at 400° for about 30 minutes or until potatoes and cheese are browned and bubbly.
Boyfriend out of town day 4 (out of 5) was yesterday. Still sick. Still not the fun party time one would expect of being home alone. Read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and Wild Magic for non-scary entertainment (HP only the first half, the second half is way too scary!).
But there was even more cheerful entertainment to be had! Checked out my friend Georgia’s awesome gallery of shoes. Georgia made The Bridget Zinn Memorial Cool Retreat Shoes Gallery so that I wouldn’t miss anything at the SCBWI-WI fall retreat this year (the first I’ve missed in six years!), including the shoes! So so cool. Thanks, Georgia! I can’t decide which are my favorite. I have a thing for red shoes but I have to admire anyone who can wear heels to a long weekend conference.
I don’t tend to watch much tv when I’m home alone because I like to revel in the quiet, but there’s something about being sick that makes television entertainment seem soothing and nice (by tv, I mean my laptop, but they’re shows MADE for tv so I’m counting them). I tried to watch The OC and One Tree Hill (I was on the ‘O’ section of hulu) but I realized that they might have hot guys in them but are totally depressing. I finally got Undeclared in from the library so I gave that a try. It is such a funny show! Makes me wonder why I worked so hard in college.
Potatoes Recipe of the Day:
Potatoes and Pasta with Pesto and Green Beans
I’ve always loved the potato/pasta/pesto combo and it was one of the first dishes I learned how to make on my own (right after buttered noodles!). I picked up the green bean addition from the recipe in Moosewood Restaurant New Classics.
1/2 lb green beans
1/2 lb baby red potatoes
1 lb penne pasta
Large bunch (1/2 cup or so) fresh basil, finely chopped
3-5 cloves garlic, crushed
Handful of freshly grated parmesan cheese (1/4 cup or so)
olive oil (as needed, usually about 1/4 cup)
salt
Start salted water boiling.
Chop potatoes into thimble sized chunks.
Tip and tail green beans with kitchen scissors.
When water is at a rolling boil add pasta, set timer for full time.
One minute later add potatoes. Two minutes after that add green beans. (If you wish to retain more nutrients steam these veggies separately).
While the pasta and veggies cook, make pesto by mixing together in a large bowl chopped basil, crushed garlic, grated parmesan, and olive oil. (You can use pre-made pesto too).
When timer goes off, drain pasta and veggies, stir into pesto.
Good with broiled salmon and/or tomato cucumber feta salad.
Boyfriend out of town Day 3 (of 5) was on Saturday. All of my big plans for strolling around in the autumn sunshine, hanging out at coffee shops, and reading with a cat on my lap and a big mug of tea went right out the window. In the wee hours of Saturday, somehow I caught a cold. I don’t know how this could have happened! I was taking vitamins, echinacea, astragalus — copious amounts of raw garlic — how is it possible that I got sick? I’d been feeling a bit wonky a week or so ago, but I thought I’d nipped it in the bud. But no, I was not safe! I felt the nose stuff up, the sneezing start, and the general feeling of misery creeping over me.
Such a sad mid-point to the super fun staying home alone adventure!
So I wallowed around miserably and decided I was too sick to get scared and that I could handle the scary-ish books I had (not the really scary zombie, ghost or evil faerie books). I read The Knife of Never Letting Go and Hunger Games which aren’t scary in a oooh, spooky kind of way, but scary in a bigger picture what has the world come to kind of way. Which my sick brain was too tired to fully comprehend so it worked out. But it definitely wasn’t the fun mug of tea, cat on my lap kind of reading. It was a holding a kleenex under my nose, moaning in distress kind of reading.
My one big adventure was out to the pharmacy which, it turns out, is closed on Saturday. I almost sat down and had a bit of a breakdown on the street. It’s a sizeable walk for a sick person and it had pretty much used up my energy for the day. But I kept going and the next pharmacy was open and though they mostly do prescriptions, they did have some kind of nasal spray. Hoo-ha! I was saved (ish). Still on the miserable side but it allowed me to breath which is always a bonus.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Scrub 2 lbs of potatoes and chop them into 1-2 inch chunks. Put into an oven baking pan, toss with a couple of table spoons of olive oil, salt and pepper, and pop into the oven. Cook 20 minutes, then stir, add more oil if things are sticking, keep roasting, checking every ten minutes or so until crisp on the outside and soft when poked with a knife. While the potatoes are roasting chop a couple of cups of broccoli (the recipe says you can try asparagus or brussel sprouts, but I’ve never done that), shred a couple of cups of cheese (I like Monterey Jack) and a 1/4 cup of parmesan, and chop a half a cup walnuts. Toss the cheese (except for the parmesan) with a bit of cornstarch. When the potatoes are done roasting sprinkle half of the cornstarched cheese on top. Then spread the broccoli on top of that and sprinkle on the rest of the cornstarched cheese. Toss the parmesan and nuts on top. Cover with foil 15-20 minutes or until the cheese melts. Remove foil and bake another 10 minutes. It should look golden and bubbly.
Day 2 of boyfriend out of town/celebration of potatoes was Friday. It was a super awesome fun being at home alone kind of day (and I’m glad I enjoyed it because of what came next). I walked to the co-op, tried to find some non-scary books at the library, hung out and wrote at the Dragonfly coffee shop. The sun was shining and gorgeous, the fall colors were everywhere. So nice. Little did I know what was coming.
Bad nasty cold. But I’ll save the gory details for my next post.
Happy Potato Recipe of the Day:
Spinach and Potatoes
This recipe comes from one of my favorite cookbooks of all time Six Spices: A Simple Concept of Indian Cooking by fabulous author Neeta Saluja (also Kashmira’s friend!). It’s the best Indian cookbook I’ve ever used. The brilliance of the cookbook is that she breaks the chapters up into cooking methods. This really helps you get a feel for each method of cooking.
Barrett and I are both totally in love with this dish and for a while we were eating it at least once a week (and Barrett isn’t as crazy for potatoes as I am, so you know it’s extra good). Plus, it will make you strong like Popeye. I’m typing it up Bridget-style — for more clear instructions, check out the book itself!
Peel and cut about a pound of red potatoes into 1/2 inch cubes (peeling is optional, I kind of like it with the skins on). Measure out 1/2 tsp cumin seeds in one dish and 3 broken dry red chilies, 1/4 tsp chili powder, and 1/4 tsp. asafetida in another. Heat 4 TBL of cooking oil in a frying pan. Lower heat to medium and add cumin seeds. Stir. Add dish of dry red chilies, chili powder and asafetida. Cook for 30 seconds or so. Add 2 16 oz packets of frozen spinach (you can use fresh, but frozen is easier to handle, cheaper, and you don’t have to wash or chop it). Turn heat to medium-high. Cook until almost all of the water has evaporated. Stir in potatoes and 1 tsp. of salt. Cover. Turn heat to medium and cook until potatoes are soft.
Actually, that was yesterday, so I’m already one day behind! Who knew that little old not quite employed yet me (still running paperwork at my new job before I can start) would be so busy on my first day of Barrett being out town? I had big plans to do coffee shops every day while Barrett was gone and eat massive amounts of potatoes. The potatoes happened (yay!) but I didn’t get any coffee shop time in. Because I got to volunteer for the library! Bryan Collier was in town and I helped usher school kids through his display and I got to hear him speak to the school kids and in an open public event at night. He is SO good. He had those kids in the palm of his hand. I don’t know how he did it, but his shpiel, it is good.
Some key points he made:
-We’re all connected. He said he was building a bridge between us during the presentation and talked about how all books, all people, all events are connected. In the evening session for adults and families he added onto this by giving examples in his books of how the historical figures he writes about are all connected and how he shows that in his art. In Martin’s Big Words he has a cake with four candles on it to represent the four girls who died in the church bombing.
-With the kids he talked a lot about collage. Decide what you like and what you don’t like and layer those elements you like together to make a collage.
-He told the kids he was going to ask them a question that he already knew the answer to, that they’d never been asked, and that would blow their minds. The question: When you got ready for the day and stepped outside for the first time, what was the color of your day? Have you ever noticed something new, something you’ve never noticed before, something other people might not even see? He told them this was because they were artists and discovering the color of your day is part of being an artist.
-For the adults he talked a lot about storytelling and the seeds of story that happen in your life. He talked about how he tells stories with his art. He pointed out the clouds in the book about Rosa Parks that show a storm brewing just before she gets on the bus to represent something is about to happen.
-We build on those before us. This was for the adults and added to the we are all connected theme. He explained how all of these historical figures have led to Obama. He really loves Obama. I mean, I love Obama, but he REALLY loves Obama. The book he illustrated about Obama’s childhood is gorgeous if you haven’t checked it out yet. He even realized how much he was gushing at one point and clarified that he didn’t actually think Obama was Jesus. But still really really really special.
-He told us the two most important events in his life as an artist: He was working with a group of kids and he was passing out crayons, one girl asked for the purples, which really made him think. The other was a group of English as a Second Language students who told them they’d been waiting their whole lives for him.
The first time I had the fabulous dish known in parts of the midwest as “party potatoes” (and in other parts as “funeral potatoes”) was at my friend Jessica’s graduation party. I was in love. Sadly, no one seems to love them quite as much as I do. At least they don’t seem to want to eat them every single day non-stop. So yesterday I made up a batch of party potatoes all for me. Evil laughing and all.
I now eat a new and improved recipe based on the original from Jessica’s party with a twist I got from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Slice one and a half pounds of red, yellow or purple potatoes into wedges (or into 1-2 inch chunks if you prefer). I used all three this last time and it was lovely. Peel three or so garlic cloves.
Throw potatoes and garlic into a pot, cover with water. Turn to high. When boiling add 3/4 cup to 1 cup of quinoa (yes, quinoa! I love this little grain and I swear it’s worth the trouble to track it down). Stir now and then, boil for five minutes. Tip the pot to drain out the water, but the quinoa is too tiny for most strainers so just try to keep an eye on it. Some water can stay in the pot, just drain off as much as you easily can. Put potatoes, garlic and quinoa into a casserole dish/oven pan sort of thing. Toss with olive oil and add a few little chunks of butter.
Roast in oven for fifteen minutes. While it is roasting, dice one sweet pepper (I like red, but you can go more colorful), and a large handful of scallions. Grate some cheese (1 cup or so) — I like a blend of a medium cheddar and something creamier like muenster or monterey jack. After you’ve been roasting the potatoes for fifteen minutes, stir up the potatoes and quinoa. Roast for another ten minutes. Keep chopping and/or shredding if you aren’t finished yet. When the ten minutes is up, everything in the pan should be looking golden. If so, add the peppers and scallions, toss everything together, salt and pepper and cayenne pepper it (just a teensy bit of cayenne). Sprinkle cheese over the top, put it back in the oven and bake eight minutes or so until the cheese is melted.
What are other people’s favorite potato dishes? I might need inspiration to attain my goal of potatoes every day for five days!
