July 25, 2011: Daring Cooks' Healthy Potato Salad

Jami Sorrento was our June Daring Cooks hostess and she chose to challenge us to celebrate the humble spud by making a delicious and healthy potato salad. The Daring Cooks Potato Salad Challenge was sponsored by the nice people at the United States Potato Board, who awarded prizes to the top 3 most creative and healthy potato salads. A medium-size (5.3 ounce) potato has 110 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no sodium and includes nearly half your daily value of vitamin C and has more potassium than a banana!

This month's challenge is hosted by Jami Sorrento a two year non blogging member of Daring Cooks. What do you think of when you think about Potato Salad? A fat laden high caloric salad that you only indulge in on occasion –and even then you feel guilty? Well this month we are going to challenge you to make the most delicious and healthy Potato Salad. The possibilities of what you can do with a fresh, natural, and versatile vegetable like potatoes are limitless! Did you know that a medium-size (5.3 ounce) potato has 110 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no sodium and includes nearly half your daily value of vitamin C and has more potassium than a banana?

Potatoes are a nutritional powerhouse and you can keep potato salad healthy by using low-fat and fresh toppings that still taste great.

For example, what other fresh and healthy vegetables or toppings do you like? Asparagus, roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts, olives? Do you have some new salts or a spice you would like to try? How about a different oil or vinegar you have been dying to taste? Here is your chance for TOTAL CREATIVITY!!! You can make your potato salad hot or cold- just come up with a yummy, healthy and fresh potato salad that looks as good as it tastes.

I am so excited about this challenge because first of all I am of Irish decent and love potatoes. Second – I get to see all the delicious creative salads you come up with. I hope we will all expand upon the normal potato salad we make and use some new ingredients or seasonings to make the best, healthy Potato Salad ever.

Mandatory Items:To make any type of potato salad – hot or cold - that is healthy and delicious. We’d love to see all kinds of ethnic and cultural variations!

[Eat4Fun: I'm posting this challenge a bit (very) late, but my take on this salad is to incorporate more vegetables (add color to a potato salad) and use a vinaigrette. One way to make a dish healthy is to cut back on the fat content. Fat has more than twice the calories of carbs and protein so by cutting back on fats you're reducing calories quite a bit.

My YouTube Video:



This is a recipe I made on the fly with ingredients I had readily available.

Recipe
Healthy Potato Salad
3 Boiled potates (about 3 cups diced)
2 T Vinegar
1/4 t Salt
1/4 t Black Pepper
1/2 C Tomatoes, Diced
1/2 C Corn Kernels
1/2 C Cucumber, Diced
1/2 C Carrot Shredded
1/4 C Red Onions, Thinly Sliced {Tip - sliced onions can be soaked in cool water to tone down the spiciness.)
2 T Bacon, Crumbled (Optional)

Dressing
3 T Vinegar
1 T Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 t Dijon Mustard
1/4 t Salt
1/4 t Black Pepper
1/4 t Garlic Powder
1/4 t Dried Parsley
2 T Blue Cheese, Crumbled (Optional)

Steps:
1) Boil potatoes until fork tender, about 15 to 20 minutes.
2) While still hot, peel and dice potatoes
3) Salt, pepper and sprinkle the potatoes with vinegar. Mix gently. Refrigerate to cool.
4) Top with veggies and make dressing.
5) Potato salad can be dressed a few hours before hand to let the flavors infuse.

Mar 14, 2011: Daring Cooks Pervian Food

Kathlyn of Bake Like a Ninja was our Daring Cooks’ March 2011 hostess. Kathlyn challenges us to make two classic Peruvian dishes: Ceviche de Pescado from “Peruvian Cooking – Basic Recipes” by Annik Franco Barreau. And Papas Rellenas adapted from a home recipe by Kathlyn’s Spanish teacher, Mayra.

[Eat4Fun: Fun! We cook Peruvian food! Never cooked nor have I had papas rellenas. Video of my cooking experience and results.]


Recipe Source:
- Papas Rellenas adapted from a home recipe by my Spanish teacher Mayra.
- Vegan Papas Rellenas recipe adapted from the Vegan Good Eats blog (http://vegangoodeats.com/2010/05/papa-rellena/), written by Joel Luks.
- The Salsa Criolla recipe also comes from Joel’s blog.

Mandatory Items: Make at least one of the two recipes. If you chose the ceviche, it must be made with raw seafood and it must be “cooked” according to the method outlined in the recipe. If you choose the papas rellenas, you must make the “dough” according to one of the two recipes, shape the “potatoes” around a filling per the recipe instructions, and fry them in oil. If you choose both, you’re in for a tasty treat.


Papas Rellenas (de carne):
Makes 6

Ingredients

For the dough:
2¼ lb (1 kg) russet potatoes
1 large egg

For the filling:
2 tablespoon (30 ml) of a light flavored oil
½ lb (250 grams) ground (minced) beef
6 black olives, pitted and chopped (use more if you love olives)
3 hard boiled large eggs, chopped
1 small onion, finely diced (about 1 cup (240 ml))
½ cup (120 ml) (90 gm) (3 oz) raisins, soaked in 1 cup (240 ml) boiling water for 10 minutes, then minced
1 finely diced aji pepper (ok to sub jalapeño or other pepper – if you are shy about heat, use less)
2 cloves garlic, minced or passed through a press (if you love garlic, add more)
1 teaspoon (5 ml) (4 gm) (1/8 oz) ground cumin (use more if you like cumin)
½ teaspoon (2.5 ml) (2 gm) (1/16 oz) sweet paprika
¼ c. white wine, water or beef stock for deglazing
Salt and pepper to taste

For the final preparation:
1 large egg, beaten
1 cup (240 ml) (140 gm) (5 oz) all-purpose flour
Dash cayenne pepper
Dash salt
1 cup dry (240 ml) (110 gm) (4 oz) or fresh (240 ml) (60 gm) (2 oz) bread crumbs (you can use regular, panko, make your own or use store-bought)

Oil for frying (enough for 2” (50 mm) in a heavy pan like a medium sized dutch oven)
Directions:

In order to save time, you can boil the potatoes, and while they are cooling, you can make the filling. While that is cooling, you can make the potato “dough.” In this way, little time is spent waiting for anything to cool.

For the dough:

1. Boil the potatoes until they pierce easily with a fork. Remove them from the water and cool.
2. Once the potatoes have cooled, peel them and mash them with a potato masher or force them through a potato ricer (preferred).
3. Add egg, salt and pepper and knead “dough” thoroughly to ensure that ingredients are well combined and uniformly distributed.

While the potatoes cool down before finishing the dough, you can make the filling:
1. Gently brown onion and garlic in oil (about 5 minutes).
2. Add the chili pepper and sauté for a couple more minutes.
3. Add ground beef and brown.
4. Add raisins, cumin and paprika and cook briefly (a few seconds).
5. Deglaze the pan with white wine.
6. Add olives and cook for a few moments longer.
7. Add hard boiled eggs and fold in off heat.
8. Allow filling to cool before forming “papas.”

Forming and frying the papas:

1. Use three small bowls to prepare the papas. In one, combine flour, cayenne and salt. In the second, a beaten egg with a tiny bit of water. Put bread crumbs in the third
2. Flour your hands and scoop up 1/6 of the total dough to make a round pancake with your hands. Make a slight indentation in the middle for the filling.
3. Spoon a generous amount of filling into the center and then roll the potato closed, forming a smooth, potato-shaped casing around the filling. Repeat with all dough (you should have about 6 papas).
4. Heat 1 ½ - 2 inches (4 – 5 cm) of oil in a pan to about 350 – 375° F (175 - 190°C).
5. Dip each papa in the three bowls to coat: first roll in flour, then dip in egg, then roll in bread crumbs.
6. Fry the papas (in batches if necessary) about 2-3 minutes until golden brown. Flip once in the middle of frying to brown both sides.
7. Drain on paper towel and store in a 200ºF (95ºC) (gas mark ¼) oven if frying in batches.
8. Serve with salsa criolla (or other sauce of preference) immediately.


Salsa Criolla:
Ingredients

2 medium red onions, cut in half and very thinly sliced (as half-circles)
1/2 chili pepper (your preference)
1 tablespoon vinegar
Juice from 1 lime
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Soak the onions in cold salt water for about 10 minutes to remove bitterness. Drain.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the onions with the rest of the ingredients, season with salt and pepper.
3. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes for the onions to macerate and the flavors to combine

I've never has Papas Rellena. We found a local restaurant which had the dish. It even came with the Salsa Criolla. Very Tasty


The Papa Rellena I made for the challenge.


Flavors were not as bold as the restaurant one's. I think I would need to double up on the spices and the salt and pepper. Also, I noticed the homemade ones had a very strong mashed potato flavor while the restaurant one's were not as potatoe-y. A lot of potential in this dish. :-)

Jun 13, 2010: Calzone with Pesto

A calzone is pretty much a folded, into a half moon shape, pizza. I was looking to make the calzone heartier so I added fried potatoes with leek.

The dough was the other half of TJ's pizza dough.

Calzone
3 Potatoes, diced
1 C Leek, chopped
Pesto
Pizza Dough

Directions:
1. First cook the potatoes until brown.
Add the leeds when the potatoes are fork tender.


2. Fill the calzone... sauce all around, add fillings to one side of pizza dough

Fold over and crimp with a fork


Bake 500F for about 10 minues.


Cut calzone in half and serve!

May 20, 2010: Stacked Enchilada Again!

I decided to redo this month's Daring Cook challenge, Stacked Enchilada . I wasn't keen on the mushy results so I wanted to see if frying the tortillas more, until crispy would make a difference. Also, I had enchilada sauce leftover from last night.

Red Stacked Enchiladas.

Ingredients
12 Corn Tortillas
2 C Chorizo and Potato
2 C Enchilada Sauce
4 oz Monterey Jack Cheese, shredded (my last bit)

Directions:
1. Fry the tortillas about 1 to 2 minutes per side until brownish and stiff.


2. Coat with enchilada sauce.


3. Add half the potato mixture... followed by another layer of tortillas, potato and a final layer of tortillas.


4. Bake 425 F for 20 minutes. For the last 5 minutes, add the shredded cheese to melt.


5. Let rest about 5 minutes before serving... nice, melted cheese! :-)


6. Served with avocado, lettuce and salsa.


Flavors were good. The center wasn't as mushy as last time, but still soft.
I think I'm just not a stacked enchilada type of person. My preference is for rolled enchiladas. :-)

May 18, 2010: Chorizo and Potato

The thing about grinding your own and using fresh ingredients is that meat can go off a little quicker.

I cooked the chorizo with potatoes so that I can use for other dishes without having to worry about the pork going off.

Ingredients
1 lb Green Chorizo
5 Potatoes, 1/2" dice (about 3 to 4 C)
1 C Broth
1 t Dried Parsley
1 Clove Garlic, minced
Salt, Pepper and hot sauce to taste

Directions:
1. Pan fry the chorizo about 5 to 7 minutes.
[Note: Steam is giving the photo a blurry appearance.]


2. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer... about 15 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender. Since I planed to use in other dishes, I tried not to overcook the potatoes.
[Note: Steam is giving the photo a blurry appearance.]


The key to this week is quick and simple. Can't go wrong with meat and potatoes. :-)

Oct 08: French Fried Potatoes

About a year ago, I was watching a PBS show, "Hubert Keller: Secrets of a Chef" where he was making dishes using potatoes. He segment on the perfect French fry looked delicious and involved a double soaking in water overnight.

Even though I don't like deep frying at home, I thought I'd give it a try, especially if it involves a long, drawn out process.

This is my attempt at his recipe.

2 Russet potatoes, peeled
Oil for frying
Salt for seasoning.

1) Peel and soak the potatoes in water overnight.


2) The next day - cut the potatoes into 1/4" fries.
Here's were I unintentionally deviated from his recipe. I ended up soaking the cut potatoes 5 days. At work, I picked up extra assignments from people how left the company. We had a big deadline due so I put in massive amounts of OT to get the job done. Well... by the time I got home, I wasn't up for deep frying. The potatoes ended up sitting in the fridge until I got done with work.


3) Drain and dry the potatoes.
Deep fry at 250F for about 8 minutes.
Remove the potatoes from the fryer and set on a towel to drain and cool

The parcooked potatoes shown below are about 85% cooked. They're holding their shape, but squeeze a fry and you can feel the potato underneath the surface is soft and mealy (in a good way).



4) Heat the fryer to 400F.
Drop in the fries and allow to crips up, about 2 to 3 minutes.
Drain... Toss in a bowl with salt and you're ready to eat.


Considering I don't have a deep fryer, I ended up using a sauce pan to be the deep fryer...

The potatoes turned out nicely - soft and potatoey inside with a light crust on the outside. I was hoping for a crispier outside, but small fryer had problems keeping up with the potatoes.

Sep 09: Potato Skins

I had some leftover baked potatoes so I made potato skins.
Potato skins? Don't potatoes come naturally with skins?

Yes, that's true, but the potato skins I'm referring to are hollowed out potatoes filled with cheese, green onions and bacon bits. This is the pub dish where I found out that potato skins were edible. :-)

The great thing about this dish is that you can add what you like, but I like the basic filling.

Potato Skins
Baked Potatoes
Melted Butter
Grated Cheddar Cheese (About 1 T per half a tater)
Green Onion (1 chopped)
Bacon Bits (about 1/2 slice per half)
Garlic Powder - a pinch per half
Salt - a pinch per half
Pepper - a pinch per half
Optional - Chili Powder or Seasoned salt

1. Slice the potato in half so the wide end is the base. Scoop out in inside, leaving as much as you like. I left about 1/4".


2. Since my oven is out, I used the broiler. Coat both sides with butter. The butter will help with the browning and help the seasonings adhere too.


3. Sprinkle the inside with salt, pepper, garlic powder and a little Cajun seasoning. If your potato wasn't seasoned on the outside, go ahead and season the outside too.

Heat under the broiler about 6 minutes - 3 minutes per side. I had the pan about 6" away from the element.


4. In a bowl, combine the cheese, green onion and bacon bits. Top the heated potato with the mixture. Return to the broiler and heat until melted and as brown as you like.


5. Serve with Ranch dressing or blue cheese dressing.


If more people come over, just slice them in half... lol

Enjoy! I sure did.

Sep 05: The Perfect Baked Potato

The perfect potato is a bold claim, but let's see what is NOT a baked potato.

NOT Baked Potatoes...

Despite the little button labeled "Potato" on the microwave, the result is not a baked potato. Microwaves work by heating water molecules so we're essentially steaming the potato from the inside out. It's a quick and easy way to cook a potato, but microwaving is not baking.


As many of us have received in restaurants, the infamous foil-wrapped baked potato. Yes, this familiar looking potato is "baked", but usually baked in a pan with some water which is steaming in the oven. Also, the foil protects the potato when it sits on the steam table waiting to be ordered up. In other words, the foil-wrapped potato is just steamed potato in disguise.


I'm leery of recipes that call for poking the potato whether it's baked or microwave. Piercing the potato is supposed to help moisture escape from the potato in order to prevent the potato from exploding in the oven or microwave. I contend that the moisture in the potato actually helps cook the potato to the desired fluffy consistency. Also, I've baked many, many pounds of potatoes in the microwave and the oven. I've never had one blow up yet.


My Quest
Eating potatoes in nothing new to most of us. When I was growing up, we mainly ate boiled potatoes, grated potatoes - hash browns and peeled potatoes tossed in with a roast. Potatoes were peeled.

Also, most of us are familiar with restaurant baked potatoes that come to our tables wrapped in foil. Those potatoes are usually unwrapped and the potato innards are doused in butter and sour cream.

From a nutritional stand point, a majority of the vitamins and minerals are found in the skin.

It wasn't until college when I realized that the skin was edible. The popular dish at the local pub was potato skins. Potato skins? Potato skins are potatoes with most of the inside scooped out, leaving about 1/4" thick shell. The shell is filled with grated cheese, bacon bits and green onions. Cooked under the broiler until all the ingredients meld together and a little browning is achieved. Yum! It was good stuff!

Also during college, I was in a cooking class where we learned how to bake a potato. The light came on!

For me, the perfect baked potato should have a fluffy inside and a slightly crispy skin on the outside. The whole potato should be edible.

When you slit the top of the potato, press the side, the creamy white potato should fluff out. It's as if someone placed mashed potatoes in front of you.

The Perfect Baked Potato
Preheat oven to 450F... Yes, Four hundred fifty degrees Fahrenheit.

The best type of potato to use is a Russet. Russets are known as a starchy potato, a baking potato or a mealy potato. The starch gives the potato it's characteristic fluffiness.

1. Wash the potato of any dirt, especially if you're eating the skin.
I like to soak the potato in water for about 5 minutes. Afterwards, I scrub using a wet paper towel.


2. Dry and lightly coat the potato with oil.
Add salt (about 1/2 t) and pepper (pepper is optional. Some people say that pepper burns in the oven giving an off-taste). Also, optional is other seasonings like garlic powder, chile powder... etc.

Note: The oil helps the salt adhere to the potato and promote browning.


3. Bake at 450F for about 20 minutes, rotate the potatoes and bake another 15 minutes. Total time is about 35 minutes... give or take. It depends upon the size of your tater.

Usually, I bake directly on the rack, but the rack was a little dirty so I used foil.
Optional - poke holes around the potato so the heat can "surround" the potato during the cooking process. I don't know if poking holes in the foil makes a difference or not.


The finished baked potato... slightly brown, the aroma is very appealing... smells a little like french fries and mashed potatoes.


The potato is slit and the sides are pressed. The fluffy inside should push out.

Personally, I like salt, pepper, fresh chives and butter. What I used below is green onion, which is good too. I've had an occasional argument with waitresses about green onions being used as chives. Don't tell me you have chives when you actually have green onions! lol! I guess that's another rant.


The first creamy, fluffy delicious bite... butter, green onion, salt and pepper.
It is amazing how smooth and creamy the baked potato can be by just simply baking.


In summary, the perfect baked potato is very simple - start with cleaned Russet potatoes, coat with a little oil and salt, baked at 450F for 35 to 45 minutes = Delicious!

Nov 19: Roasted Chiicken

Today, gave Julia Childs recipe for Roasted Chicken a try.

Her recipe calls for just coating with butter and seasoning with salt and pepper. Sounds simple enough. :-)

The tough part of the recipe calls rotating the chicken every 10 minutes for the first 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 450F
Start breast side up, cook 10 minutes...
rotate so one side is up, cook 10 minutes...
rotate so the other side is up, cook 10 minutes...

rotate chicken back to breast up, reduce the temp to 350F and finish roasting (about 40 minutes)*.

*Note: The actually recipe call for rotating again at 350F, but I was impatient with this method.
Sorry Julia... :-)

Instead of a V-rack, I cooked the chicken over potatoes and onions.



After 30 minutes, I added a leek to the roasting pan.


After roasting the chicken was allowed to rest for 10 minutes while the rest of the meal was completed.

The finished chicken on serving platter.
Brussels sprouts, leeks and potatoes were the sides for the chicken.


Overall, you can't go wrong with roasted chicken. :-)
However, the cooking method is quite intricate.

Nov 08: Potato Leek Soup

A couple weeks ago was the last day of the season for Tacoma's Farmers Market. I lucked out and happened to be in the area.

I scored a great deal on a bunch of leeks, $1 for a bunch. In the supermarket, it's a $5 expense.

Leeks are a member of the onion family, Allium. Other delicious members of the family are onions, shallots, garlic and chives. Now that's a yummy family tree!

What to do with the leeks?

One of the simplest preparations is Potato Leek Soup I learned from S.
Potatoes, leeks, salt and water or broth.

Potato Leek Soup

8 ounces Leek, sliced (about 2 cups)
1 pound Potato, peeled and cubed (about 4 cups)
3 cups liquid (I used 1 C broth + 2 C Water)
1 Chicken bullion cube (Optional)
1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
1T Butter
Milk or Cream or Sour Cream (Optional)



Leeks are grown by mounding soil around the stalk as the stalk grows. The mound blocks light helps keep the leaves white and tender. However, the mounding just means that you end up with dirt in-between the layers of leaves.

To wash... I split the leek down the middle and slice into semi-circles.



Soak the sliced leaves in water for a few minutes, to loosen dirt, and swish around. Repeat as needed.


Potatoes are coarsely chopped.



Optional: saute the cleaned leeks in butter and salt for about 5 minutes. Don't need to brown.


Add the potatoes and a quick stir.


Add the liquid and bullion cube. Simmer about 30 to 40 minutes.


The Finished Soup
The soup can be served many ways...

As a hearty, chunky rustic soup....


Or more typically, pureed in a blender. Since the soup is low fat, you can add milk or cream to the soup during blending.

Instead of using a blender, I used a stick (immersion) blender to puree the soup.



I didn't have any cream or sour cream... I did find some cream cheese so I added a small dab of cream cheese.


I wanted the soup to be a little more heartier so I added a pouched egg.


Overall, the soup turned out nicely. Nice leek flavor and easy to make.

What surprised me was the blended soup was very smooth, silky and thick. No cream was added but the texture was similar to a rich bisque. Also, the soup reminded me of a split pea soup without the grittiness that sometimes accompanies split pea soup.