.roasted garlic mashed potatoes.

Roasted garlic mashed potatoes are my husband's absolute favorite food. If it's on the menu as a side, he'll order it. I make them from time to time. I go through garlic so fast that I have to mentally remember to buy an extra bulb when I'm at the grocery store. These will take a little extra time, but the results are well worth it!

If you're making these for your Valentine dinner, make them and hold in a low temp oven until you're ready to serve your main course. The potatoes can be peeled and chopped, then held in a bowl filled with water. Just keep the bowl in the fridge. This is a big time saver because peeling potatoes is a task. If you have teenagers or tweens in the house, enlist them to help you with this!


To make the roasted garlic, take a length of aluminum foil and fold in half. Cut off the top of your garlic bulb using a chef's knife. This makes it easier to get the pulp out once the garlic is roasted.

Drizzle lightly with olive oil.







Twist up the edges. This locks in the steam and flavor. Put in a 400* oven for 45 minutes to an hour.










Pull from the oven and unwrap. Let this cool down a little bit before you try squeezing otherwise you will have hot burning magma of roasted garlic on your hands and you'll be crying like a baby.









Now to extract the roasted garlic, just squeeze from the base of each clove pod. See how it squirts right out the top? You can make this roasted garlic up ahead of time and keep in a little airtight tupperware container in the fridge.








Peel and cut up enough yukon gold potatoes as you need. Here's Paige mid karate chop! She is such a great helper.

Once you've got the potatoes cut, fill the pot with enough water to cover all of the potatoes.

Put the pot on a high burner and boil until the potatoes are fork tender.











Drain the potatoes in a colander. While the potatoes drain, heat 3 Tbsp butter and 1/4 cup milk in the microwave.










Put the potatoes and all of that delicious roasted garlic in a mixing bowl and whip on high for 30 seconds. Don't over beat because it will over work the starch in the potatoes and they'll become very rubbery and glossy. If that *does* happen, add a little more milk and it should correct itself.

Season with salt and pepper and then mix again just until everything is smooth.

Transfer your potatoes to an oven safe bowl, cover with foil and put in the oven to hold (*if you're making this for the Valentine dinner).

Printable version:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_139fxpjxfdd

.shepherd's pie.

I really do think I'm on an English cooking kick lately. I've been watching too much Gordon Ramsay and Raymond Blanc, apparently. This recipe is adapted from one of my Martha Stewart cookbooks. What can I say? I'm a Martha girl at heart. Her recipe calls for potato and rutabaga on top, but I used straight potatoes. The deep, rich sauce was just amazing and trust me, if you've made this in the past using canned soup, you're really going to see a tremendous difference.

This recipe made enough to feed 3 people. I was surprised it didn't make more and I will remember that the next time I make this dish.


Begin by taking 2 pounds boneless beef or lamb for stew. I couldn't find stew meat, so I bought chops and cut it up into bite sized pieces. Make sure you trim off the fat.









Take 1 celery stalk, a couple sprigs or thyme, 1 sprig of rosemary, 1 bay leaf, and 1 clove of garlic. Martha suggests you put all of this in cheesecloth but I couldn't find mine... so I did the next best thing......








I used butcher's twine. This is called a bouquet garni. We want to give the essence of these herbs to the dish, but not necessarily add all of it in. Does that make sense?









Chop up one onion.












Peel and chop 2 carrots.












In a skillet, melt 2 Tbsp butter over medium high heat. Once it's melted, add the lamb or beef and sear all the sides.










When the lamb is browned, add the chopped onion and cook for about 5 minutes until the onion starts to cook and become translucent.










Sprinkle 2 Tbsp flour on top and mix everything around. Turn the heat down just a bit. If this starts burning, pull away from the heat. You just need to coat the onion and meat with flour and cook it just a little bit.








Add 1 cup dry red wine. It will start thickening immediately so keep stirring and don't walk away from the pan.











Add 1 cup beef stock and our pretty little bouquet garni to the pan. Bring to a boil and then cover the pot. Reduce the heat to low low low and let cook this way for ONE HOUR. This will make that lamb soooooooooo tender.








After an hour, add the carrots. Cover again and cook for 30 more minutes. After those 30 minutes, remove the lid and let cook for a final 30 minutes.

Taste the sauce at this point. Season with salt and pepper. You don't want to season at the beginning because the sauce reduces and reduces and if you add salt at the beginning, it will only concentrate the saltiness and you could wind up with a sauce that is unedible.



While the sauce cooks those last 30 minutes, peel and chop up 6 or 7 potatoes. I used a mix of yukon gold and russett. Put the potatoes in a pot, cover with water and a dash of salt and boil until fork tender.








Once the potatoes are cooked, put in a strainer and let drain until they are dry.











Put the potatoes in a mixing bowl and whip with a little heated milk until they're creamy. Season with a little salt and pepper.










Remove the bouquet garni and pour the filling into the bottom of a baking dish. You could even put this into ramekins if you want to make fancy little individual servings.









Spoon the mashed potatoes on top of the "stew" and spread all over the top using a frosting blade, or spatula.

Bake in a 350* oven for about an hour.

Serve with fresh bread and salad. Enjoy! (Martha if you happen to read this, thanks for a great recipe!)


Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_128f9w585dz

.herbed gratin potatoes.

Potatoes are such a comfort to me that I am going to have a very difficult time easing up on them this year. It's part of my New Year's resolution.. the whole weight loss thing. I have mentally chosen (CHOSEN!) to reduce portions if I make something that might not be healthy for me, chosen to work out EVERY DAY (minus weekends), and chosen to eat healthier. My family will revolt if I change everything at once so I am taking baby steps.



I am not a fan of diet programs. I have more success when I do it my way.



So anyway.. throwing all of that out the window, I made herbed gratin potatoes to go with roast chicken. I love these so much. Traditionally gratin potatoes are made with gruyere and a nice browned crust on top. I mix it up by adding tarragon, thyme, and some parmesan cheese.





Start by peeling and thinly slicing 5 white or yukon gold potatoes.










Put the potatoes in a skillet and put on medium/medium high heat.














Pour some milk into the pan, halfway up the potatoes. Then take some cream and pour enough in to reach the top of the potatoes.














Season well with salt, pepper, tarragon, and thyme.















Bring the cream to almost a boil and then turn to low heat. Stir the potatoes around to ensure they are all cooked at the same time. Let sit on low heat for about 10 minutes.













While the potatoes are on the stove, grate your parmesan cheese a nd gruyere. I use about 1 cup of each.














Butter your baking dish well and then rub a crushed garlic clove all around the edges and bottom. I left the garlic in the bottom of the baker but you can remove it if you want.














Remove the potatoes from the stove. Using a spoon, place some in the bottom of the baker and then spoon on a little of the cream.





Add a layer of parmesan/gruyere cheese. Repeat the process over and over spooning cream whenever you put in some potatoes.















Make sure when you reach the top that you have saved enough cheese to sprinkle on the surface. Put in a 350* oven for 45 minutes.









When it's done, the top will be beautifully golden and bubbling. Remove from the oven and let sit for about 10 minutes before serving or run the risk of burning your tongue with these nuclear hot potatoes. lol



Bon Appetit!


Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_126dm2m8sfw

.roast chicken pot pie.

Roast chicken pot pie. Or as I like to call it - poor man's pie, because really... it doesn't cost a lot to throw something like this together. I had some roast chicken leftover from the other night and some corn from when I made corn muffins on Sunday. All I needed were some other veggies thrown into the mix, pie crust, and a cream sauce! A wonderful meal on a very chilly Georgia night.

Let's start with the sauce.


Mine is more of a herb-ish/garlicky sauce which adds a nice contrast to the root vegetables and the chicken. Start by melting 1/4 cup butter in a saucepan and add 1 clove minced garlic to saute.


While whisking, add 1/4 cup flour, a little at a time. Make sure you whisk while you add otherwise you will get lumps. Lumps are not our friends. Let this cook over medium heat for a few minutes.


Now we need 2 cups milk. Again, while whisking, add the milk gradually.


Add 1/2 tsp dill weed. You really don't need to measure. If you're confident enough, just shake the jar a few times and that'll be good.


Then add about the same amount of thyme. Thyme is a good herb for anything chicken. I also added some salt and pepper to properly season the sauce.


Kick up the heat to medium high and let this thicken up. Make sure you whisk it constantly so it doesn't burn on the bottom of your pan. When the sauce is thick enough to coat a spoon, it's done. Set aside.


Chop up some potatoes, carrots, and celery. I used 2 of each. You don't need more than you see here because it adds up quickly and your pie will be bursting at the seams! Yep.. been there. lol


Chop up some roast chicken. If you don't have roast chicken, cook some chicken breasts and use those. I don't play by rules. :D

At this stage, you could throw it all in a pie crust, seal up and throw in the oven. I have found my pot pies take way too long to bake through when I do this. So I do some cooking before putting it in the pie plate.


Start by melting 2 Tbsp butter. Add a little olive oil.


Add your chopped vegetables. Stir to coat them with the oil/butter. Saute for about 4-5 minutes. The potatoes will be glassy looking.


Here I added a variety of frozen vegetables. I added about 1/2 cup peas, 1/2 cup green beans, and 1/2 cup corn. Mushrooms would be a really nice addition but I didn't have any. Season well with salt and pepper then stir everything together.



Remove the skillet from the heat and pour in your cream sauce. We're almost there!


Add your chicken. I used 2 cups worth of meat. If you want yours more "chicken-y", then add more. I like a good balance of chicken vs. vegetable.


Make a double pie crust. Roll out the bottom shell and line the pie plate. Trim off any excess. Add your filling.


Roll out the top crust and put on top. Again, trim excess, then pinch closed. Mark the top with a knife to create vents.

You wouldn't think I was a pie baker by this pie crust. I totally mangled it. Oh well. Brush with a little milk and pop in a 350* oven for about 1 1/2 hours. The sauce will probably be oozing out the top and your crust will be golden brown. A sure sign it's time to feast!


Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_122mg2sb3fp