Potatoes are the unsung hero of any pantry.  The possibilities for turning this ruddy little blob of starch into something amazing seem to be endless and just about every culture uses them in any number of ways. Potatoes are both a min course option and the perfect side dish.  they can be presented as the star of the show or as a minor player on an ingredients linst.  They can be baked, boiled, mashed, smashed, pureed, diced, fried, sauteed and sliced into chips, all with excellent results.  But my personal favorite for preparing them lately is to very simply grill them off.

there’s something to be said for simplicity and dpth of flavor.  For allowing the ingredient to sing its own praises in its own voice without being muddled by other notes or melodies.  This, my dear reders is the potatos summertime opus.  Crisp and fluffy all at the same time, with a hint of sweetness to all of the erthiness that you would expect from this humble tuber.

The next tme you fire up the grill, consider inviting your local potato to the party.  you’ll be glad you did!

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Colcannon is something I just had to try this year. In Ireland this dish is traditionally served on Halloween. Until quite recently this was a fast day and no meat was eaten. The name of the dish is derived from the Gaelic “cal ceann fhionn”, which translates to “White Headed Cabbage.”

This is a dish that I’ve meant to try for a very long time, but seem to have managed to avoid for one reason or another. I’m sorry now that it took me so long to get around to it, as this is an intensely flavored yet supremely subtle combination that elevates both the humble potato and cabbage to levels I didn’t think either was capable of. It went perfectly with the corned beef and potatoes we traditionally have on St. Paddy’s Day, and played extremely well with a good pint of stout. It is also completely vegetarian, which is a swich from my normal offerings, though that is something I’m trying to remedy.

Colcannon is made with either kale or green cabbage. I used the cabbage on this round simply because it is obscenely inexpensive at this time of year at most stores in the U.S., whereas kale is not inexpensive at all right now in my location. It really doesn’t mater the cost any longer, though. This is something I’ll be making throughout the year from now on.

This recipe was made verbatim from My Irish Cook Book, by Monica Sheridan, printed in 1966. A reprinted and updated edition is available under the title The Art of Irish Cooking. I highly recommend this book to anyone who would like to experience Irish fare at it’s best, which is to say, home cooked and full of the love of the food itself.

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(I’m combining this post with my weekly Thursday Thirteen, if you were just here to see the TT, scroll to the bottom of the post.)

As foodies we are sometimes driven to try the most recent trend in foods. To go after more exotic ingredients and preparation methods. To push our cooking skills and palate’s further than they have ever gone before. All of these are good things and make for a very interesting culinary life. Food should never be boring, after all.

While I subscribe to the concepts mentioned above, there are still times I when just want a really good French Fry, and yesterday was one of those days.

I’ll be honest, I haven’t liked fast food french fries in a very long time. Most are nothing more than overcooked, greasy little processed things that don’t do anything at all for me, other than perhaps cause a case of indigestion later. On the other hand, I rarely turn down the opportunity to indulge in a homemade fry, whether I’m the one making it or not, making fries one of the things I almost never order in a restaurant. I’ll take mine my way, thank you.

I prefer to make fries in a cast iron skillet rather than in a deep pan or heavy dutch oven for several reasons. One, the oil heats much more quickly in a heavy shallow pan. Two, it cools more quickly when the heat is lowered because of greater surface/air ratios. Three, It’s a lot harder to crowd the pan, which allows me to see each and every item that I’m frying while keeping my temperatures constant. Taking out the guess work is a good thing, as it means that you won’t end up with greasy food.

(Read the bottom of the post to see the thirteen things I will almost never order out)

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What does the king of cooking blindly do when he’s in a hurry to get his wife out the door with a full stomach, but finds that everyone, including himself, is tired of the “same-old same-old?” Well, he looks in the fridge and the freezer, smiles and rearranges a classic southern dish for a bit more of an upscale feel.Whether it’s early and you’re headed for work or a lazy Sunday at home, this dish is sure to help you greet the day with a smile, and it can be on a plate in less than 20 minutes!

I suppose it could be called a poor man’s Eggs Benedict, but that title is already held by the egg McMuffin, so I decided name it after my wife, using her maiden name.

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Mine is one of the many American households where Ham is a staple at several holidays. I have slightly different methods for preparing this noble cut of meat, depending on the holiday in question.

For Easter, braising is my preferred method. No cloves will be found in my Easter ham, not that I’m against them, I’m not. I just prefer the first ham of the year to be something a bit simpler, with the essence of apples and the robust backdrop of a good red wine, rather than the more traditional pineapple and clove-studded affair.

It’s rich, flavorful and oh so decadent, especially when compared to the lighter foods that seem to come to the fore after the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday season.

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Perhaps it’s the Irish in me, or perhaps it’s just fond memories from my childhood. In either case, when I’m thinking of a side dish that goes well with just about anything, I almost always turn to potatoes. Not only are they filling in their own right, but the earthy flavor and buttery texture of potatoes that are well prepared is something that makes a meal feel more”complete” somehow.

This recipe is one of the most versatile that I’ve come upon. Originally based on a method for making parsleyed potatoes, its very simplicity belies the perfection of the method and the amazing amounts of different variations that can come of it at a moments notice. The potatoes are steamed, not boiled, so achieving a perfect texture is child’s play, and no oil or salt need be added if you wish to omit it. The flavor can be changed completely by simply switching to a different selection of your favorite herbs, which allows for pairings with nearly any dish, or the flavor can be kicked up a bit and be served as a main course in itself. Read more…

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A little late on my part, I know, but I thought I’d share what Mrs. seat of her Pants and I shared for our belated St. Patrick’s day meal.

Generally speaking, I go large for our St. Paddy’s day celebration. Corned Beef, Guinness for myself and Killian’s for the Mrs. (She’s not a fan of stout) and some good “Irish Movie” (whatever that is. I just tend to rent something I remember watching as a kid with my mother. Generally something like “The Silent Man” or “The bells of St. Mary”)

This year my wife had a bridal shower/wine tasting with a few friends (Italian friends… I nearly fell over, but I suppose it’s not a tradition for them, so they didn’t think about it.) She was compelled to go, and I wasn’t about to make a production out of the evening for myself. (I ended up making Ramen with frozen shrimp and broccoli, but that’s another story.)

Sunday came along with dreams of making all of the above mentioned, perhaps with some champ or other lovely old country side. Unfortunately, Mr. seat of his Diaper had plans of his own, most of which included keeping my wife and myself very busy tending to his needs rather than anything fancier than what I threw together.

A lot of folks would call this a New England Boiled Dinner. I beg to differ. This was the corned beef my mother made every St. Paddy’s day for the first 25 years of my life. Our home had precisely one cabbage lover, my father. He was summarily overruled in his request for corned beef and cabbage by his lovely (and extremely Irish/Cherokee) wife and two children right up until the day he moved out when I was 16. I’m hopeful that he managed to get his requested dinner on the following holidays before he passed away, but I wasn’t around by that point to find out.

I will concede that this isn’t the traditional Corned Beef and Cabbage served by most Irish American families, and so I’ve just dubbed it Corned Beef and Potatoes though really I just think of it as “Mom’s corned beef”. In any case, it’s something worth making more than once per year, and I usually get around to it about four times between one St. Paddy’s Day and the next, jut because I love the flavor, the memories and the simplicity of the entire affair.

Being a very old family dish, I have no recipe for this. I simply use the same method that my mother and her mother before her used, and I’ll detail it for you here.

*Note: You won’t find my usual “What I would have done differently…” section in regards to this post. I will never do anything differently with this dish, regardless of what the Dr. might tell me about sodium intake. Period.

Corned Beef and Potatoes

Ingredients:

1 large corned beef brisket (4-6 lbs)
1 large onion
6-10 new (red/Irish) potatoes, depending on size, quartered and halved
3 large carrots, chopped large

Method:

Place corned beef in a large stock pot and cover with water. Add the seasoning included in the package. (No, I don’t rinse mine.) Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer uncovered, adding water as necessary until brisket is fork tender, or cooked to the desired doneness.

Toss in veggies and add enough water to cover. Cover pot and allow to simmer until veggies are done to your liking.

Add salt and pepper to taste and enjoy.

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I’ll just start out by saying, this is not a fancy recipe. These are the fried potatoes I grew up eating; made in a cast-iron skillet and fried in bacon grease over controlled heat. The recipe isn’t complicated, but mastery of it takes time. A lot of time.

In my case it took somewhere around 10 years.

There are no times associated with this recipe. In all actuality, it’s more a set of guidelines. You have to be able to feel when it’s time to move on to the next step. It’s not hard, but it’s not easy, either. It’s kind of like walking, simple as an adult, but it was a bugger when you first started doing it! Read more…

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Fried potatoes are a southern staple. They are served at nearly every good southern table, and can be served at any meal. There was a time when I was young that my family didn’t have much, and the running commentary around dinner time was often as follows:

“Mom, what’s for dinner?”

“Beans and potatoes.”

“Awwwww! We had that last night!”

“No, last night we had potatoes and beans.”

Thankfully those days are long gone, but I still enjoy a heaping plate of fried potatoes and I even use the same cast iron skillet that both my mother, my grandmother and my great grandmother used to make them. (much to the dismay of my sister, who probably should have got it, not her cranky older brother.) Read more…

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I made this particular dish to participate in the “day that really Schmecks, part 2” event from Confessions of a Cardamom Addict. I found the idea of checking out some Mennonite cooking very interesting to say the least, and I even managed to find a recipe that fit my “Cook don’t bake” strategy to kitchen life. (Not easy since I don’t own any of Edna’s books, and with a deadline of the 29th of January I decided to use the Sausage and Vegetable Bake recipe I found at Loving Spoonfuls.In very un-seat of my pants manner, I followed the recipe to the letter, not allowing myself to deviate or get creative in the slightest. This was, after all, a tribute to Edna Staebler, author of Food that Really Schmecks, and a tribute to Mennonite cooking in general. For once, I was going to do what I was told on the page. No changes, using just the highest quality ingredients I could lay hands on. Read more…

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