Potato Leek Gratin

Yum! This was good. I made it with purple potatoes! I had never even heard of them before, but Door to Door Organics had them for sale last week and we just had to try them. They were fantastic and my girly-girls LOVED that they were purple!! To prepare the leek: slice it in half length-wise, then slice all the way up the white part. Remove any outer leaves, and keep slicing through the light green part. Next, wash the leeks really well. Because of the way they grow, they tend to be pretty dirty inside. Once they are washed, you are ready to cook them. Here’s the recipe:

• 4 small-medium potatoes, peeled and sliced
• 1 leek, sliced and washed
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp thyme
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/4 cup fresh parmesean cheese, grated

On medium heat, melt butter in a small saucepan. Add leek and cook 3-4 minutes. Add garlic and saute 1 more minute. Add flour, cook 1 minute while stirring constantly. Whisk in milk and add nutmeg, thyme, salt and pepper. Cook about 5 minutes, stirring constantly, or until mixture thickens.

Arrange potatoes in small baking dish coated with cooking spray. Pour leek mixture over the potatoes and top with parmesean cheese. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes or until potatoes are soft and cheese is browned.

Rosemary-Garlic Roasted Potatoes

Yum…I love roasted potatoes. I think I am beginning to realize that the key to yummy roasted potatoes and french fries is plenty of space. Tonight I roasted these potatoes with no potato touching another, and when I flipped them, I was sure to leave no potatoes touching again. It’s a little cumbersome, but the results are great. You get nice, evenly baked, golden potatoes that are so tasty!! Here’s tonight’s recipe:

• 3 medium red potatoes, cut into small pieces
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, minced (It’s easy to take the rosemary leaves off of the woody stem by holding the stem upside down. Run your fingers down the stem and the leaves will easily come off. Once off, mince the leaves.)
• 1-2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp minced garlic (about 2 cloves)

Preheat your oven to 400.

Cut your potatoes into small, even pieces and place in a large bowl.

Combine oil, mustard, and spices and mix well. Pour the oil mixture over the potatoes and coat well. Place the coated potatoes on a roasting pan coated with cooking spray. Make sure the potatoes aren’t touching and bake for 15 minutes. Flip each potato, make sure they aren’t touching and bake for another 10-15 minutes or until the potatoes are golden and soft.

Parmesan Smashed Potatoes

This is the best recipe ever for mashed potatoes. I love them a bit chunky, so I don’t usually use an electric mixer. I use my handheld potato masher and a wooden spoon to mix all the ingredients together. If you want them smooth, though, use an electric mixer to blend the ingredients together. If you do that, though, mix in the last 1/4 of cream and the sour cream and cheese by hand.

Click here for some tips on potatoes.

Ingredients

• 3 pounds red new potatoes, unpeeled
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus 2 teaspoons
• 1 cup half and half  (I use 1/2 and 1/2 for special occasions, but these are also very good with non-fat milk.)
• 1/4 pound unsalted unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup sour cream (I use reduced fat)
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions

Place the potatoes in a 4-quart saucepan and add cold water to cover. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer covered for 30 to 45 minutes, until completely tender. Drain.

In a bowl, mash the potatoes with a potato masher to break them up. In a small saucepan, heat the half-and-half and butter. Slowly add the cream mixture to the potatoes. Fold in the sour cream, Parmesan, 2 teaspoons salt, and pepper and serve immediately.

Recipe from Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

Potato Tips

If you are trying to prepare a big meal and are trying to time everything to be done at the same time, it can be kind of tricky. Potatoes are one of the things that can be done a bit ahead of time, in my opinion.

• You can peel and cut potatoes a couple of hours ahead of time, just be sure to cover them with water for the duration of the wait. This will prevent them from turning brown.
• Once the potatoes are boiled and mashed, place them in a metal bowl and cover them with aluminum foil. Place the metal bowl above a saucepan filled with simmering water and they will stay nice and warm while you prepare the rest of your meal.

Sweet Potato Fries

• 2 medium-sized sweet potatoes
• 2 T extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 t cumin
• 1/2 t oregano
• 1/2 t coriander
• 1 t kosher salt
• 1 t parsley
• fresh ground pepper (about 10 turns of a pepper mill)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Slice the potatoes into even, 1/2 inch peices. It’s important to make them pretty even–otherwise you get a range of not soft to burned fries.

Put the sweet potatoes on a baking sheet and drizzle the olive oil over them. Use your hands to make sure each one is well coated. They should all be glistening. Then sprinkle on all of the herbs and spices and continue to toss until well coated.

Place the fries on the baking sheet. It’s very important that they are not touching, but can place them pretty close together. If you end up needing more than one cookie sheet, try to place them next to each other on one rack to prevent steaming. Place cookie sheet in pre-heated oven and set the timer for 15 minutes. Don’t open the oven door, not even for a peak! Let them do their thing. After 15 minutes take the pan out of the oven and flip the fries. If you try to do it one at a time it will take forever, I take a long spatula and get a bunch at at time. It’s super quick. Just flip, and then make sure they’re spaced out again. Be careful because at this point they’re quite soft. Put the pan in the oven and cook for another 10-15 minutes. Just keep an eye on them. They should be nice and golden brown. Crispy crunchy on the outside, and sweet and soft in the middle.Take them out of the oven and serve immediately. They cool off very quickly so they’re best eaten right away.

Serves about 4–unless you are part of my family, then it only serves about 1 1/2 people. We love our sweet potato fries.