Potato Festival Update August 6, 2008

Back in January I mentioned to you that the United Nations had declared 2008 as the Year of the Potato.  And coming from a potato-growing family in Cuba, I needed to make homage to this eventful year by presenting to you as many potato dishes as possible. 

I eat everything I cook to present to you in the blog… so forgive me for needing some variety in my diet.  But I wanted to give you an update of the potato recipes we have available for you at KarmaFree Cooking…

Herb Roasted Potatoes

 

Mustard Roasted Potatoes

Potato and Fried Eggplant Pastelón

 

 

Sweet Potato Pastelón

 

Stewed Potatoes

 

Creamy Potatoes

 

 

Roasted Potato and Pumpkin Salad

Cracked Potatoes

 

Potato Leek Soup

 

Baby Spinach and Potato Pastelón

 

Corn Tostada Stacks

 

Hummus Pastelón

 

Comme Ci Comme Ca Salade Niçoise

 

Potato Boursin Casserole

 

Vegetable Noodle Soup

Potatoes à la Angie

Potatoes à la Angie July 22, 2008

My friend Angie does not cook a whole lot… but what she does cook, she does very well.

Every time she invites me over for dinner she prepares her specialty – Potatoes with Butter, Onions and Bacon.  Well, I decided to immortalize her recipe making it a vegetarian version.  These are a super easy way to make a potato side dish or even as a simple, quick lunch with a side salad.  That’s what I had for lunch today…

 

POTATOES À LA ANGIE

3 medium red skinned potatoes, washed and sliced thin using a mandoline

½ onion, sliced thin

2 tbs butter

1-2 slices of veggie bacon, cut into small pieces (optional)

2 tsp adobo

 

1. Pre-heat oven to 400° F.
2. I used a mandolin to thinly slice the potatoes…  you can do it with a sharp knife, but I find the mandoline to be extremely consistent and easy to use.  BE CAREFUL, the mandoline’s blade is super sharp and I have been known to almost loose a finger tip to a mandolin (long story that shall not be told while talking about food, but it’s important how sharp these things are…)
3. 
4. We’ll be making a layered potato dish,  so…
5. In a small buttered casserole dish, place a layer of potatoes.  Sprinkle lightly with adobo.  Dot each potato slice with a bit of butter.  Place a light layer of onions. Repeat the layering process until you’ve finished with all the potato slices.  It yielded me for about 3-4 layers of potatoes. 
6. When you place the last of the potatoes, sprinkle with the last of the adobo.  Dot again with butter and sprinkle the pieces of veggie bacon on top.
7. 
8. Roast in oven for about 30-40 minutes until potatoes are done.  Check them at about the 30 minute mark, if you feel it needs more time but the top is too crispy, cover it with a piece of foil paper, tying for the paper not to touch the potatoes… to avoid over browning.

Potato Leek Soup June 2, 2008

Ever since I read in the book French Women Don’t Get Fat that one of the reasons our French female counterparts were much thinner than us in the Americas was because they consumed a great amount of leeks… this beautiful green vegetable has captivated me immensely.

I always thought French women were thinner because they ate smaller portions, they walk everywhere and that to the French overall, quality is much more important than quantity.  And thinking about the Latin/Hispanic culture, so completely opposite to that of the French – quantity is more important that quality of the ingredients, where so many people live sedentary lives and take the car to go to the corner store… we should incorporate more leeks into our diet… actually, not should, we MUST!!!

Let’s start with this Potato Leek Soup.  It’s super easy and relatively quick to make.  I enjoyed the flavor a lot and most of all, I loved the fried Leek Rings as garnish…  hey, I speak French, love the French culture, but can’t take the Puerto Rican out of me…  This was a recipe I learned from Alton Brown in Good Eats.

Check it out…

 

POTATO LEEK SOUP

½ lbs of leeks, cleaned and dark and tough leaves removed

2 tbs butter

2 tbs olive oil

3 small potatoes, I used russet – washed well,  peeled and diced small

2 cups vegetable broth

1 cup Half and Half

Salt and Pepper to taste

 

1. First you need to clean the leeks well.  They always come full of sand and dirt in between the layers, even more so when you’re buying organic.  You can cut the leek lengthwise without disturbing the root end so that the leek will sort-of “fan out”.  Submerge in a sinkful of cold water and shake it well to dislodge any sand and dirt trapped in between the layers.  Or you can just run it under cold water. (Note to self:  in my dream kitchen I want a sink for the sole purpose of cleaning produce…)
2. After the leeks are cleaned… finish cutting the root end and slice thinly.  I use the white part and the tender green parts of the leek.  These are somewhat expensive in Puerto Rico, so I try to use most of it as possible… 
3. In a large pan, melt the butter over medium heat and add the leeks with a heavy pinch of salt.  Sweat the leeks for about 5 minutes.  Lower the heat to medium-low and cook until the leeks are tender, approximately 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.



4. While this is happening…  prep the potatoes.  I usually leave the skin on my potatoes, because in the thin film between the peel and the flesh is where a lot of nutrition lies, but in this case, because it’s a creamed soup, the skins will just get in the way.
5. Add the potatoes and the vegetable broth.  Increase the heat to medium hi and bring to a boil.  I covered it to make it happen faster.  Once it reaches the boiling point, reduce the heat to low, maintain covered and gently simmer until the potatoes are soft, approximately 30 minutes.
6. Turn off the heat and puree the mixture with an immersion blender until smooth.  I still left some chunky pieces of potatoes and it was a nice contrast to the smooth soup.  Stir in the half and half and add additional salt and pepper to taste.

 

The soup will remain warm enough to eat while you make these Leek Rings, which actually were incredible…

I also learned in the Good Eats episode that this soup is also called Vichyssoise, especially if served cold.  I am not too fond of cold soups so we’ll keep on calling it Potato Leek Soup.

Bon Appetit!!

Baby Spinach and Potato Pastelón May 20, 2008

I am a single gal who shops at Costco…   you might find it hard to believe, but here in Puerto Rico some of the best produce you can find at Costco.  The catch is the size of the packages, which are huge for only one person.  I usually buy fresh strawberries, asparagus, grape or vine-ripened tomatoes, mesclun greens, oranges and baby spinach at Costco, among other non perishables.  When I can, I share with my mom, but most often times, I find myself with the challenge of cooking the same ingredients over and over in different presentations to avoid any spoilage.

That was the case a few days back with a large batch of baby spinach and grape tomatoes.  How many ways can a girl make the same two ingredients and not bore herself??

Here is an exercise in how versatile these two ingredients are…

 

 

BABY SPINACH AND POTATO PASTELÓN

2 large russet or red-skinned potatoes, washed and cubed

2 handfuls of fresh baby spinach, washed and dried

About 10 grape or cherry tomatoes , halved – if you have regular tomatoes, they work fine too, just chop them

½ onion, chopped

1 clove of garlic, grated or finely minced

1 tbs olive oil

2 tbs butter or soy margarine

2 oz cream cheese

2 tbs  Parmesan Cheese, grated or shredded

Salt and Pepper to taste

Canola Spray

 

1. In a medium pot, boil the potatoes in salted water.
2. While the potatoes are boiling, prepare the filling of the pastelón.  In a medium sized skillet, heat olive oil and sauté onion and garlic until softened.  Add the tomatoes and sauté until softened.  Add the baby spinach to the skillet.  Sprinkle some salt and pepper and toss to combine, until it wilts.



3. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
4. When the potatoes are cooked, drain the water and return to the pot to mash them with the butter/margarine, cream cheese and 1 tbs of the Parmesan.  Season with some salt and pepper to taste.  I like using garlic salt here…
5. In a casserole dish sprayed with some canola oil spray, spread ½ of the mashed potatoes.  Top with the spinach and tomato mixture. Add all the remaining potato and smooth out the top.  Sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan cheese.
6. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or until the cheese on top melts and creates a golden crust.  Because all of the components are already cooked…

 

Hummus Pastelón April 11, 2008

These days I am trying to eat less cheese…  And it’s difficult because  I truly love cheese.   I believe the tag cloud on the right is a testament to the amount of recipes I make with cheese.  But the thing is that I should not eat as much cheese as I do. 

Ever since I was 21, I was diagnosed with a chronic IBS (Inflammatory Bowel Syndrome) condition.  Most people react to different things… my main culprit is stress.  So when I am stressed and on top of that, eat too many dairy products, things get ugly.  I promise I won’t go into the details.

My condition was partly why I became a vegetarian…  I started noticing that by eating healthier I could manage my condition without the need of traditional chemical medication.  I would focus on eating as naturally as possible and see what effects that would have on my condition…  the results were positive, to say the least.

April was designated IBS Awareness Month… so in an effort to educate my palate to think outside the boundaries of cheese-laden dishes and to raise awareness of IBS, but more in particular, the fact you CAN BE a vegetarian and thru diet manage your IBS condition you’ll see more and more recipes without using  cheese.

 

 

Hummus Pastelón

2 potatoes, washed well and cut into quarters or eights

½ cup of hummus - it can be home-made or store-bought

Juice of ½ a lemon

5-6 grape tomatoes

1 tbs butter or canola margarine

1 tbs olive oil

Garlic salt and Pepper to taste

2 tbs slivered or sliced almonds

 

 

1. In a medium saucepan, boil the potatoes.  I cover the potatoes only half way with salted water.  I find they cook faster this way.
2. While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the hummus filling.  You can use my recipe for hummus here or buy it from the store.   If you’re using the store-bought kind, I like to “revive it” by adding a drizzle of olive oil and the juice of ½ a lemon.  I like the tangy lemony taste in hummus.   Set aside.
3. When the potatoes are done, drain them and return to the same pot.  Drizzle a bit of olive oil, add the butter, buttermilk and mash to desired consistency.  It can be as chunky or as smooth as you prefer it.  Season with a bit of garlic salt and pepper to taste.
4. Now we assemble the pastelón…  in a medium casserole dish spread ½ the mashed potatoes creating the bottom layer of the pastelón.  Spread the hummus layer as evenly as possible.  Place the cut grape tomatoes on a layer on top of the hummus. Add the remaining mashed potato layer and smooth out the top.  Sprinkle the almonds on top.
5. Place in 350 degree F oven for about 20-30 minutes, basically to brown the top a bit and for all the flavors to combine and meld.

 

This dish, with its great flavors and all, turned out  a bit monochromatic for me…  so next time I will make sure and include something that will impart some added color to the hummus filling… stay tuned.

 

Potato Boursin Casserole March 31, 2008

I was watching the Today Show the other morning and saw a piece on how to “fancy up” regular take-out food to serve it even to company…  I was intrigued.  Not because I am a take-out consumer, but I am always eager to learn how a simple twist or added ingredient can make something nicer and fancier…The one idea that struck me the most was to add Boursin cheese to KFC’s mashed potatoes.  You mix it up, put it in a casserole dish and bake it in the oven for a few minutes and voila, fancy mashed potatoes!!    I have seen this Boursin cheese in the grocery store before, but was never motivated enough to buy it.

At the Today Show demo, Hoda Kotb tried it and was amazed at the flavor… so, if Boursin cheese can do that to a tub of KFC’s mashed potatoes, what can it do to fresh baby red skinned mashed potatoes… try this one and you’ll see for yourself!!!

POTATO BOURSIN CASSEROLE

2 medium red skin potatoes, washed and cut in quarters

A  4.4oz packet of Boursin Light cheese – I used the Garlic and Fine Herbs kind

Drizzle of Extra-Virgin Olive Oil

2 tbs of butter

A splash of milk or buttermilk – Optional

Salt and Freshly ground Pepper to taste

Canola Oil Spray – for the casserole dish

1. In a medium saucepan, filled about ¼ of the way with salted water, boil the potatoes.  I find that if the water reaches about half way the potatoes, they cook faster than if the potatoes are fully submerged in the water.
2. Pre-heat oven to 350 F.
3. After the potatoes are done, drain most of the water and the same hot saucepan add the butter, olive oil, and milk/buttermilk if using.  Mash the potatoes to combine the ingredients.  Add the cheese.  Season with salt and pepper.
4. Spray a glass casserole dish with canola oil spray and transfer the potato mixture.  Smooth out the top and then rake the top using a fork to create indentations.
5. Bake in oven for about 15-20 minutes or until the top gets browned a bit.

You can definitely eat these mashed potatoes after you mix in the cheese… but putting it in the oven for a few minutes creates a nice crunchy topping which I loved.  It all depends how much in a hurry or how hungry you are.

Sweet Potato Pastelón March 3, 2008

I know this is not exactly a potato, but I wanted to add a new recipe to my Potato Festival collection.  In English, it fits.  In Spanish, it does not (Pastelón de Batata Mameya).  It’s delicious and super easy in either Spanish or English, so here it goes…

 

SWEET POTATO PASTELON

1 medium sweet potato or batata mameya – washed, peeled and cubed into 1″ slices

1/2 tomato – chopped finely

1/2 onion – chopped finely

1/4 green pepper – chopped finely

1 tbs butter or margarine

2 tbs Parmesan cheese

Extra-virgin Olive oil

Canola spray

Salt and Pepper to taste

1. In a medium pot, place sweet potato cubes, almost cover with water, sprinkle with some salt.  Cover and boil until fork tender.  This should take about 15 minutes.
2. In a small skillet, pour about 1tbs olive oil and sautee the onions and peppers.  When they’re starting to turn soft, add the tomatoes until everything is soft and cooked. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Drain the boiled sweet potatoes and return to the hot pot.  Add the butter, Parmesan cheese and mash until smooth with a potato masher.
4. Transfer mashed sweet potato to a glass baking dish sprayed with canola oil. Spread it evenly.  Now, pour the sauteed mixture of onions, peppers and tomato on top of the mashed sweet potatoes.
5. Place in a 350 degree oven so the sweet potato compacts a bit and the flavors meld.  For about 10-15 minutes.  It’s just for melding the flavors, because everything is basically cooked.

Serve with a simple salad for a nice supper or light lunch.

And if you’re in a hurry… just serve the mashed sweet potato and spoon the tomato/onion/pepper mixture over it.  It tastes just the same.

Creamy Potatoes February 19, 2008

I’ve spent the last 4 days cleaning one of my rooms trying to make it into an organized and functional home office.  The more I threw out, the more things appeared.  Amazing. 

But more amazing was the bunch of old recipes I had written a few years back for the yoga center that I had completely forgotten about.  I found this folder with about 5 potato recipes I had made a looooong time ago, just waiting for me to rediscover them again.  Perfect for my Potato Festival theme…

One of these recipes is this Creamy Potatoes dish – it’s basically a potato gratin, but because the name in Spanish is Papas a la Crema, I thought I should stay true to the original name…  It turned out to be a very creamy and satisfying little dish.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did…

 

CREAMY POTATOES

2 lbs potatoes – I used russets – sliced as thinly as possible

1 medium onion – sliced as thinly as possible

3 cups of milk

4 tbs cornstarch

1/2 stick of margarine

2 tbs sofrito

1 1/2 tsp salt

Pepper to taste 

Grated Parmesan cheese – optional

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Wash potatoes well and slice them as thinly as possible.  I used a mandolin for the first time and I love the way they come out – Super consistent.  Slice onion too.
3. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, pour margarine and sautee sofrito for a few minutes.  Pour 2 cups of the milk.  In the remaining milk, dilute the cornstarch and  pour in.  Season with salt and pepper.  Whisk until the sauce starts to thicken a bit.
4. Stack the potato and onion slices in a glass casserole dish.  Pour the milk mixture over the potatoes.
5. If using, sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the potatoes.
6. Bake in oven for 45 minutes.
7. Turn off oven and let the potatoes in the oven for an extra 10-15 minutes.  Let cool a bit before serving so the sauce does not run all over the place.

I served this together with Sauteed Corn. 

Potato and Fried Eggplant Pastelon February 16, 2008

I’ve been trying to “crack my head open” trying to figure out a way to translate the word “pastelón” for you guys.  A pastelón is very similar to a casserole… but the difference being that things are mainly layered in instead of mixed all -together.   So I figured that if Rachael Ray can invent a word in “stewp”, I can just use the word “pastelón” and you’ll learn to embrace it.

Pastelón is pronounced  [pas-te-LON], and as I mentioned before, it consists of layers of ingredients, sometimes pre-cooked, sometimes raw and then baked off in the oven.

This is a new installment for the Potato Festival I mentioned a few posts ago…  I know, the translation thing should have not kept me for posting this, but I guess I got caught up in it.

POTATO and FRIED EGGPLANT PASTELÓN

3 medium potatoes cut into 2″ pieces – you can use new, russet or red-skinned potatoes

 1 small eggplant – try to buy the lightest eggplant available*

½ cup whole wheat flour

2 tbs sofrito

¼ – ½ cup of water

2 tbs butter

2 tbs cream cheese

4 tbs grated Parmesan cheese, divided

A splash of milk

¼ cup Italian cheese blend

Salt, Garlic Salt and Pepper to taste

Canola oil – to fry the eggplant

*  Note:  The lighter the eggplant, the less seeds it will have and the less bitterness it will have.

1. In a medium sized saucepan with salted water, boil the potatoes until fork-tender.  I find the potatoes boil faster when I use as little water as possible…  I guess it’s a combination of boiling and steaming… I don’t even let the water cover the potatoes.  Just let the water come up halfway the potatoes.
2. Then, you need to prepare the eggplant batter…  Mix together the flour, water, sofrito and season generously with salt and pepper.  Use enough water for the batter to have the consistency of pancake batter.  Set aside.
3. In a skillet over medium-high heat, heat oil for frying.
4. Slice the eggplant your favorite way – in rounds or in long slices.  Dunk the eggplant slices in the batter.  Clean up any drips and fry until golden brown. Drain the fried slices over paper towels to soak up any excess oil.  Set aside.

5. 

6. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
7. When potatoes are done, drain any liquid leftover.  Mix in butter, cream cheese, 2 tbs of the Parmesan and milk.  Smash then until creamy soft.  Season with garlic salt and pepper.

8. 

9. Pour half the mashed potatoes in a buttered casserole dish.  Add in the fried eggplant slices creating a layer.  Sprinkle a bit of Parmesan cheese (optional).  Add in the remaining mashed potatoes.  Top with the last of the remaining Parmesan and the shredded cheese mix.

10.  Bake in oven for about 30 minutes, until the cheese on top is melted and golden brown and the flavors meld. 

 

Roasted Mustard Potatoes January 27, 2008

I love making this dish!!!  The smell of the mustard when it’s in the oven is divine…

ROASTED MUSTARD POTATOES

2 lbs red-skinned baby potatoes, cut in quarters or halved

6 tbs mustard – dijon, grain or spicy mustards will all work great here

1 tsp chopped garlic

1 tsp Italian seasonings

2 tbs olive oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

Canola oil spray

1. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. In a medium sized bowl, mix together the mustard, garlic, Italian seasonings, olive oil, salt and pepper. 
3. Place cut potatoes in the same bowl with the mustard mixture and toss to fully coat all the potatoes.
4. Move the mustard-coated potatoes into a  baking sheet sprayed with canola oil spray.
5. Roast in oven for 40-45 minutes until potatoes are tender when speared with a fork.

Herbed Roasted Potatoes January 27, 2008

This is one of the easiest and nicest side dishes you can create.  I make it in a toaster oven while I prepare the main dish.

 

HERBED ROASTED POTATOES

2 lbs of red skin or other waxy potatoes, washed and cut into 1 inch cubes

2 tbs garlic salt

2 tbs Italian seasonings 

2 tbs white pepper

2 tbs parsley – dried or fresh

2 tbs kosher salt

2 tbs lemon zest

2 tbs paprika (optional)

4 tbs Liquid soy margarine – I eye-ball this usually… enough to coat the potatoes.

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F. 
2. In a medium sized bowl, mix together all the herbs and spices – garlic salt, Italian seasonings, white pepper, parsley, kosher salt, lemon zest and paprika, if using.
3. Drizzle a small amount of the liquid margarine and “butter” the baking dish or roasting pan you’ll be using to roast these potatoes.  This way you’ll ensure the potatoes will not stick to the bottom. 
4. Place cubed potatoes in the roasting pan or dish in a single layer.  Drizzle liquid margarine on top of potatoes and sprinkle the herb mixture.  Using your clean hands, massage the potatoes with the margarine and the herb mixture until the potato cubes are all slathered with margarine and herbs.
5. Roast in oven for about 30-35 minutes – until potatoes are golden brown and soft when you pierce them with a knife.  Move them around the half-time mark if you want.  I sometimes forget and they usually turn out OK.

2008 – Year of the Potato January 27, 2008

I love potatoes.  If I had to eat only one food, I think potatoes would be it.  They’re soooo versatile – you can fry, boil, roast, broil, bake, stew, mash, smash, and basically do anything to them and potatoes will reward you with a delicious and nutritious treat every time. 

Potatoes are so important in the world’s culinary and nutritional environments the United Nations named 2008 the year of the Potato, based on the role the potato can play in providing food security, eradicating poverty and achieving development goals – WOW!!

There’s one more reason why I love potatoes – my grandfather in Cuba was a well-known potato grower.  He was known by everyone in his town in the southern part of the Havana province simply as “Neno, el papero” – papero being roughly translated to “potatoer”.  My grandfather’s potatoes were consumed locally in Cuba, but mainly exported to the US.  When my good friend Angie learned about this, she lovingly nicknamed me – the Cuban Potato Queen.  To tell you the truth, this has stuck a bit and I even have artwork made by a good friend and artist as homage to this nickname.

I never got to meet my grandfather Neno.  He left his physical body a few years before my mom and dad met here in Puerto Rico…  So in honor of my grandfather’s potato heritage, I have decided to create in my blog a POTATO FESTIVAL.  A collection of potato dishes made to highlight all the goodness and versatility of this discreet tuber.  Some are side dishes, some are main dishes… we might even find some appetizers and desserts in this collection… however, I will assure you, they will all be incredibly delicious.

Hope you like them as much as I will like preparing them…

Herb Roasted Potatoes

Mustard Roasted Potatoes

Potato and Fried Eggplant Pastelón

Creamy Potatoes

Sweet Potato Pastelón