Potato Thingee
Jan. 3rd, 2014 10:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yendiOne of our go-to recipes for days like today* is "potato thingee."
It's a home fry variant, and good comfort food.
This isn't so much a recipe (I tend to sight-cook) as it is a general guide that can be modified as needed.
Ingredients:
Four potatoes (I use yukon gold), diced but not peeled.
One yellow onion, loosely chopped.
Four or five breakfast sausages (we use the Harvestland Maple and Apple Breakfast Sausages from BJs, which are also gluten-free), sliced (but not too thin).
Paprika (sweet or spicy), cayenne pepper, dry mustard, cumin, garlic.
Olive oil and maple syrup (the real stuff, not "pancake syrup" or anything of that ilk).
Directions:
Pour some olive oil into the pan**. Turn the heat up to medium/medium-high, toss in the onions, and cook them for three or four minutes, stirring constantly. If the garlic you used was fresh (as opposed to powder), toss it in near the end of that time. Then toss in the potatoes. Yes, some will stick the pan immediately, but start stirring those suckers as quickly as possible. Pour in some more olive oil if things get too tough.
After about two or three minutes, turn the heat down to medium and sprinkle on the spices to taste. Paprika and cayenne are your main flavors here, but remember that they both pack powerful kicks. Cumin and garlic (if using powder) should be used sparingly. Stir everything up so that you've spread out the spices, then cover the pan and walk away for five minutes.
Take off the cover, stir things up, and add some maple syrup (a little bit goes a long way). Taste a small potato bit to see if there's enough spice (and to test for doneness, although it won't be close to done yet). Add more spices as needed (we like ours with serious kick), along with more syrup if needed. Stir again, cover and walk away for another 5-6 minutes.
Now, take another taste. The potatoes should feel nearly done, texture-wise. Thrown in the sausage slices, add a little bit of spice, stir things up, and cover for three minutes. You've now got Potato Thingee!
Note: The bottom of your skillet will be covered with potato. You'll want to soak this sucker before cleaning it. But if you like slightly burnt potatoes, scraping a few forkfuls from the pan is a true joy.
*not that many days are like today, thankfully, but on normal cold days, it's still nice
**No, I'm not telling you how much. You know your pan better than I do. And those four potatoes can lead to very different volumes of diced potatoes, depending on how you dice, how big the taters are, etc.
It's a home fry variant, and good comfort food.
This isn't so much a recipe (I tend to sight-cook) as it is a general guide that can be modified as needed.
Ingredients:
Four potatoes (I use yukon gold), diced but not peeled.
One yellow onion, loosely chopped.
Four or five breakfast sausages (we use the Harvestland Maple and Apple Breakfast Sausages from BJs, which are also gluten-free), sliced (but not too thin).
Paprika (sweet or spicy), cayenne pepper, dry mustard, cumin, garlic.
Olive oil and maple syrup (the real stuff, not "pancake syrup" or anything of that ilk).
Directions:
Pour some olive oil into the pan**. Turn the heat up to medium/medium-high, toss in the onions, and cook them for three or four minutes, stirring constantly. If the garlic you used was fresh (as opposed to powder), toss it in near the end of that time. Then toss in the potatoes. Yes, some will stick the pan immediately, but start stirring those suckers as quickly as possible. Pour in some more olive oil if things get too tough.
After about two or three minutes, turn the heat down to medium and sprinkle on the spices to taste. Paprika and cayenne are your main flavors here, but remember that they both pack powerful kicks. Cumin and garlic (if using powder) should be used sparingly. Stir everything up so that you've spread out the spices, then cover the pan and walk away for five minutes.
Take off the cover, stir things up, and add some maple syrup (a little bit goes a long way). Taste a small potato bit to see if there's enough spice (and to test for doneness, although it won't be close to done yet). Add more spices as needed (we like ours with serious kick), along with more syrup if needed. Stir again, cover and walk away for another 5-6 minutes.
Now, take another taste. The potatoes should feel nearly done, texture-wise. Thrown in the sausage slices, add a little bit of spice, stir things up, and cover for three minutes. You've now got Potato Thingee!
Note: The bottom of your skillet will be covered with potato. You'll want to soak this sucker before cleaning it. But if you like slightly burnt potatoes, scraping a few forkfuls from the pan is a true joy.
*not that many days are like today, thankfully, but on normal cold days, it's still nice
**No, I'm not telling you how much. You know your pan better than I do. And those four potatoes can lead to very different volumes of diced potatoes, depending on how you dice, how big the taters are, etc.
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(no subject)
Date: 2014-01-03 04:37 pm (UTC)First, I microwave-bake the potatoes before chopping them up. You do have to let them cool off a bit (I usually cut them into quarters and let them sit for 5 minutes after taking them out of the microwave). But, they cook faster in the pan. I can't say if they stick less, though, because I don't use normal pans. I usually use one of our non-stick green pans, which prevents them from sticking. We have two brands of green pan -- one is far better than the other, in my opinion. I've cooked all sorts of things in there, and NOTHING sticks. It's eerie. Or I use a cast iron, which is moderate on the not-sticking.
Anyway, chopped potatoes in FIRST, alone, with olive oil or safflower oil (which has a higher heat point, and will make the potatoes a bit crispier). Add: garlic (fresh or dried), salt, pepper, and dill. I also add Mexican oregano, which has a different flavor than the more common Turkish oregano, but either will do.
After the potatoes are about half browned, add the onions. If I cook the potatoes on low heat, I can dice the onion after putting the potatoes in, but usually it takes too long (or I make Andy do it). I like my onions crispy-crunchy and not fully-cooked (slimy and wilted), so this is entirely personal preference. At this point, I add smoked spanish paprika and Northwoods Fire which is the best seasoning of all time.
IN ANOTHER BOWL: one egg per person eating this (sometimes I share with Andy), and then add red pepper flakes to the eggs and mix with a fork. Once the onions & potatoes are cooked to your liking, dump the eggs over it and mix everything together until the eggs are done (sometimes you can just turn off the heat, especially if using a cast iron pan).
Andy tends to add a bit more Northwoods Fire at that point. With the egg, this is a filling and mostly-complete meal. We call it Spicy Potatoes & Eggs. It is a household staple.
Another tip: if we don't have onions in the house, I add freeze-dried chives at the beginning with the oil. Not quite the same, but better than nothing.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-01-03 04:38 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-01-03 05:01 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-01-03 04:59 pm (UTC)Alas, Judah ruined our last non-stick pan, and we haven't replaced it. That said, I tend to prefer my pans-what-stick for potatoes, as it tends to make for better crusts.
We definitely like cooking our onions all the way. And since 'song doesn't like eggs, I usually just have my eggs on the side (I tend to go for traditional scrambled eggs -- see http://deadspin.com/how-to-make-scrambled-eggs-most-controversial-of-all-t-1478454486).
We also almost never have no onions in the house. :-)
I'll have to check out Penzeys; I usually stick to McCormick and Auntie Arwen, because I know how they stand on GF stuff, but I do like new spices.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-01-04 03:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-01-06 01:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-01-06 03:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-01-04 06:57 pm (UTC)Now that we have a grocery store across the street, it's less of an issue. Though, it's a massive Chinese supermarket, so they don't actually have EVERYTHING we need, but produce is never an issue. Also, y'know, 46" woks. If we need one.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/qxrspkm467cb4ci/2013-12-17%2019.14.44.jpg
(no subject)
Date: 2014-01-05 09:07 pm (UTC)Most of the Greenpan reviews I've read have been pretty negative, but you're the first person (that I know of) who owns one personally. I'll definitely look into them more.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-01-06 03:15 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-01-12 03:31 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-01-06 03:09 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-01-03 09:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-01-03 09:10 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-01-06 03:06 pm (UTC)