Root Vegetable Gratin

I know I've bored you elsewhere with the secrets of a good gratin, so you're spared the lesson this week--linguistic or otherwise. What you get instead (!!) is a delicious baked dish with the earthy flavors of winter. Plus it's pretty, no?

Ok, start with a couple of roots. Peel and julienne them. [Hold up--what? This just means cut them in tiny matchsticks: slice as thin as your trembling knife hand will allow you one way, then stack the slender slices atop one another, and slice cross ways, again, as thin as humanly possible. See exhibit A:]

Saute an onion. Throw it all in a cream sauce you made yourself. Then stir and bake. Really, that easy. You can follow the sauce recipe here, for a cheesy version, or you can go with the straight sauce below. Your call.

Root Vegetable Gratin

serves 2-3, but leftovers are quite good

the veggies:

1 small potato (red, yukon gold, etc. NOT a baking potato), julienned

1 small carrot, julienned

1 medium-sized turnip, julienned

1/2 small onion, sliced thin and lightly sauteed in olive oil

[optional, some blanched, chopped greens of your choice, 1/2 cup or so]

the sauce:

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup broth [or just a full cup milk, if you like]

1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil

1 1/2 Tbsp flour

1/2 small onion, finely diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

salt and pepper

the rest:

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/4 cup fresh bread crumbs, tossed in olive oil or melted butter

1. First, julienne the potato, carrot, and turnip. Because the Internet is omniscient, you can consult it on how precisely to do this. But don't feel like you need to chop as fast as this guy. Toss them in a big bowl with the sauteed onions, greens (if using) and a healthy dose of salt and pepper.
2. Next, make your cream sauce. Heat the olive oil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add diced onion and saute with a pinch of salt until translucent, 3-5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more. Sprinkle flour over top and stir that around, cooking the flour, for about 2 minutes. Add the milk in 3 additions, whisking really well after each time to get at any clumps of flour. Remove from heat as soon as it boils from the third addition and gets nice and thick. Season with plenty of salt and pepper and pour over vegetables. Stir.
3. Grease a nice gratin-friendly dish, pour the mixture in and flatten with the back of your spatula. Sprinkle with bread crumbs you've tossed in olive oil or melted butter and mixed with parmesan cheese. [Oh, and if you want to, that slice of bacon you fried and crumbled.] Bake for 35-40 minutes at 375º.

Last Minute Potato Soup

Because, in true form, Boston has skipped fall and jumped headlong into winter. And because sometimes you forget to put on gloves when you go to run errands on your bike. And because occasionally when you get cold, the only way to get un-cold is from the inside out.

Despite the general truth that soup always tastes better on days 2, 3, 4, and on, a good soup really does not have to take that long. (Although the perk is, whatever leftovers you find yourself with will only improve over the next week or so--and this recipe will definitely have leftovers.) As soon as the blood started flowing in my fingers again, it only took about 30 minutes to have a delicious (organic!) bowl of warmth to slurp up. Pre-prepared, even store bought, broth makes this happen in no time flat.

About the potatoes: you need 1 1/2 - 2 lbs of potatoes, doesn't really matter what kind. You may notice that my soup is a lovely shade of brown--that would be because I left the potato skins on, lots of good fiber and vitamins in there. BUT, if your taters are conventionally grown, there's also potentially lots of good chemical residues in there, so peel first, please. And try not to drop your processor blade in the soup like I did. Oops.

Last Minute Potato Soup

makes plenty to keep as leftovers--which you should do; ready in about half an hour

1 leek, washed and diced

1 stalk celery, diced

4 cloves garlic (that is not a typo), minced

1 1/2 - 2 lbs. potato, (scrubbed if organic, peeled if not) cut into 1/2-inch cubes

4 cups chicken or vegetable broth

1 tsp dried thyme

1 cup milk (or just 1 additional cup broth or water)

salt and pepper

2 Tbsp white wine or white wine vinegar

Tony's!

1. In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, saute leek and celery in about a tablespoon of olive oil. Cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook one minute more. Add 4 cups broth, potatoes, and thyme; bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and let cook about 20 minutes, until potatoes are super tender.
2. Using an immersion blender, food processor or food mill, blend until only a few chunks remain (unless you like a super smooth soup, then process all the way. Don't drop your blade in the soup, like I did.). Return to the pot and add additional 1 cup of liquid. Season with lots and lots of salt and pepper and pour in wine or vinegar. I like my potato soup verrrry thick, so feel free to add more liquid if you like a thinner variety.
3. Serve with a dollop of sour cream, freshly chopped parsley and sliced scallions.

M. Y. O. P. C. (Make Your Own Potato Chips)

Craving the salty crunch of potato chips but don't want a fingertip trail across your shirt mid-workday? Well, here I come with your solution: potato chips that aren't fried. That you made yourself. From a potato you bought from a local farmer or grew in your back yard (OK, that last one was mostly wishful thinking). Turns out you can toss lots of thinly sliced produce into the microwave and come out with "chips" on the other end. (Yet another way to use all your zucchini and squash!)

There are only three important items you'll need, aside from the potato of course: 1) a microwave, 2) a big knife, and 3) the patience, ability, or some sort of gadget to cut exceedingly thin slices of raw spud. It is doable. Just go slow and don't slice a fingertip.

Here's the way it works:

• Scrub and dry your potato real good. Take your large, sharp knife and cut the thinnest slices you possibly can. It may help to take a thin slice off the long side of your tater, giving you a flat surface to rest on -- for stability purposes.
• Spray a microwave-safe plate with a little Pam and lay the slices out then sprinkle with salt. May take a couple of batches; I did one small potato and it took two. Nuke plate for 3 minutes, then take out (with a hotpad!) and flip potato slices. Cook for 3 more minutes, adding on a minute at a time if potatoes need longer. Let cool a bit, then crunch on.

So I haven't tried but I have heard tell that this practice does, indeed, work on other vegetables. If I were to try it, I'd be sure to scrape out any seeds if a veggie has them, like zucchini or squash. Otherwise, I don't see why any root vegetable (carrots, parsnips, turnips, rutabegas, beets, etc.) couldn't undergo a similar transformation. Also, if you are concerned about my donut-shaped chips, pictured here, it's because I had a little fungus problem in the middle of my potato. Nothing to worry about; just scraped it out and went along my merry way.

Minor Failure: Tortilla de Patatas

Even though this morning's breakfast experiment was something of a bust, it had so darn much potential that I had to post it anyway. Plus, I think I know how it can be fixed!

If you are not yet familiar with the deliciosity of the Spanish tortilla de patatas, allow me to introduce you. It's a dish consisting of many layers of thin-sliced potatoes, semi-fried in olive oil, then mixed with eggs and pressed into a pan, then slowly fried again until it becomes a thick mass of tubery goodness. Once cooked, you slice it like a piece of pie and enjoy with just as much calorie-ignoring fervor. (It's often cut bite-size and served as tapas.) Just do a google image search of it, go on . . . now, tell me you're not sprinting to your stove. You're not even reading this anymore, are you?

Well, in case you are, here's a lazy version adapted for the impatient and pants-size-conscious cook. I scoured the net and read many-a-recipe, finally settling on a bastardized version of all of them. I microwaved the potatoes instead of frying them to cut down on time and the copious oil called for in every recipe (ok, and probably some of the flavor too). I threw in some garlic scapes because I had them (that's the green you see), but they're not a necessity. As usual, you could toss in any (cooked) item you think would be tasty.

Tortilla de Patatas

(My proposed fix to an irreverent first stab at a classic recipe; serves 2 as a main, 4 as part of 'this balanced breakfast'; takes about 30 minutes)

1 lb yukon gold or red potatoes

1/2 onion, sliced thin

4 large eggs

1 Tbsp water or chicken broth

oil

salt and pepper

• Start by slicing your potatoes VERY thin. I used the slicing attachment on my food processor. If you have a mandoline, set it to 1/8 inch. Otherwise, slice as thin as humanly possible by hand. Toss them with the onions and a few healthy pinches of salt in a microwave safe bowl. Cover with a microwave safe plate and cook for 10-12 minutes on high, stirring partway through. [I cooked only for 8 and they were definitely underdone. You want them cooked through but not mushy.] Pour into a colander set over the sink and let cool 5ish minutes.
• Meanwhile, in an even bigger bowl, beat the eggs with another healthy pinch of salt and 1 T water or broth (to break up the eggs). Add potato-onion mixture and smush down so potatoes are as submerged as possible in the eggs. Let sit 10 minutes.

• When ready, heat 1 Tbsp oil in a small, nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Tilt bowl and pour mixture into skillet, pressing down to flatten; cook 6 minutes. Run a rubber spatula around the edges every now and then to keep from sticking. Now is the fun part. Grab your microwaved plate and set it upside-down on the skillet. Flip! And then slide the tortilla [cooked side up] back into the skillet. Press down again.

• Lower heat and cook 3 more minutes. Flip again, as before, and cook 1 final minute. Slide out onto plate and slice. This baby can be eaten warm or at room temperature.

Panfried Smashed Potatoes

Stop what you're doing right now and make these. Make them, I say. Do it now! 

This is a great a la carte option because you can buy as many or as few teeny red potatoes as you want and just make that much. The pan you see pictured above fed two of us with plenty to spare, by my count about 14 potatoes. 

The key to this outstanding recipe is buying really small, but uniformly sized red potatoes. I'm talking 1 to 1 1/2 inches max. My market happened to have these, but if your store only has big, 2-3 inchers, it will just be too big, I'm sorry. Baby yukons would probably work too, but I really dig the red skin on these. 

Panfried Smashed Potatoes

(c/o Gourmet) 

8-12 baby red potatoes

2–3 Tbsp oil

Parmesan cheese

Salt (preferably kosher), pepper, and freshly chopped parsley

Place the potatoes in a pot and cover them with water. Bring to a boil and cook until almost tender, about 10 minutes. Drain. 

On a cutting board (or right on your counter, you maverick) gently press the taters with a blunt surface. You want them to split and flatten, but not break into 15 pieces. You'll get the hang of it. A pancake-flipper will work, I used the side of my big knife. The recipe recommended a potato masher, but my taters slipped through the holes, and I didn't like that. 

Meanwhile, in a skillet, bring 2 Tbsp oil to med-hi heat. Place the potatoes in a single layer and let them cook 10 minutes on each side, until nice and crispy. Be sure to keep an eye on them--you may need to add more oil or lower the heat if they're browning too quickly. 

Off heat, generously season with salt and pepper and sprinkle parsley. Then even more generously coat them with parmey cheese. Serve immediately.