Uninspired but good

"If the meal was too slim,

Papa went out in the kitchen

and fried a big panful of potatoes

to supplement it."

Gladys Taber

The Book of Stillmeadow

After 50-something years of cooking breakfasts I've become a little uninspired by the whole business. 

Especially when taking dairy out of the equation the last few years, or have RH suffer the consequences, I've about run out of ideas.

I wish I were a cereal eater. RH is perfectly happy with that and some fruit. Most mornings lately I just eat an egg open-face sandwich, on one piece of Great Harvest 100% whole wheat and it lasts me until a late lunch.

But Sunday breakfast should be special, even if it's only the two of us here to eat it. Otis and Milo used to get an egg every Sunday morning but the people we adopted BreeBree and James Mason from advised against it.

So this morning I just started slicing two big new potatoes while still in morning brain fog, plopped them in the pan and got out a bag of scallions, cleaned and sliced them and then went out on the kitchen porch to clip two jalapeños and sliced them. 

By the time when RH got up from his rare morning of sleeping in, I had the eggs stirred into the potatoes and told him breakfast was ready.

Yes, no toast, no meat, no fruit. Salsa was optional.

Probably sensing that I was not in a mood for any comments, he sat down and ate it.

And it was good. Uninspired but good.

Potatoes -- they complement!

I've had this old photograph in my collection for decades, marveling at how striking they are together, the tall brunette and the petite blonde.

They complement each other, I believe.

complement: combining in such a way as to

enhance or emphasize the qualities of

each other or another

And here's where I blatantly segue to the plebeian potato because nothing, absolutely nothing--not rice or cauliflower or couscous--complements as many entrees as a potato does.

Take ham, for instance.

[my current favorite ham recipe is from Billy Allin,

chef-owner of Cakes and Ale,

recipe found here

from Garden & Gun]

What goes perfectly with ham? Potato Salad!

"There is no such thing as really bad potato salad.

So long as the potatoes are not undercooked,

it all tastes pretty good to me."

Laurie Colwin

Potato salad is my hands down favorite pairing with ham--but only if it's homemade. I don't know what they put in store-bought potato salads to make them so awful but it's a crying shame.

My favorite potato salad recipe is based on a recipe from Southern Memories by Nathalie Dupree where the difference is in the technique--do not add mayonnaise until the next day! Pour equal amounts of olive oil and the best apple cider vinegar you can find over the cooked, cut potatoes while they're still hot, combined with chopped celery and onions, salt, pepper and celery salt and chill in the fridge overnight. The next day you add the mayonnaise and a couple tablespoons of sour cream if you want. Nathalie didn't call for this but I add a dozen chopped hardboiled eggs the next day too (to 5 pounds of cooked potatoes), along with sliced olives. 

With lots of chopped celery and onions and the eggs, I believe you cover all the basic food groups and so it becomes a healthy dish--that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

What's easier with fish than a baked potato?

I am a fish lover, especially wild caught Alaskan salmon and halibut, and fresh caught flounder, but I do love, even crave, fresh rainbow trout. It's a food memory that goes back to childhood where I always ordered it when Daddy took us out to eat at a nice (starched white tablecloth nice) restaurant, at first because he ordered it but then because I loved it.

Daddy liked it because he first tasted it cooked over a wood fire by a Carolina trout stream with his new grandfather-in-law. My great-grandfather didn't believe in sleeping in tents. Instead you slept on pine needles pushed together under the trees.

And when Grandpa told you to sleep on the ground, you slept on the ground. After all, in his heyday he was once a sheriff and a revenuer. Oh, the tales he told my father back when they were fishing buddies! But that's for another time.

Most of the time I prefer trout prepared simply with butter and lemon and chopped fresh parsley on top, but I served the rainbow trout above with a special sauce that's so good I can eat it by itself, something you can tell by the amount I dipped on top of my trout. 

Basically, from a recipe in my files that was probably from Bon Appetit, you fry some bacon, remove from pan and take out most of the bacon drippings, sauté 2 cups chopped red onion in the drippings, stir in 1/2 cup of golden raisins, 1/2 cup red wine vinegar and a scant tablespoon of sugar, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and bring to boil until reduced some, about a minute or two. Stir in bits of crumbled bacon and keep warm until serving on top of the trout you've broiled.

And who can resist a twice baked potato? Not I. 

Here's a link to the Pioneer Woman's recipe.

When we had a big group of family here a month or so ago I fixed Eugene Walter's recipe for oven-fried chicken, which is an easy way to serve chicken to a crowd when the weather's too bad to grill out.

Eugene Walter's Oven-fried Chicken from American Cooking: Southern Style, 1971.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Sprinkle salt, paprika and freshly ground black pepper on all sides of chicken pieces.
Put pieces in baking pan and scatter bits of butter evenly.
Cover the pan securely with aluminum foil and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes (for a large amount of chicken I cook them covered for 30-45 minutes).
Remove foil, raise oven temperature to 450 degrees and bake undisturbed for 30 minutes longer. (I love the "undisturbed" part and would never disturb my chicken.)
Turn chicken over with tongs, sprinkle with more bits of butter and bake uncovered for an additional 30 minutes.

With it I served Ruth Reichl's Crisp, Lemony Baby Potatoes,
recipe here. Extraordinary!

It should go without saying that almost any way of preparing beef is paired beautifully with potatoes. For our family, roast beef calls for potatoes, carrots and onions roasted in the broth with the roast. I do serve mashed potatoes when I make my Beer Braised Roast Beef but couldn't find a picture of that dish.

Speaking of mashed potatoes, cook extra for mashed potato patties the next day, pure comfort food!

[Mix 2 cups mashed potatoes with 1 cup milk, 4 beaten egg yolks, 1 cup plus a little extra of flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, salt to taste and some chopped scallions and 2 tablespoons melted butter. Beat the 4 egg whites until stiff and fold in. Cook patties in melted hot butter and serve hot.]

I could go on and on about potatoes, haven't even mentioned French fries. For a really good recipe for oven fries try this
Cook's Illustrated version.

I'd better stop now and instead think about what to put with an entree and potatoes. Unlimited possibilities exist but something green always complements them. And since it's so important to cook seasonally, there's not much better in springtime than asparagus.

RH and I prefer asparagus roasted for only 5 minutes, simply in olive oil, lemon juice, minced garlic and seasonings. And pencil thin if possible.

So there we have the plebeian potato, queen of tubers, that complements so many entrees, despite what M. F. K. Fisher writes:

"If, French fried, they make a grilled sirloin of beef taste richer; if, mashed and whipped with fresh cream and salty butter, they bridge the deadly gap between a ragout and a salad; if, baked and pinched open and bulging with mealy snowiness, they offset the fat spiced flavor of a pile of sausages--then and then alone should they be served."

While I adore M. F. K. Fisher, read her religiously, believe she's just as relevant today as when she wrote her unmatchable food prose, I do think she limited the poor potato with her three choices. But that's okay, I'd still rather have eaten one of her meals sitting in her kitchen than dining at any four-star restaurant.

But she really should have tasted my potato salad and ham.

"Although few realize it,

to be complementary is in itself a compliment.

It is a subtle pleasure,

like the small exaltation of a beautiful dark woman

who finds herself unexpectedly in the company

of an equally beautiful blonde."

M. F. K. Fisher from Serve It Forth

"MWAH" and Cauliflower Cheese Pie

"MWAH!"

Anyone else remember the kiss that Dinah Shore ended every show with?

I was in front of our first television set the whole hour when Dinah Shore was live on NBC in the evening, beginning in 1951, and didn't miss many until her show ended in 1961. I think I knew every word of "See the USA in Your Chevrolet" that she sang during each show.

After all, Nashville claimed her since she moved here when she was in the 5th grade and went on to graduate from Vanderbilt University in 1938, the school's first Jewish cheerleader. 

I remain a Dinah Shore fan and use her cookbook constantly. One of my favorite recipes is for her daughter Melissa's Cauliflower Cheese Pie. I'm not crazy about cauliflower, folks. I'm a potato lover. But this pie has a potato crust. 

Winner!

I made two of these pies on July 4th, using goat cheese and lactose free milk for RH's, so I almost doubled Dinah's recipe.

First I went to my pots of herbs on the kitchen porch and picked a big bunch of herbs, basil, parsley and thyme. Washed them and the cauliflower.

Then grated a pile of peeled russet potatoes. I don't have room on my kitchen counters to keep my food processor out now so decided to do these by hand, only took about 20 minutes.

Put them in a colander to let moisture drip out while preparing the vegetables. 

Chop an onion for the filling and grate an extra 1/4th cup of onion to add to the potatoes for the crust. 

Melt butter in a skillet and add the chopped onion to cook while you cut the cauliflower in small florets. Mince a clove or two of garlic and chop your herbs.

Add the cauliflower, garlic and herbs to the onions.

Add salt and fresh ground black pepper if you wish--I do. Cauliflower is bland and needs seasoning. Cook the cauliflower mixture, covered, for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Oil or grease a 9" pie pan. Add about 1/2 teaspoon of salt to the potatoes and grated onion in a bowl, stir in 1 egg, beaten. 

Then build your potato crust with your fingers, pressing up along side of pie pan as well as the bottom. Sprinkle with paprika. Bake about 40 minutes, I got my small one too brown. It does have to cook again later and will brown more then.

Mix your custard: 2 eggs, beaten and 1/4 cup milk, add 1/2 teaspoon salt and freshly ground black pepper. 

Spread about 3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese in bottom of crust, pour the cooked cauliflower mix on top of the cheese, top with about 3/4 cup more grated cheese on top.

Then pour the custard on top of that and dust with paprika.

Bake 35-40 minutes or until set. 

That last picture was terrible but the Cauliflower Cheese Pie was delicious!

What other recipes are favorites of mine from The Dinah Shore Cookbook?

A to-die-for Salmon Mousse on Molded Cucumber Salad

Sea Sandwiches that take tuna fish out of the ordinary

Oliver's Potatoes

Toad in the Hole

Broccoli Rice Casserole

Picadillo with Rice and Black Beans

Spanish Rice, I could make a meal on this

Breads, breads, breads and a sourdough recipe almost as good as Mama's

Desserts, desserts, desserts

In addition to great recipes, there are little tidbits about her friends,

        like Telly. Do you remember Telly Savalas? "Who loves ya, baby?"

I loved Telly and his family recipe for Avgolemono is in this cookbook,

          pure comfort food.

I sometimes wonder about the label "comfort food." I mean, shouldn't all food be comfort food. If any food is not comfort food I think we need to find a way to make it better. 

A salad can be made awesome enough to be comfort food.

Even bran muffins can be comfort food--put streusel topping on it, for pete's sake! 

Should food be a chore to eat? What do you say? I say heaven forbid!

I bet Dinah would agree with me.