Lentil & Potato Curry Recipe

When I saw the Lentil & Potato Curry recipe in Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian cookbook I thought it would be a budget friendly recipe. I can't seem to shake the idea that potatoes are inexpensive. The truth is, they are not. Organic potatoes, the only ones I could find at Whole Foods, were $1.49 a pound. One large potato? About a pound. But potatoes are high in Vitamin C and B6 and leaving the skin on provides good fiber so they are a good pick when it comes to nutrition. I don't know about you, but I can barely cook anything without onions and garlic. I couldn't help but notice Bittman's recipe was missing those two crucial ingredients so I added them. I was able to get away with buying a very small portion of lentils in the bulk section. Sometimes buying a larger package is more economical but in this case it wouldn't have saved me any money. Can half a cup of lentils and one potato serve two people? In this recipe it can. Lentil a......

Continue reading

Double Stuffed Baked Potato Recipe

David Lebovitz and I should never go out to dinner together. Why? Because I have a wandering fork. I love sharing food for several reasons. First of all, I can rarely decide what I want, so sharing generally means I get to try more than one thing. Also I fear I have bad ordering karma and will choose the worst thing on the menu and be stuck with it if I don't share. Finally, I don't like massive portions so sharing also helps me keep from eating way more than I want. A few years ago there was a diner that was known for serving gigantic portions and my mother and I used to share a double stuffed baked potato and salad. It was one of those potatoes that was way over a pound to begin with and then it had loads of vegetables in it. It probably wasn't as healthy as I like to believe it was. The restaurant and the potato are long gone now but for years I have tried to recreate it. This latest version is my best effort to date. My double stuffed potato is really just a formu......

Continue reading

Mustard Roasted Potatoes: Recipe

In addition to being an absolute pasta freak, I am passionate about potatoes. I could eat pasta everyday and potatoes, probably every other day. I love them every which way. A number of years ago Oprah's personal chef at the time wrote a cookbook called In the Kitchen with Rosie . It was a huge bestseller and featured very low fat recipes. There were some good recipes and techniques in the book. One of the recipes that made a big impression on me was called Mustard Roasted Potatoes. The Mustard Roasted Potato recipe was red potatoes tossed with Dijon mustard, cumin, paprika, chili and cayenne. The potatoes roast in the oven and become all crusty and delectable. It's a great technique and can be endlessly varied. I've incorporated plain yogurt, fresh herbs, and different kinds of mustard. I like the Moroccan mustard from Dulcet Cuisine for this recipe because it has so much flavor you don't need to add any additional spices, but feel free to experiment and try any sp......

Continue reading

Pear Pecorino Potato Soup: Recipe

I know what you're thinking. What kind of still life is that? In addition to being a study in ingredients that start with the letter "P"; pear, potatoes, pecorino and pepper are also the main ingredients in a most delicious soup. You don't have to look hard to find a number of recipes featuring the combination of pear and the dry Italian sheep's milk cheese, pecorino. What's truly amazing is the range of recipes. Salads are an obvious choice, and there are sandwiches too. But how about ravioli from Lidia Bastianich? Ice cream from David Lebovitz ? The sweetness of the pear is complemented by the sharpness of the cheese and amazingly it works as well hot as it does cold. The combination is so good, it can make you rethink the ubiquity of those other classic combos like peanut butter and jelly or macaroni and cheese. I mean, you don't see peanut butter and jelly salad or macaroni and cheese ice cream! If any molecular gastronomists are reading please,......

Continue reading

Instant Potato Gnocchi: Recipe

It should come as no surprise that I never jumped on the low-carb bandwagon. How could I? My idea of heaven is a big plate of potato gnocchi smothered in tomato sauce and with a slight crust of baked Parmesan and unctuous mozzarella. You've got to admit, a gratin of gnocchi is awfully enticing. Gnocchi has pretty much been my nemesis. I just can't seem to make them as light and fluffy as they are at my neighborhood Italian restaurant. I've tried the packaged varieties. Yuck. I've tried mixes with some success. And I've tried countless recipes--baking the potatoes on a bed of rock salt, steaming the potatoes, fanning them. And then it dawned on me, if the problem is getting the potatoes dry enough, why not start with actual dry potatoes? Instant mashed potatoes! I bought a box and started experimenting. I wish I could say that this recipe is entirely original. But I got the idea in my head and promptly found I wasn't the only one. On the internet there are a......

Continue reading

Potato Zucchini Pancakes Recipe

Zucchini is a lovely green color. It is low in calories. It is relatively inexpensive and easy, perhaps too easy, to grow. Large ones are good for stuffing. Their flowers are beautiful and delicate and also good for stuffing. That is the sum of nice things I can say about zucchini. Apologies to Clotilde at Chocolate & Zucchini , but I don't much care for zucchini. Zucchini has hardly any nutritional value in part because it is over 95% water. The texture is dull and flavor is bland. Summer squash in general is watery but this can be an asset when cooking something that needs extra moisture, like a cake. Shredding zucchini also gives you pretty flecks of color. You can use it in both sweet and savory recipes to add color and moisture. My favorite ways to eat zucchini are in a sweet zucchini bread or added to potato pancakes. It softens up the texture and makes them colorful. Which is about all you can ask from zucchini. My recipe for Potato Zucchini Pancakes is unusual in t......

Continue reading

Fresh Herb Potato Salad Recipe

What do Jerusalem artichokes, horseradish and dandelion greens have in common? You'll never guess. Each has a name that is an English version of a foreign name. The Jerusalem artichoke is a variety of sunflower, and the name is derived from "girasole" which means sunflower in Italian. Horseradish is "meerrettich" in German and because "meer" sounds like "mare" the English called it horseradish. Dandelion comes from the French "dent de lion" or lion's tooth, in reference to the jagged leaves of this bitter yet tasty weed. Like horseradish, dandelion has quite a bite to it. It can be eaten raw or cooked and like other leafy greens, it is a good source of vitamin A, calcium and iron. But frankly, I'd never cooked with it until this weekend. I found a Jamie Oliver recipe for a potato salad using chopped dandelion greens and I also heard raves about a potato salad with chopped fresh mint, so I decided to combine the two. Un......

Continue reading

Leek & Potato Soup Recipe

If I told you that I had a fabulous soup recipe with only three ingredients in it, would you believe me? Leeks, potatoes and water or chicken broth. Oh and a little butter to saute the leeks in, that's it. It seems to be a mantra these days that by using the best ingredients one really doesn't need to do much to turn out a great meal. Leek and potato soup epitomizes this thinking. You can add milk or cream or top it off with a dollop of sour cream if you want to fancy it up, but it's really not necessary. Based on my own research (which is corroborated by the reviews of other cooks who have reacted to the multitude of leek & potato soup recipes posted on epicurious.com ) complicated preparations with more ingredients tend to distract rather than enhance. There is something so comforting about leek and potato soup. Its pale matte green color is comforting. Its smell is comforting. And of course the taste, mellow oniony leeks and potatoes combined together in a thic......

Continue reading

Samosas Recipe

I always assumed samosas were Indian. They're one of the most popular snacks in India. Here in the US, just about every Indian restaurant has samosas on the menu, listed under appetizers. While I assumed they came from India, I have read that they actually come from the Middle East or Central Asia, where early versions were filled with dried fruit, nuts and lamb in medieval times. There is a similar cheese filled pastry called sambusek found throughout the Middle East today. In fact, samosas are popular well beyond India and the Middle East, and there are versions all over the world including places like Africa and the Caribbean. A French version is spelled "samoussa" and is sometimes filled with chicken, fish or shrimp. Recipes for samosas vary greatly. At the most basic, they are a crispy pastry, in the form of a triangle, filled with either spiced potatoes and peas or ground lamb. But they also come with cheese fillings and other types of vegetables as well. There ......

Continue reading