Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen

These beautiful piped Duchess Potatoes make the perfect accompaniment to any holiday dinner. The added advantage is that you can pipe them ahead of time onto the baking sheets and bake them right before dinner.

Duchess Potatoes are mashed potatoes that are flavored with butter, cream, nutmeg and egg yolks. The potato mixture is put in a pastry bag using a star tip. My Daughter-In-Law made these over the Thanksgiving holiday and our 9 year old Grandson loved them. He said the crispy edges made the mashed potatoes delicious.

All of us are scaling back this Christmas. But we can still enjoy good food and the love our families, even if it is at a distance.

Duchess Potatoes

• 2 pounds potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
• Salt
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 3 egg yolks

1 Boil the potatoes: Place potatoes in a medium to large pot (3 qt) and cover with a couple inches of cold water. Add a couple teaspoons of salt to the water. Bring to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are tender (the tines of a fork easily pierce), about 20-25 minutes.

2 Melt butter, preheat oven: While the potatoes are boiling, melt 2 tablespoons of butter and set aside. You will use this butter to coat the potatoes right before they go in the oven. Preheat the oven to 425°.

3 Drain potatoes and let them release steam: When the potatoes are cooked, drain in a colander and put the potatoes back in the pot set over low heat. Allow them to release steam for a minute or so.

4 Using a ricer, run the potatoes in batches through the device into a large bowl. Add 3 tablespoons of butter and mash the potatoes until the butter has been incorporated. Add the nutmeg, black pepper, heavy cream and continue gently stirring the potatoes.

Once everything is incorporated, add salt to taste and the egg yolks.

Continue to mix until the mixture is smooth. Do not over-mix or your potatoes will end up with a gluey consistency.

5 Pipe onto a baking sheet, brush with melted butter: Using a piping bag with a large star point, pipe the potatoes onto a cookie sheet. Alternatively, you can just fill a casserole dish with the mashed potatoes, and use a fork to create lots of peaks on the surface.

The swirled edges from the star-point piping bag forms or the peaks of mashed potatoes in a casserole dish will brown nicely in the oven. The browned parts taste great, so you want to maximize them.

Whether you make piped portions or a casserole, paint the potatoes with the melted butter.

6 Bake: Bake in the 425°F oven until nicely browned, about 20 minutes.

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Do ahead dishes are a necessity to me these days.  I no longer have the stamina to put in a four hour marathon pulling a company meal together.  I am all about freezer casseroles, dishes that can be assembled ahead and then baked at a leisurely pace.  These sweet and sour potatoes fit the bill.  They can be put together, held and baked when you are ready.

I apologize for being absent for the last few weeks.  No excuse other than we’ve been busy and cooking hasn’t been a priority.  But we have started to get into the swing of approaching summer.  The grill has been dusted off, the herb boxes are full and these potatoes would go well with anything you want to cook outside.

I have planted lots of basil, parsley, thyme and tarragon; some of my favorite herbs.  I love tarragon chicken, basil panzanella, thyme on braised pork and parsley on everything.  I found a fat sage plant with huge leaves and made a chicken saltimbocca which I hope to blog about soon.

You can see the lovely sage leaves near the middle of the above picture.

This recipe was slightly adapted from Pattie at the wonderful blog Ollie-Podridra.  It’s a keeper.

BAKED GERMAN POTATO SALAD

1 1/2 Pounds yukon  gold baby potatoes
4 strips of bacon
3 scallions, chopped (white and green parts)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup water, divided
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. celery seed
2 1/2 tsp. flour
Fresh parsley for garnish

Cook scrubbed potatoes in saucepan covered with water until just tender.  Drain.  When easy to handle, slice into chunks and place into a baking dish just large enough to hold them.

Cook bacon in a skillet until crisp.  Drain and reserve drippings.  Crumble bacon and set aside.  Sauté scallions in drippings for a few minutes.  Stir in brown sugar, 1/4 cup water and 1/4 cup vinegar, salt and celery seed.  Simmer uncovered for 5 to 10 minutes.

Combine flour and remaining 1/4 cup water until smooth.  Stir into onion mixture.  Bring to a boil and cook and stir until thickened.  Pour over potatoes.  Add bacon.  Gently stir to coat.

At this point you can set aside or refrigerate if not cooked on that day.

If refrigerated, bring to room temperature for about 30 minutes.  Bake uncovered at 350 degrees F. for 20 minutes or until heated through.  Sprinkle with fresh parsley.  Yield 4 servings.

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One of the harbingers of Spring for me is my get together with blogging buddy Penny of Enjoying the Simple Things.  While we were shopping my crock pot was ready and waiting to offer these herb flecked potato wedges to accompany David’s grilled meat and a quickly tossed salad.

Our first stop on our antiquing outing is always The Screen Door.  It is one of our favorite antique malls for unique finds.  This wire wall hanging was tempting, but we passed on it.

We saw this Chateauneuf du-pape bucket at another place.  I am now thinking that I should have bought this.  I can just see it filled with greenery or fresh or dried flowers.

Shopping works up at appetite and we always have lunch on the patio of Fig, our favorite French bistro. I ordered the very un-French Pappardelle Bolognese.  It was creamy and studded with delicious sausage.

Penny ordered the salmon with potatoes and fresh peas drizzled with a mustard cream sauce.  Fig does the best job with salmon.  It is always flaky and cooked to perfection.

It was good to come home to these tender and tasty potato wedges.  This recipe is good for a crowd too.  I love recipes that cook themselves so I can concentrate on other parts of a meal.

CROCK POT POTATO WEDGES (The Magical Slow Cooker)

• 3 lbs. small red potatoes (about 8 cups after being cut)
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• ¼ tsp. salt
• ¼ tsp. pepper
• 1 tsp. dried thyme
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• ¼ cup parmesan
• more parmesan for serving

1. Wash and cut the potatoes into wedges. Add to the slow cooker. In a small bowl mix together the olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, thyme and oregano. Pour this over the potatoes and stir. Sprinkle over the parmesan cheese.
2. Cover and cook on HIGH for 3 hours without opening the lid during the cooking time.
3. Sprinkle with additional cheese for serving if desired.

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There are many things to love about Thanksgiving.  One of my favorite things is the delicious side dishes.  No matter what you do to the turkey, it is still boring in my book.  But the sides can shine and make your table sparkle with vivid colors of orange in the sweet potatoes, red in the cranberry relish, and glistening green in beans or salads.

I love the idea of combining white and sweet potatoes.  This layered gratin can be partially made ahead which makes it a good side dish for Thanksgiving.  It also travels well if you are bringing a side dish to a hostess’s table.

This gratin is rich with shallots, Gruyere cheese, and cream.  Over the next few weeks I hope to post some more ideas for Thanksgiving side dishes.  We will be traveling for Thanksgiving, so hopefully a few of them may show up on our host’s table.

TWO POTATO GRATIN (Southern Living Magazine)

Before we left for Michigan and our 50th Anniversary celebration, I made these tasty roasted potatoes.  They will be made often.  You can use either freshly grated Parmesan cheese or the stuff in the jar.  They are flavored with garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, paprika and chili powder.  It is even suggested that you drizzle them with a sour cream dip.

We had meant to take our wedding album to our celebration, but when it came time to get it, it was no where to be found.  Luckily we had two pictures saved to our computer.  This is a picture of David and his Groomsmen.

Since three of the guys were able to attend the party, David decided to recreate the picture with our friend Moses standing in for Jack (second from the left).

 

We had the best time with everyone and David is still friends with all of these guys.

My cousin Susie was the only one of my bridesmaids able to attend.

These potatoes were crispy on the outside and tender within.  We loved them.

PARMESAN ROASTED POTATOES ( From 12 Tomatoes )

55 Minutes to Prepare, Serves 6

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 pounds baby potatoes, halved
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, finely grated
2 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon chili powder

Dip:
1/2 cup sour cream
1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
Fresh chives, finely chopped

PREPARATION

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. and grease baking dish with olive oil

In a small bowl, whisk together parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, garlic and onion powders, oregano, paprika and chili powder until combined.

Gradually sprinkle cheese mixture evenly over the oiled baking dish until it’s completely covered.

Place potatoes cut side down in a single layer on top of cheese mixture, pressing gently to make sure the cheese adheres to them.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until potatoes are fork tender and cheese is golden and crispy.

While potatoes cook, whisk together sour cream and lemon juice in a small bowl, adding lemon juice until desired tartness is reached.  Refrigerate until ready to use.

Remove baking pan from oven and let cool 5-10 minutes.

Serve hot drizzled with sour cream mixture.

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