Cheesy Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes [What's Cooking: Festive '12]

The last recipe from Kraft's 2012 Holiday season What's Cooking Magazine is what looks like a reasonably straightforward mashed potato recipe - the catch being that it's meant to be made ahead and then reheated instead of eaten straight out of the pot while being told to leave some for the rest of the guests.

Cookbook Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs Yukon gold potatoes (about 6)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup shredded old cheddar cheese (being a branded recipe, they wanted Cracked Barrel but since there's literally no difference, I went for the brand I already had in the fridge)
• 1/4 cup Miracle Whip
• 1 green onion, sliced

Following the cookbook recipe exactly:

1. Peel the potatoes and cut into chunks. Boil in a large pot 15-20 minutes, until tender.

2. Mash potatoes, then stir in the milk, cheese, Miracle Whip, and green onion.

3. Refrigerate until ready to serve, then spoon into a microwaveable bowl and microwave on High 5-7 minutes, until heated through, stirring occasionally. (This is presumably for the entire dish).

The Outcome:

I really like mashed potatoes, but I  normally make it with just milk and butter. I tasted this three ways - hot out of the pot, cold from the fridge, and microwaved after cooling as the recipe suggested. Hot out of the pot, the combination of the Miracle Whip and the fresh green onion gave it a flavour similar to potato salad. It was also distinctly smooth and creamy, and generally pretty nice. Eating it cold out of the fridge was, well, cold mashed potatoes. I like cold mashed potatoes. However, reheating it according to the recipe gives you something distinctly different from hot out of the pot - the green onion has lost most of its flavour by then, and the texture turns into something almost too creamy and liquid. It wouldn't be able to hold a gravy pool like this, which is clearly a serious problem when it comes to mashed potatoes!

Cauliflower, Eggplant, and Potato in Herb Sauce (Sabzi Korma) [Classic Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking]

First up from the Classic Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking is sabzi korma, a northern Indian dish with the cumbersome English name "Cauliflower, Eggplant, and Potato in Herb Sauce". I like the big spread of spices involved - that's a good sign in my books. The use of almonds is new to me, but I like where this idea is going.

Cookbook Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 6 tbsp light vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cups minced onion (pretty much one medium-large onion exactly)
• 2 tsp minced garlic (about 1 or 2 cloves)
• 2 tbsp grated or crushed fresh ginger
• 1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro
• 1/4 cup ground blanched almonds
• 1 tbsp ground coriander seed
• 1/2 tsp ground fennel (I could only find whole fennel, so I ground my own)
• 1/2 tsp cayenne
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 cup canned tomato paste
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 cauliflower, about 2 lbs, cut into 1.5 inch florets
• 1 small eggplant, about 1/2 lb, cut into 1.5 inch cubes
• 2 medium potatoes, about 1/2 lb, cut into 1.5 inch cubes
• 1 1/2 tsp ground roasted cumin seeds or garam masala
• 2 tsp coarse salt or to taste (oddly, the salt doesn't come up in the recipe)
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds (toast sesame seeds in a dry pan until brown)

Following the cookbook exactly:

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Add the onion and fry, stirring, until browned (about 10 minutes). Add the garlic and ginger and cook for 2 minutes. Add the cilantro and almonds, and cook for 2 more minutes.

2. Add the coriander seed, fennel, cayenne, and turmeric and "let sizzle for a few seconds." Add the tomato and paprika, drop the heat to low, and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

3. Add the water, cauliflower, eggplant, and potatoes and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes.

4. Turn off the heat, stir in the garam masala / cumin (and apparently the salt, since the salt isn't mentioned in this recipe?)  Let stand, covered, for 30 minutes to let the flavours blend. Top with the sesame seeds.

The Outcome:

This is pretty good! It's different from a lot of korma I've had before - it's not as heavily spiced as I was expecting, but the flavours blend really nicely - especially the fennel with the toastiness of the browned onion/sesame seeds/almonds. I'm not sure if the spices have been toned down a bit for the Western market or if it's meant be more delicately flavoured, though it's not bland. There were only two points that weren't entirely clear - what to do with the salt, and what temperature to eat it at - since after 30 minutes of sitting on the stove it's lukewarm at best.

Exotic Potato Pudding [Cooking For One]

Oh yeah, time to get into the weird stuff. Pineapple + oranges + potato. Yes, potato. I apparently this isn't meant to be a dessert either - it's in the "vegetarian meal" section of the Cooking For One cookbook. It's also partially cooked in the microwave, and oddly for this cookbook, makes more than just one portion.

Cookbook Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 9 oz (255g) cooked potatoes
• Finely grated rind of 1 orange
• 1/2 orange, peeled
• 1/2 small pineapple, peeled (I prefer the term "butchered")
• 3 1/2 oz (99g) canned mandarins
• 3 tbsp mandarin juice from the can
• salt
• 1 tbsp butter

Following the cookbook recipe exactly:

1. Cut the potatoes into thin strips, sprinkle with the orange rind, and mix. Slice the orange and pineapple. Layer the potatoes, orange, pineapple, and mandarins in a greased microwaveable dish, top with a layer of potatoes. The potatoes are going to get a bit crumbly because, well, cooked potatoes.

2. Put the mandarin juice, butter, and a dash of salt in a bowl and microwave on high for 1 minute. Pour over the potatoes.

What am I doing with my life

3. Microwave the dish for 4-5 minutes.

The Outcome:

What the hell am I eating? It doesn't taste bad per se, but it's very, very weird. It's warm citrus and pineapple, but then suddenly there's a piece of potato. The weirdness is compounded since there aren't any spices in here, it's just fruit and potato. The good news is potato is such a neutral flavour, so it's more just weird than bad. I think I'm having some kind of dissonance with this, because I did eat seconds of this, but I still can't really wrap my head around it.

Light My Fire Potato-Parsnip Latkes [The Veggie-Lover's Sriracha Cookbook]

I figured I'd pick a recipe from the vegan Sriracha cookbook that's a bit more seasonal - something containing one of my favourite root veggies - parsnips! At first glance, this latke recipe is a bit different - the normal use of egg and flour to hold the potato together has been swapped for mashed parsnip. While it looks good on paper, we'll have to see if the texture holds itself together.

Cookbook Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 3 large parsnips
• 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for frying
• 2 large russet potatoes
• 1 bunch green onions, green part only, sliced diagonally (they cookbook doesn't specify how thinly they should be sliced, but I tried to keep them reasonably fine)
• 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf Italian parsley (I had to make a necessary compromise with regular parsley because that's all the grocery store had and I wasn't bicycling through a rainstorm to find a single bunch of Italian parsley. Sue me.)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup Sriracha
• salt and pepper to season

The cookbook recommends vegan sour cream or applesauce as optional toppings.

Following the cookbook recipe exactly:

1. Bring 1/2 inch of water (an oddly specific amount for this) to a simmer over medium. Dice two of the parsnips (the cookbook doesn't specific if you peel them or not, but parsnips can be kinda grubby and hairy, so I took that as unspoken) and simmer in the water for five minutes, until fork-tender.

Goopy goodness

2. Drain the parsnips and pat dry with a clean towel or paper towel. What the cookbook does not mention is that these parsnips will still be incredibly hot, so good luck if you use a paper towel. Put the parsnips in a blender and while the blender is running, dribble in the 2 tbsp of olive oil, processing until smooth. The blender will goop up at this, but fortunately scraping down the sides with a spatula helps blend the mashed parsnips as well as the blades do.

3. Since this recipe makes several batches of latkes, the cookbook recommends you preheat your oven to 200F and put a wire rack on a tray or a foil lined baking sheet in the oven to transfer your latkes to as you cook them in order to keep them warm. I did do this step, but since I'm just cooking for myself and planning to refrigerate the leftovers, it's wasn't super necessary for me.

Take THAT

4. Peel and grate the remaining parsnip and the potatoes. Squeeze the grated roots by hand in a strainer over the sink to press out as much water as possible.

5. In a large bowl, mix the grated roots, the mashed parsnips, green onions, parsley, garlic, and Sriracha. Mix well and season.

6. Heat about 1/4 inch oil in a large skillet to a high heat. Take about 1/4 cup of mixture and form it into flat patties about 1/2 inch thick. Fry in the oil for 4 minutes each side, until crisp and dark brown. Keep warm in the oven as you fry more batches. The cookbook doesn't mention it, but you likely will have to add more oil between batches.

The Outcome:

So shiny!

Man, I don't know. Hot out the pan, the taste is pretty good. There is a distinct parsnip flavour that goes well with the Sriracha. However, the consistency is a bit off - the mashed parsnip doesn't hold it together as well as it should, and despite the high heat and the straining, these are soggier and oilier than normal latkes. I'm havering about these - I like the idea of parsnip and Sriracha latkes. I would probably remake these with egg and flour added - unfortunately the egg destroys the whole vegan intention of this recipe.

Kale and Potato Soup with Turkey Sausage [Quick from Scratch Chicken, Turkey & Cornish Hens]

The final recipe from Quick from Scratch's poultry cookbook! I finally got a turkey recipe in - this kale, potato, and turkey sausage soup - it's really hard to find turkey outside of Thanksgiving, but I found what I was looking for. I was originally going to do a different turkey sausage recipe, but it included grits, which are almost impossible to find in Canada - they're just not eaten here. But out here is kale country - between the frost-free winters and the general hippiness of Victoria - there's always huge amounts of locally grown kale. This recipe is basically caldo verde, a traditional Portuguese soup, just with turkey sausage instead of Portuguese sausage.

Cookbook Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 lb turkey or chicken sausage (I took the liberty of getting spicy sausage)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, in thin slices
• 1 quart water (I had to look up the conversion, it's about 950mL)
• 2 cups canned low-sodium chicken broth or homemade stock
• 1 1/2 tsp salt (...for the low-sodium broth.)
• 1 1/2 lb "boiling potatoes" (I picked up some nice yellow ones), peeled and cut into 1/4 inch pieces
• Pinch dried red pepper flakes (I made it a generous pinch)
• 1 lb kale, stems removed, leaves shredded (do you know how much one pound of kale is? Just put as much kale as you can into your arms, and then add more on top)
• 1/4 tsp fresh-ground black pepper

I am the Kale Queen.

Following the cookbook recipe exactly:

1. In a large pot, heat the oil over a moderately low heat. Add the sausage and cook, turning, until browned - about 10 minutes. This turned out to be not enough time to cook the sausages completely - they were still raw in the centre. However, they do get boiled later.

Definitely still squidgy on the inside

2. Remove the sausages and let cool. Once you can handle them, cut them into slices. The recipe says to pour off all but 1 tbsp of fat, but these sausages didn't really release any - there was still the original tbsp of oil and that was about it.
 
3. Add the onion to the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until it's translucent - 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more. Add the water, broth, and salt and bring the soup to a boil.

A "pinch" of chili flakes

4. Add the sausage, potatoes, pepper flakes, and bring back to a simmer. Cook, partially covered for 2 minutes.

It better boil down, I'm just saying.

5. Add the kale (it DOES boil down!) and bring back to a boil. Simmer, partially covered, until potatoes are cooked, about 6 minutes. Add the black pepper.

The Outcome:

This is probably the first one that looks close to the cookbook picture. It's pretty tasty! The sausages cooked up just fine in the soup, and the flavours are basic but work well. I'm glad I did the not-quite-substitute of using spicy turkey sausage and being generous on my pinch of chili pepper - if I made it again I would probably put 2 tbsp at least of the chilies into the soup - not enough to make it "spicy", but enough to give it a slight zip. It's a pretty hearty and straightforward recipe and makes a ton of soup.