Mini Twice-Baked Potatoes

Twice-baked potatoes are so retro but so good! For my mom's birthday, I decided to make them in mini red potatoes for the cute factor. These would make great appetizers or a side dish for company, since you can make them ahead of time and reheat.

Mini Twice-Baked Potatoes

18 mini red potatoes
1/4 cup milk
1 stick of butter, softened
1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese (more to taste)
1/2 cup sour cream (more to taste)
paprika, salt, and pepper

Note: If you bake another russet potato along with the red potatoes, you'll be able to make more overstuffed twice-baked potatoes.

Bake potatoes at 350 for 45-60 minutes. Remove from oven when tender. When cool enough to handle, cut a thin lid from the top of each potato. Using a small teaspoon, scoop out the inside of the potato, leaving a half-inch border from the edge. Remove all the potato insides to a medium size mixing bowl. To the bowl, add the milk, butter, sour cream, cheese, salt and freshly ground black pepper. Mix to combine. Taste and add more sour cream or cheese if needed.

Spoon filling back into potatoes. If you want to make them fancy, you can do what I did in the photo above and put the potato mixture in a cake decorating bag. Use a star tip to fill the potatoes. Sprinkle tops with paprika and return to the oven. Bake until golden.

Baked Tomatoes with Feta

I should have posted this recipe in the summer, but in case you can still find any good tomatoes, here's a great lunch or side dish. You can serve it with crusty bread to mop up the juices.

Baked Tomatoes with Feta

2 flavorful tomatoes, sliced

1/4 - 1/2 cup feta, crumbled

Olive oil, salt, and pepper

fresh basil leaves, julienned

Place tomatoes in one layer in a baking dish. Scatter feta on top and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until tomatoes are blistery and juices are released. Top with basil and serve.

French-Style Crudités with Blue Cheese Dip

According to this site, vegetables and dip in France are a bit different. The vegetables are often untrimmed - the carrots and celery have leaves attached, etc. Also, the vegetables are tossed with a vinaigrette before you dip them into a sauce. The vinaigrette makes a huge difference in taste - it adds another layer of flavor other than just the dip. Of course, it's a bit messier to eat, though the French wouldn't eat with their fingers anyway! If you don't want to make the vinaigrette from scratch, try tossing vegetables in your favorite dressing before serving with dip. And think outside the usual veggies: in addition to grape tomatoes, carrots, red bell pepper, and celery, I also used lightly steamed green beans, radishes, and sliced zucchini.

Crudités with Blue Cheese Dip

Assorted vegetables, cleaned and sliced (lightly steam cruciferous vegetables like green beans, broccoli, and cauliflower)

Vinaigrette

¼ cup olive oil

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

½ teaspoon honey

Dash of grated shallot (maybe ¼ small shallot, if that) - I used a bit of grated onion

Salt and pepper

Blue Cheese Dip

3 ounces blue cheese, crumbled

½ cup mayonnaise

½ cup crème fraîche (I used sour cream)

1 clove garlic, grated

Salt and pepper

1. Put all the vinaigrette ingredients into a mini food processor, and whirl until emulsified. (I shook the ingredients in a jar.)
2. Trim the vegetables as desired, and toss with just enough vinaigrette to coat.
3. Stir all the ingredients for the Roquefort sauce together, and decant into a decorative bowl.
4. Arrange the vegetables in a mason or jam jar or bowl, and serve alongside the Roquefort sauce.

Sweet Corn Pudding

Yum! This is a great summery side dish. I was thinking it would be like sweet corn cake, but with only 2 tablespoons of flour, it was definitely more corn than cake. I did use the cream called for in the recipe, but you could substitute regular evaporated milk, half and half, or whole milk. You could also use egg substitute. But if you make it for a crowd, everyone will only get a few tablespoons, so you might as well make the original recipe. This is great with pork barbecue or burgers. The orginal source is Epicurious.

If you have a food processor, this is really easy. If you don't, use a mini chopper or blender to chop the corn, then mix ingredients with a hand or stand mixer. Fresh corn cut off the cob would be delicous in this recipe. You can make it ahead of time, because it tastes great heated up the next day.

Sweet Corn Pudding

4 cups frozen corn kernels (about 19 ounces), thawed
4 large eggs
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup whole milk
6 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, room temperature
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt


Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 8x8x2-inch glass baking dish. Blend all ingredients in processor until almost smooth. Pour batter into prepared dish. Bake pudding until brown and center is just set, about 45 minutes. Cool 10 minutes; serve.

Roasted Carrots

I was going to make a salad tonight, but I have a huge bag of carrots in the refrigerator, so I decided to make roasted carrots. The boys prefer vegetables raw, but they'll eat some roasted veggies. I read somewhere that Julia Child said that nothing is worse than grilled vegetables. I don't understand that! Of course, she also boiled bacon, so I can see that she and I would have some divergent culinary tastes (not that I can compare myself to the woman who made French cuisine accessible to America!). How can you not love her? She advised, "If you are afraid of butter, use cream."

Anyway, Julia would not have enjoyed our carrots, but we loved them as usual. Did you know you really don't need to peel carrots unless you are eating them raw? Maybe everyone knew that except me. I never peel carrots that I am going to cook anymore, and no one notices. I do scrub them well, and if you are concerned about pesticides, it would be best to use organic or peel conventional ones.

Great roasted vegetables require olive oil and relatively high heat. Those elements make them irresistibly lush and caramelized. You want them a little bit blackened!

Roasted Carrots

6 carrots, scrubbed

2 T. olive oil

salt and pepper

Trim the ends off the carrots. Cut them in half the long way and then into 1-2 inch pieces. Toss them with olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Roast them in a single layer on a cookie sheet/jelly roll pan at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, until they are tender and slightly blackened. To make cleanup easier, line the pan with aluminum foil before cooking. Serves 3-4.

Summer Corn Chowder and Grilled Corn on the Cob

We had some leftover grilled corn on the cob, and my favorite thing to do with that is make corn chowder. My mother had some and liked it so much that she asked me to post the recipe.

We make corn on the cob many different ways: boiled, steamed, microwaved, and grilled. Some people even bake it in the oven! There is a controversy when grilling corn over leaving some of the husks and soaking vs. peeling the corn entirely. This summer we've been making our corn like this, and we love it. Without any husks, the corn is truly grilled and not steamed.

Grilled Corn on the Cob

Shuck as many ears as desired. Mix together softened butter, salt, and pepper. Brush it lightly on the corn. Grill on medium, turning from time to time. It will take about 8-10 minutes to get tender and slightly charred. Some people eat it with additional butter, but I like it right off the grill.

Summer Corn Chowder (inspired by epicurious.com)

6 slices bacon, chopped I always use center cut, which is less fatty
5-6 cups fresh corn kernels(cut from 6 to 8 ears)
1 1/2 cups chopped onion or leeks
1 cup sliced peppers - any colors
1 cup 1/2-inch cubes peeled russet potatoes
3 cups (or more) low-salt chicken broth
1/2 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives or green onions
Optional: splash of cream or half and half

Sauté bacon in large pot over medium-high heat until crisp and brown. Using slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towels to drain. Add corn, onion, peppers, and potatoes to drippings in pot; sauté 5 minutes. Add 3 cups broth and simmer uncovered over medium heat until vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. Transfer 3 cups soup to blender. Holding blender top firmly, puree until smooth. (An immersion blender works great.) Return puree to soup in pot. Stir in milk and cayenne. Bring chowder to simmer, thinning with more broth if too thick. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add a splash of cream if using. Ladle chowder into bowls and sprinkle with bacon and chives.

Cooking Week - Jack (and Ben) cook dinner

This week is Cooking and Science week at our house. I asked Jack what he wanted to learn to cook and he said, "Cookies. And bacon." Who could blame him? Well, today we started one science experiment (growing crystals on river rocks) and the boys made dinner. It was great!

Menu:

Tilapia stuffed with lobster and breadcrumbs

Salty fingerling potatoes*

Salad

Mango-blueberry fool*

*recipe below

What, you don't wear a superhero costume when you cook?

Salty Fingerling Potatoes

Chez Carnes, we have a high tolerance for salty food. If you don't, these potatoes will probably be a bit much for you. You could probably increase the water or decrease the salt. Regardless, these potatoes are irresistible, even without butter. This is Alton Brown's technique.

1 1/4 lb. kosher salt (Morton is saltier than Diamond)

2 qts. water

2 lbs. fingerling potatoes, cleaned (I think small red potatoes would be great, too)

Put all ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil. Cook until tender when poked with a fork, about 20-25 minutes. Immediately remove from water and place on drying rack. The excess salt will crystallize and look like frost on the potatoes. You can toss with butter, cheese, chives, pepper, etc., but they are delicious plain - very buttery tasting with salty, earthy skins.

Mango/Blueberry Fool

My boys and I love fruit. I was counting just for fun tonight and realized that just today they've had strawberries, bananas, grapes, mango, and blueberries throughout the day. When I took out some frozen mango chunks so we could make this dessert, they started eating them right out of the bag, despite how cold they were. When I finally closed the bag, Ben said, "Mommy, that's my favorite, favorite food."

This recipe is based on one from http://www.epicurious.com/.

1-2 cups mango chunks

2 T. sugar

2 T. lime juice

pinch salt

1/2 cup cream or milk or yogurt

1 1/2 cup blueberries

Blend mango chunks, sugar, lime juice, and pinch of salt until smooth. Add enough cream, etc., to create a pourable consistency. Pour mango mixture into bowl and mix in blueberries. Pour into 4-6 small glasses. Chill for half an hour and garnish with blueberreies and lime zest before serving.

Pacific Northwest Gourmet Club

I mentioned in an earlier dinner club post that the night I hosted had a Pacific Northwest theme. While that was several months ago now, I've been wanting to post the details and a recipe.

(I can't figure out how to get my picture horizontal; it is before I attach it!)

I was inspired by a book, Timberline Lodge Cookbook, given to me by my brother- and sister-in-law a few years ago. It's from a lodge on a slope of Mt. Hood, Oregon, and it looks lovely. The food in the cookbook favors seafood, vegetables, berries, herbs, and hazelnuts. Here is our menu.

Pre-dinner: Tillamook cheddar cheese and grapes. My friend Kaeley from college was from Oregon, and she always raved about Tillamook cheese.

Amuse bouche: Shrimp with a remoulade sauce. The remoulade is not very Northwestern, but I like it better than cocktail sauce. I served two shrimp hanging on a shot glass filled with sauce. It was really cute; the shrimp make a heart shape, so it would be nice for Valentine's day.

First Course: Creamy Gazpacho. Wow, was this good! I think it may have been the hit of the night. I was so happy to have leftovers. It's a great warm-weather cold soup. The olive oil and sour cream make it more decadent than typical gazpacho. I served it in glass bowls stored in the freezer. Recipe below.

Main Course: Poached salmon with hollandaise and raspberry sauce, hazelnut wild rice pilaf, and glazed carrots. The carrots were cut matchstick sized and tied with a green onion into little packages, which added to the cute factor as well.

Dessert: Hood River Pear and Hazelnut Tart. This dessert was truly labor intensive but delicious. The tart pastry was lined with chocolate ganache, then layered with an almond paste/butter/egg/sugar/toasted ground hazelnut mixture, topped with poached pear slices and sugar, and glazed with hot apricot preserves. I seemed to have too much filling for my tart pan, so it wasn't as pretty as the picture, but it tasted amazing anyway.

It was a fun night! I think the four children took out every toy in the house while we were eating.

Here is the recipe for the creamy gazpacho. I'm going to make it again this weekend. I'll try half the oil this time, but most of the ingredients are so low-calorie that the overall profile isn't bad.

Sauvie Island Creamy Gazpacho

Serves 8

1 cucumber, peeled and diced
1 green onion, minced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 bell pepper, diced

1 bunch parsley or cilantro, chopped

1 T. honey

1 T. chopped fresh dill or 2 t. dried

4 cups tomato juice

1 c. sour cream or plain yogurt

salt and pepper to taste

juice of 2 lemons

1/2 cup olive oil

garnish with fresh chives

Combine all of the ingredients except the chives in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Garnish with chives. Serve very cold.

Carrot Souffle

This side dish is not a true souffle, but it's delicious anyway, fresh or reheated. I often make it along with roast chicken and potatoes when I make a meal for a new mom or someone who is ill. The recipe is adapted from Cooking Light. I thought the original was too sweet: carrots are quite sweet and don't need as much sugar as the recipe indicated.

Carrot Souffle

7 cups chopped carrot (about 2 pounds)
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 350°.

Cook carrots in boiling water 15 minutes or until very tender; drain. Place carrot in a food processor; process until smooth. Add granulated sugar and next 7 ingredients (granulated sugar through eggs); pulse to combine.

Spoon mixture into a 2-quart baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 40 minutes or until puffed and set.