Hasselback Potatoes with Chive Sour Cream

I wanted something new to do with potatoes--I love mashed, fried, boiled, roasted, baked, grilled, and shredded potatoes as much as the next person, but some days you just want something a little different.

I had these cute little potatoes ready to be turned into something new, and I settled on hasselback potatoes.

Hasselback potatoes are whole potatoes that have cuts going the entire length of the potato. You need to be careful not to cut through the whole potato, though--by keeping the potato whole, you'll have a nice series of slices but still an entire tater.

Cutting is really the most difficult part of this. You need to get a "feel" of how far is too far to cut. I cut until I start feeling resistance from the potato--then I stop. If you go any farther, you'll likely cut through the whole potato.

Here's what the potato should look like when you're done. I made cuts probably about every 1/4 inch.

If you do accidentally cut all the way through, just smush the two cut ends back together and pretend it never happened.

Now, you've gone to all the effort to make those nice slits--might as well stuff them with seasoning! Grab yourself a garlic clove.

Smallish potatoes, huge garlic clove. These cloves are seriously getting ridiculous.

Slice the garlic into very thin slivers.

Stuff a sliver of garlic into the potato; I put a piece of garlic in every few potato cuts.

Hm. Time for a manicure. Or something.

Here's what a finished potato looks like.

You want to get the garlic in as far as you can, but don't manhandle the potato, or you may end up snapping that little bit of uncut potato that's holding everything together.

Drizzle some olive oil over the top of each potato.

Then give the potatoes a good salting and peppering.

Then each potato gets a pat of butter. The butter will melt into the potato cracks while baking, making each slice a little golden brown.

Pop 'em in a 425F oven for about 35-45 minutes (depending on the size of the potatoes.)

With all those delicious ridges, how could I not make a topper to go with these potatoes? I have a ton of chives growing right now, so I threw some in a bowl with some sour cream.

Mr. Kim Chee put some of this bacon salt in my Christmas stocking last year. I hadn't thought of anything to use it on until now.

It basically smelled...like Bac-os and salt. If you've got fake-o Bac-o, I don't see the harm in adding some.

Yes. I eat fake bacon. Sometimes.

So in went the bacon salt, and some pepper.















Stir the sour cream mixture together, and slap a big dollop onto your potato of choice.

These potatoes are great. They're like baked potatoes, only crisper. They're like sliced fried potatoes, but creamier. The cutting was a bit of trouble, but apart from that, they're easy and require very little attention. Your kids will love them because they won't need any help cutting their own dinner. And your guests will be impressed with the effort!

Recipe: Hasselback Potatoes

potatoes
garlic cloves, sliced very thinly
olive oil
butter
salt and pepper

Make cuts every 1/4-inch down each potato, being careful not to cut all the way through.

Tuck garlic slices in every third cut in the potatoes.

Drizzle potatoes with olive oil. Salt and pepper, to taste. Top each potato with a pat of butter. Bake at 425 for 35-45 minutes, until done. Top with Chive Sour Cream (recipe below.)


Recipe: Chive Sour Cream
1/2 c. sour cream
1 tbsp. fresh chives
salt and pepper (bacon salt if you've got it!)


In a small bowl, combine all ingredients.  Mix well.

Wilted Greens

One afternoon, I found myself needing corn, so I stopped at the side of the road to buy some from a nice young man selling it out of a truck. The nice young man had an "aw, shucks" demeanor, and was so polite. (I feel like I'm about 80 right now...) He asked me if I liked greens, and I said yes. He said he had some kale and chard that he had picked out of his garden that morning. He brought out a plastic kitchen bowl full of his home-picked greens. I totally fell for his country boy charm and found myself with not only a dozen ears of sweet corn but a large bag full of greens as well.

kale

Since greens have a short shelf life, and we were away from home when I bought them, I had a very short window of time to decide how I was going to cook them. Since I hadn't time to run to the store, I decided that I would make it easy and use things I already had in the house. And since I've got a kid and a husband not 100% sold on the idea of greens, I wanted to make them appealing as possible.

chard

The first thing I did was wash the greens thoroughly. They looked pretty clean, but since they grow so close to the ground, you never know. I stuck them in a colander and let the water run over them, but you could fill your sink with water and wash them that way too.

Then I separated the leafy greens from the tough stems.

You know, you could use any greens you wanted. Collared, mustard, spinach, or even lettuce.

Cleaning the greens takes a little time. So I doubled my efficiency by grabbing some bacon.

The bacon got a rough chop and got tossed into a large-ish pan to render out the fat.

Medium heat is fine--you don't want it to get really crisp.

I diced up an onion, too. And I smashed quite a few garlic cloves.

While the bacon rendered its delicious fat, I rolled the greens into a cigar shape and cut them into smaller, bite-sized pieces. You should have a rather large mound of chopped greens when you're done.

When the bacon was just beginning to get some color, I tossed in the onions and garlic. They got to saute for just a couple minutes, to soften.

Then you can add your greens. You might have to add them in several additions, depending on how large your pan is. This is half the greens.

They wilt down quite a bit.

Saute the greens for about 5 minutes; just to get them wilted thoroughly. If your pan looks dry, you might want to add a little water or chicken broth. I didn't drain the greens before adding them, and that was a sufficient amount of liquid.

If your greens look older or have a bitter flavor, you'll also want to add a little liquid; the extra liquid will help leech out the bitterness.

Right near the end of your cooking time, add a splash of vinegar. I used red wine.














Nothing like a flavorful way to get your vitamin C for the day! And it's so easy to use the leftovers. I made pasta the next day and added a few large spoonfuls to the sauce. You could also add leftover greens to quiche, eggs, rice, salads, or even meatloaf or burgers. Support your local farm boys and buy their garden greens!

Recipe: Wilted Greens

1 large bag greens, any kind
3 slices bacon
1/2 onion, diced
4-5 garlic cloves, smashed
salt and pepper
1 tbsp. red wine vinegar


Clean the greens by soaking them or rinsing very, very well. Remove tough stalk. Roll leaves into a cigar shape and slice.

In a large pan, cook bacon until fat renders but bacon is still pale. Add onion and garlic; saute until softened.

Add greens; saute about 5 minutes until wilted. Add salt and pepper, to taste.

Add red wine vinegar; cook an additional minute or two. Serve immediately.

Peas with Spring Herbs

I've had this recipe in my back pocket for a while now, and just haven't gotten around to writing the recipe! Who knows what my problem was. But it's here now, and it's so quick and easy that you'll forget that it took me two months to post! :P

This is a bowl of peas. Freshly shelled, to be exact. I love fresh peas. If you can't get fresh peas (since it's now August!), frozen peas will serve you just as well.

Salt a pot of water and set it on the stove to get boiling.

Once the water is boiling, pour the peas in.

Nothing like a pot of peas.

Which incidentally reminds me of this video.

I love The Critic!

Anyway, once the peas have boiled for about a minute, scoop 'em out and move them to a bowl of ice water. The ice water will set the nice color and the peas' freshness.

Drain the pot and wipe it out, if necessary. Drop a hunk o' butter in and swirl around until it melts.

Drain the peas and pour them into the pot with the melted butter.

Throw in a tablespoon or two of freshly snipped chives, and toss lightly.














And that's it! (I know, now I look even worse--how could 3 ingredients and 8 pictures take 2 months?) I don't know, but it's here now, which means you should stop arguing and go find yourself some peas!

Recipe: Peas with Spring Herbs

1 lb. shelling peas (weight before shelling)
1 tbsp. butter
1 tbsp. fresh chives
salt and pepper, to taste


In a small pot, boil peas for 1 minute; move quickly to an ice water bath.

Drain pot and add butter. Once butter is melted, drain and add peas. Toss with fresh chives. Salt and pepper, to taste.

Corn, Tomato, and Avocado Salad

I wanted to make this recipe for weeks but just couldn't get my act together. I would buy avocados, intend to make this salad, and then space out or order take-out, and then have to throw the avocados away. I finally gave myself the kick in the pants necessary to get the job done, and I'm so glad I did--this salad is amazing! Even Mr. Kim Chee, who's not the biggest corn fan, liked it.

This is my favorite time of year, food-wise. I love sweet corn.

It smells so nice!

So, husk the corn (or make your friends, children, significant others, or even a random stranger do it.) Gently place it in a pot of boiling water. This will cook the corn and tenderize it.

Boil the corn for 3-5 minutes (depending on the size of the ears and how "done" you like your corn.) Dunk the hot ears in a cold water bath (or run them under cold water until they're cool to the touch) to set the pretty yellow color.

Grab yourself a clean kitchen towel and a sharp knife. Set the corn vertically on the towel. Hold the corn with one hand and cut the kernels off the cob with the knife. The towel should keep the kernels from bouncing all around your kitchen.

Some people use the bundt pan method, where you set the corn on the raised center of a bundt pan. The corn should fall right into the cake part of the pan. This method works if you have a sturdy bundt pan, with a hole in the center. I don't have a bundt pan with a hole in the center. And my sturdiest bundt pan is made of stoneware, which makes cleaning corn starch off the sides difficult. It's a lot easier (at least, for me) to toss a corn-y towel in the wash and not worry about it.

You should end up with a nice pile of cut corn. 3 ears should get you about 2 1/2 cups of cut corn.

Now that your corn is taken care of, you can start on the salad dressing. In a small bowl, combine the zest and juice from half a lime.

Add a splash or two of a light vinegar. I used champagne, but cider or red wine vinegar would work here too.

A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil will give you a simple vinaigrette.

Throw your corn into a large bowl.

Chop up some cilantro and add it to the bowl of corn.

If you don't like cilantro (I know it's not for everyone), parsley, chives, or basil would work well here too.

The original recipe had diced onion, but a friend gave me some lovely green onions from her garden this weekend, so I decided to use both.

I just used less red onion. If you don't have green onion, just use half an onion here, instead of a third.

Tomatoes are still in season here, and I got some nice cherry tomatoes.

I liked this one--I thought it looked like an apple. Mr. Kim Chee thought it looked like a pepper.

I halved the small tomatoes and quartered the large ones.

Give the salad a quick toss, and then pour in the vinaigrette.

Whoops. Almost forgot salt and pepper.

This part of the salad will keep until you're ready for it. Right before serving, I add the avocado.

Use a knife to carefully cut the avocado. First I cut the long way.

Then I cut the other way, to make cube-shaped pieces. Scoop the avocado out of the skin with a spoon. You should have nice avocado cubes.













Toss the avocado really, really well with the salad (you want to make sure the vinaigrette has coated all the pieces, to prevent the avocado from browning.) Then grab a fork or a huge spoon and dig in!

Recipe: Corn, Tomato, and Avocado Salad

2 1/2 c. (about 3 ears) of cooked corn
juice and zest from half a lime
1 tbsp. champagne (or any light) vinegar
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1/4 c. cilantro, finely chopped
3 scallions sliced thin, white and light green parts
1/3-1/4 red onion, minced
1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes
salt and pepper, to taste
1 avocado, diced

Cut kernels off corn; place in a large bowl and set aside.

In a small bowl, combine lime zest and juice with vinegar and olive oil. Mix well.

Add cilantro, scallions, red onion, and tomatoes to the bowl of corn. Pour vinaigrette over the top and mix well. Salt and pepper to taste.

Right before serving, add avocado and stir well. Enjoy!