Salt Roasted Potatoes

Since Carol asked why restaurant potatoes taste so much better than ones cooked at home - I can tell you the secret is salt.  Restaurants rub the skins with oil or bacon grease then rub with salt (no wholes are poked into the potato) then baked.  But I found a way to make them without a ton of salt sticking to the skin.

Salt Roasted Potatoes.

I'd heard the concept and lumped it in there with Radiator Roasted Rump Roast and Steam Engine Steamed Salmon , But after reading of it on Cooks Illustrated  Oct. 11 website, which had a recipe for salt roasted potatoes with thyme and shallots, I had to try a Johnson household edition.

Most recipes just call for burying a baker under a mound of salt. The premise is there is a moisture exchange between the salt and the spud, the moisture escaping the potato being absorbed by the salt and then reabsorbed by the potato making the interior, not only well seasoned, but very light and fluffy. Store brand salt was 32 cents   The four potatoes were about 50 cents (two for dinner, two chopped and reheated for home fries in the morning)  The worse case  scenario if these turned out like mortar rounds was I was only out  out a buck and there was still pork tenderloin, salad and garlic cheese biscuits (knock off Red Lobster version). if needed.

You start by laying 4 potatoes in about 2 and a half cups of salt (one 26 ounch package) in a 13 x 9 pan.   To the salt was added a clove of garlic and some sprigs of rosemary instead of the thyme and shallots.  In hindsight, I would have left some of the paper surrounding the garlic on there, so it didn't fall apart, and was a little softer at the end of cooking.

Cover TIGHTLY with foil and bake in the middle rack of a 450 degree oven for 1  hour and 15 minutes.  When there's 30 minutes left to cook, pop in a 1 and 3/4 - 2 pound pork tenderloin which you have rubbed with garlic and herbs and laid in a small glass pan on top of a little EVOO and salt, then covered with foil.

When time is up, remove potatoes and pork.  The pork should be about medium rare,  Keep foil on it, set on a trivet and allow to finish cooking to medium with the foil on it.  Remove foil from potatoes and remove the garlic to a small dish while you raise the heat on the oven to 475 degrees (my oven tends to be "hot" so 475 worked better than the 500 degrees the web recipe called for)  Brush the tops of the potatoes with a Tablespoon or so of EVOO and return to oven for 15-22 minutes. 

While that finishes, squeeze the garlic bulbs gently (and carefully, they're hot) to remove the garlic pulp and mix with a big pinch of chopped fresh rosemary and 4 Tablespoons of butter and a dash of sea salt to make a paste.

The potato skin will be dark golden brown and firm, but when poked with a knife, the interior should be quite soft when done.  Remove any clumped salt from the bottom of the potato with a clean kitchen towel , and serve with the garlic herb butter. (The salt in the pan can be strained and reused for another batch of potatoes before discarding).

Seriously, this was the best baked potato I've ever had. The interior was incredibly soft and fluffy, with a hint of garlic and rosemary in it, even without the butter and  there was no  "salty" taste.  The skin was crisp but not shoe leather, making it easy to scoop out the well seasoned flesh with a spoon.

Inexpensive, easy and delicious, that's what home cooking is all about.

Pad Se Ew

Pad Se Ew is a super easy and very tasty Thai stir fry.  If you don't have an Asian grocer for the Chinese broccoli, I've made this with regular broccoli and it's still excellent. 

It is typically made with Sen Yai, which are wide, thin fresh rice noodles you can find at an Asian grocery store.  But you can make them with dried rice noodles, just prepare according to package directions before adding to stir-fry.

The secret to wok cooking is the high heat.  You'll know it by the smell.  You simply can't make good stir-fried noodles without a well-seasoned wok and high heat.  It's impossible to do justice to this wonderfully fragrant dish justice with a non-stick pan.  That wonderfully toasty smell is the secret so don't be scared to work with it.  Don't let it get to the smoking point, if you do getting the hang of it, discard it.  Oil that reaches that heat is really not safe to consume in the long run.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons high heat oil (canola, grapeseed, safflower, sesame, sunflower)

2 cloves garlic, minced

A cup of thawed veggie "chicken" pieces

10 oz fresh flat rice noodles

6 oz Chinese broccoli (kalian/gailan) or local broccoli

Sauce:

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon Red Boat fish sauce
1 Tablespoon oyster sauce
dash of crushed red pepper
drop of Scoville Brothers Heavy Metal Heat sauce (a robust pepper flavor)

1 Tablespoon honey

Instructions:

Slightly separate the fresh noodles so they are not sticking together.

Mix the seasoning ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

Add the oil and the garlic to the wok and turn heat to high.  Heating the garlic in the oil helps infuse it with flavor, a nice tip anytime you are working with garlic.  Add the "chicken" and broccoli and stir fry for about a minute (for bite-sized pieces).

 Add the seasoning sauce and stir until everything is combined and heated through and serve immediately. 

Pasta Pronto

Yes, that's a 75 year old gas stove. It's nice having something older than me in the kitchen.

One thing I do make on it fairly regularly is whole grain pasta (and occasionally the vegan or organic mac and cheese for a little guest).

Thanks to my friend Carol at

• Ten Again

I discovered her trick to easy fuss-free pasta for two (I'm not sure if this would work in large amounts but for a serving for 2-3 it's perfect.)  Bring your water up to a full rolling boil, covered, pop the cover, pour the pasta in, give it a stir, and quickly cover it.

Then turn off the heat.

You heard me.  Turn off the heat, set the timer for 10 minutes and walk away.  Go do something you'd rather be doing.

Clean the garage  (I think I'll pass), pet the dog,. read your favorite blogs.

In 10 minutes you'll have perfect al dente pasta.

Now if I could just find a way to dry my hair every morning without the hair drier.

DIY Larabar

Most of you are familiar with Larabars - alongside the RX bar from Chicago, they are my favorite fruit/nut snack bar and come in all kinds of flavors. My favorite is the lemon.  I love anything lemon.

When I'm traveling I will always pick up a few in place of a candy or chip snack.  But at an average of $1.50 a bar, if you eat one every day (as I happily will) that $45 a month.  So I set out to make my own.

I will still purchase them, as there are some of their yummy flavors I probably could not duplicate and I love their little individual wrapped mini bars for my purse. But the lemon and key lime ones, are easy to do (simply sub  key lime for lemon in this recipe.)

Texture and  taste was spot on.  Even better - they were 1/3 of the cost!  No baking, and just a few cooking implements to wash up.  Here's a picture of a Larabar from the web (this is the Alt Lemon Pound Cake flavor)

Here is my DIY version before cutting.

DIY  "Larabar Style" Lemon Bar (note - my first batch were a little thin for my taste so I increased each of the ingredients by 50% and got just the right thickness of bar - recipe below is the adjusted one).

In a food processor pulse:

1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons salted cashews
3/4 cup plain almonds

until you have big crumbly bits.

Add:

1 8 ounce package pitted dates
3 Tablespoons plus 1 and 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
some grated lemon zest (a generous half teaspoon)
a drop of Vanilla extract.

Pulse until you have a thick crunchy dough.  You will have to stop and redistribute the mixture with a wooden spoon 3 or 4 times as it's pretty thick and will bunch up on one side of the food processor making the blade ineffective.

Pat down into a 8 x 8 pan sprayed with non stick spray.  Refrigerate a couple of hours, then cut into squares.  I simply cut into squares, lifted them out with a spatula and then just smoothed the tops with a rolling pin (as I got lazy patting them out in the pan.)

Store in a Tupperware using wax paper to separate the layers of stacked bars or in individual snack plastic zip bags.

Advice for the Day

Note to self - don't go all afternoon without a healthy snack - you'll scarf up ANYTHING.

Herdsman Chili

Chili tends to be a dish most people make in winter - but I like to make a pot in the summer on the weekend.  (and yes, I have enough friend in Texas to know it's technically considered chili with beans but I'm an author, I'm going to write it my way :-)

It's a way to crock pot cook so I don't have to heat the oven and leftovers are great on a baked potato or a piece of cornbread with a big salad or in a Tupperware with chopped raw vegetables and some fruit for dessert for a tote-able lunch to work during the following week.


2  pounds veggie "beef" crumbles
1 sweet onion chopped
4 teaspoons minced garlic
1 bell pepper finely chopped
1 cup carrots julienned then chopped  (I use my "zoodle" tool from Amazon)
1/2 - 1 cup celery (whatever you have on hand)
1 jalapeno, de-seeded and chopped
can of tomato sauce
1 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes (I LOVE Muir Glenn fire-roasted organic)
2 teaspoons honey
1 teaspoon molasses
1 can black beans drained
1 can kidney beans drained
2 Tablespoons Penzey's Chili 9000 (or your favorite chili powder)
1 Tablespoon oregano
1 Tablespoon basil
1 Tablespoon Cumin
dash of Scoville Brothers Singing Smoke hot sauce (or your favorite)
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper (use a pinch if you want it milder)

Saute onion and garlic (if using) in a pan over medium heat. Add with your protein to slow cooker with remaining ingredients.  Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours.

Top with tortilla strips, veggie sour cream substitute, and non-dairy cheese.

Note:  I've also made this and used just black beans, replacing the celery with finely chopped sweet potato. and substituted a small shot of tequila for the honey and molasses - YUMMY!