My wife makes these awesome smashed garlic potatoes–Please note that these are SMASHED not mashed potatoes–people often get confused on that point.
But they are awesome potatoes.
Crispy, Garlicky Smashed Potatoes Serves 6
5 pounds small (golf-ball sized) waxy potatoes, any color
Couple of tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 head garlic, cloves peeled and finely minced - not crushed
Kosher salt
1.Preheat oven to 450. Place potatoes in a pot with enough cold water to cover them and 2 tablespoons of salt. Put the pot over maximum heat, bring to a boil and allow to boil for 5 minutes. Drain.
2.Put the potatoes on a sheet pan and bake in the oven until fork tender. Remove the sheet from the oven and smash each potato fairly agressively, so that it flattens out some and develops big cracks, but doesn’t totally mash. The bottom of a coffee mug works well for this.
3.In a small frying pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and saute for 2 minutes (or alternatively bake the garlic which we like better)
4.Spoon the garlic and brush the oil over the potatoes, distributing as evenly as possible. Sprinkle with Kosher salt. Return the tray to the oven, raise heat to 500, and cook until the skins are crispy in many spots. This will take about 10-20 minutes depending upon how crispy you want them.
One of my old favorites was: use your mandoline to slice potatoes into discs. Get a cookie sheet, and oil or Pam-spray it well (I used to line it with foil first; Reynolds Release might work too). Lay the potatoes in one or two layers on the sheet, but stagger-stack them if you’re making a lot, you don’t want big wads of potato cooking together. Spray the tops with spray butter, shake some garlic salt on 'em, and bake for about 11 minutes at 450. Then, flip the potatoes over with a spatula, spray and salt the other side, and shake on some parsley. Another 11 minutes, and you should be done; you want some browning, but no burning. You add the parsley late to keep it from burning. Oven times may vary.
Back when I was freshly graduated from college and jobless, this kept me going.
My mom recently made some great fish filets with easy stuff she threw together. I think it was just: put filets in a glass baking dish, top with a few dabs of butter, lemon juice, Old Bay, and some kind of “smoky mesquite” seasoning. Delicious!
We made some great shrimp once by sauteeing them in a pan with a splash of oil, lemon juice, and Paul Prudhomme’s “Seafood Magic” seasoning. Just toss 'em around and take 'em out when they’re pink and done.
True enough, you can never use too much garlic now can you? I was remembering the recipe so I probably underestimated the garlic. So adjust that line to ‘as much garlic as you like’.
Check out the EatingWell cookbooks at your local library, especially their Healthy Heart version. All cookbooks have excellent use of seasonings and flavorings that keep it healthy.
Damn that just seems like…so much salt. I cook pretty well for a layman, but I don’t really boil potatoes much at all so I must defer to you. I usually go the route of quartered new potatoes, coated in olive oil, fresh rosemary and minced garlic with a seasoning of ground pepper and sea salt, roasted in the oven.
Small red potatoes are good: cut into quarters, salt the cut edges, drizzled with a little olive oil, and roasted at 400 for about 15-20 minutes or until the edges get brown and crispy. If you find really little ones, you can do 'em whole, too.
Tilapia is cheap around here, esp. frozen. Thaw, season each side with salt + 1-3 other things (pepper, thyme, onion powder, paprika, curry powder, etc.) and then coat each side with a thin but even coating of mayonnaise. Then press each side into chopped almonds** place on a foil-lined sheet that’s been lightly sprayed, and bake at 325 or 350 for about 10-12 minutes, or until the almond bits start to get toasty brown. Tilapia is so thin that it’ll be done in that amount of time, and the mayo keeps it moist (and you won’t taste it - I promise!)
Both of these can be done in a toaster oven if you have one and don’t feel like running the big oven!
** Run 'em through a little food processor - easier than hand-chopping.
I’ve made the salt potatoes, before - for the record, most of the salt stays in the water, with just a little bit crustifying on the skin. The idea is that the salt raises the boiling temp. of the water and changes how the starches cook, not that it penetrates the potatoes. You won’t need to season them when they’re done, though!
Anchovies, or their liquid equivalent Fish Sauce. Add to anything savory, doesn’t taste fishy in low doses, just adds a wonderful rich undertone of Umami.
Potatoes are also pretty great when mashed with meat or vegetable broth / stock. It adds nice flavor and makes the consistency what you’d expect, but without all the fat from butter and milk. (I do add a bit of butter anyway.)
Yogurt is also really, really good in potatoes in place of sour cream. Also works in tuna salad in place of mayonnaise.
Whole roasted garlic bulbs are yummy for all sorts of things – mash them in potatoes, spread garlic on bread instead of butter or cheese, throw cloves in salads or pasta.
Hey, I come from Salt Potato Land! My daughter was a volunteer at the little Salt Museum on Onondaga Lake, where the idea came from, during the salt making days in the 1800’s. And a hot, nasty job it was, big vats boiling boiling boiling salt water all day - the unfortunate workers would bring potatoes for their meals and just throw them in the boiling salt water to cook… Salt potatoes are sold in bags here, 4 lbs. of small potatoes and a 1 lb. bag of salt, but I certainly don’t use the whole bag. Are they sold in other states than NY?
Crushed red pepper is a wonder spice. It’s got a good flavor, it’s hot but not extremely hot, and it moves a dish nicely from boring to fun. It’s dirt cheap, too. Just put a small pinch in the pan as you stir-fry things the way people upthread have described. The heat will mostly get absorbed by meat and potatoes, not vegetables, so they might highlight the meat so you won’t need as much.
I like to steam, or bake, sweet potatoes. Cut to cubes and steam for 15 minutes or so.
Also, any veggies (cherry tomato size or larger) slice or halv, and place under the broiler for just a few minutes. it’ll take moisture out and leav a bunch of flavor.
Simmering with stock is also good.
Also, from Alton Brown, I’ll bake regular russets this way:
take a fork and make a bunch of holes, and coat w/ a little oil and kosher salt (for bigger particles but spaced more sparingly than iodized table salt) and pepper.
Place in oven until done.
From here, if you like to mash, just place in a ricer or smash them, they come out really silky and smooth.
mire poix makes a great base for many dished, and it’s just sauteeing 2 part onion, 1 part carrot, 1 part celery.
One of my favorite dished at the moment is just mushrooms
Slice mushrooms (optionally brown or slightly roast them)
Fill with enough broth/stock to cover, and simmer to reduce until just a little bit remains.
Just before serving, add a little milk, just enough to lighten the color.
For meat, I recently served pork chops
lightly salt/pepper/cinnamon each side.
Heat cast iron skillet up to quite hot
Start chops, and do not touch until ready to turn (you can see the color change in the middle of the chop)
Flip, turn off burner, cover skillet, and remove skillet from heat.
In just a few minutes, the heat in the skillet will cook the chops the rest of the way, and you’ll have free time to finish up last minute prep.
The skillet will cool down, but keeps the chops warm and tender and yummy until you’re ready.
Also, I have taken to heating up the cast iron lid w/ the skillet. Once the chops are done, I place them on a plate, and cover w/ the super hot lid.
That frees up my pan to make the mushrooms from above.
OP, nobody has really touched upon this, but I’ll give it a try.
Fundamentally, if you’re looking to improve your health (and especially “feel fuller”) you’re going to pretty much want to reinvent the way you cook. American food, with its meat + plain steamed vegetable side + white starch isn’t healthy nor conducive to adaptation.
When I say “reinvent” I mean add a bunch of different cuisines and flavor profiles. For example, this 3 bean chili recipe served over quinoa is great. Quinoa is low in glycemic index and full of protein and fiber.
Here’s a really great dish with plenty of flavor to go along with it: Asian Rice & Veggie bowl. Super quick if you use frozen pre-cooked brown rice or quinoa. Read my comments below the recipe for more info.
Oh, and read anything Athena posts about food very closely. She’s an AMAZING cook and a diabetic, so her recipes are filling and tasty without being high-carby.
Oh, I agree with this wholeheartedly.
I’m a big fan of varying my flavor profiles, and trying different types of cuisine.
If you like leftovers, or soups and stews, check out crock pot cooking. They’re mostly easy to prepare dishes, that cook with little to no maintenance for a long time, and you can make enough in one go to feed you for a week.
I make almost all my lunches for work this way, and there is always something new to try.
I also second, third, or 100th the idea of trying beans and bean dishes they add a wonderful change of pace if you aren’t used to them.
We’ll be doing the weekly shop tomorrow so I’m going to start with stir-fries as I know the supermarket does frozen stir-fry vegie mixes. I’m going to try that with some cut up steak and some sort of soy sauce dressing.
We’re also going to swap potatoes for sweet potatoes, swap corn for carrots, and get a punnet of mushrooms.
Actually, that’s UK food. And NZ food. So I think we could probably just generalise to ‘Western food’ And I think you’re right, we need a more varied diet. We are going to start this by having one ‘foreign’ meal a week!
I know I keep saying it, but thank you so much for your responses, I’m sharing them all with my husband and we’ve both found them really useful and inspiring!
I’m gonna add to the gratitude vibe and thank you, Hakuna Matata, for posting this version. The OCD bastards at Cook’s Illustrated printed their superduperyoumustdoitthisway version an issue or two back, and it looked SO GOOD but I just kept putting off the eighteen bazillion steps they took. (I kept buying the potatoes, and then … roasting them the way I mentioned upthread. Easier, y’know?) So thanks for posting a real-life version.
5 pounds seems like a lot for two people, though … Do the leftovers reheat well, or are you feeding way more than you + wife?
I am going to give away my recipe for the most incredible potatoes eva, if done right.
Firstly peel a big fat russet potato, wash it and dry it and lob it in the micro for four minutes. While it is nuking turn the oven on to 425-450 and put 2-3 tablespoons of peanut oil in a roasting pan and put the pan in the oven so that the oil gets good and hot. When the four minutes is up rotate the potatoes and nuke them for another four minutes. (Depending on the size of the potato - you may only need 3 minutes per side.)
When the nuking part of the cooking is done the potatoes will be nearly cooked through. You could probably eat them right then. But don’t. Slice the potato into steak fries, usually get 6 to 8 steak fries. By now the pan in the oven and the oil should be at full temperature. Carefully slide the steak fries into the oil (don’t splatter hot oil everywhere) and spread them out so they are not touching each other. Pan goes back in the oven.
Next step it to make the ali oli. Half a cup of top quality mayonaise (I use Hellmans) , about a tablespoon or two of sriracha sauce, one or two cloves of garlic that you have pressed thru a garlic press, a tablespoon of evoo, and a squeeze of lemon juice. Mix it all in a bowl to taste. The ali oli will have a light red color - darker if you use more sriricha, which will increase the heat.
Roast the potato fries 15-20 minutes, take them out and rotate them (flip) with a pair of tongs. Back in the oven for another 10 minutes or so. There is no set time here, just keep your eye on them and you will know when they are done. What you are looking for is brown crispy edges and soft centers. The soft center is obtained in the micro, the crispy edges in the oven. (Some cooks will skip the micro and par-boil the potatoes but having tried both I find the micro is fast and gives a better result.)
When the potatoes are done immediately salt with fine grain sea salt and serve with the dipping ailoi. They go great with roast chicken.
Ah–see I was just guestimating. I asked my wife and it is less! She makes enough for the three of us (we have a teen girl). And it is enough for leftovers the next day, they heat up nicely. So it is about 3-4 small potatoes each for 2 days, so 18-24 small potatoes (say 1 1/2" round or so). Have no idea how many pounds that is. Sorry!
And I think you’re right, we need a more varied diet. We are going to start this by having one ‘foreign’ meal a week!