My Potato Salad

Yes, I finally have my own potato salad recipe. Most people probably didn't know I was even searching for my own potato salad, but I was. It has been a long, treacherous road of brainstorming, cookbook reading, and Central Market sampling - but I made it. And the result is one darn good potato salad, that is now going to become 'Gretchen's Potato Salad' - though I don't know to whom.

I totally get why there are so many potato salad recipes out there. I like them all - mustard based, mayo based, with egg, with peppers - it turns out everything tastes good with potatoes. But what I did discover during my days of study was that I think simpler is better. There is no reason to add a bunch of crap to potato salad, and there is no reason to over-mayo it.  I also came to the conclusion that my favorite quality of potatoes is the ability to turn them into loaded baked potatoes. We loooove those. So, my potato salad variation tastes an awful lot like a loaded baked potato, with a little tang from the mustard, and a little sweetness from the mayo. YUM.

Recipe

• 3-4 lbs red potatoes
• 3/4 cup mayo
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 heaping tablespoon dijon mustard
• 1 heaping teaspoon yellow mustard
• ~6-8 slices of bacon
• 1 tablespoon bacon drippings
• Chopped fresh chives
• Chopped fresh parsley

Start by halving or fourthing (is that a word? Quartering might be more appropriate. Or accurate, rather) the potatoes, and boil them in a large pot until fork tender. Drain them and set them aside.

Cook the bacon until crisp, transfer it to a plate lined with a paper towel, and reserve 1 tablespoon of the bacon drippings. I think I am going to tell people this is the secret ingredient.

Mix the mayo, sour cream, bacon drippings, and both mustards in a bowl. Mix into the potatoes, and add plenty of salt and pepper. Chop the bacon, chives, and parsley (to taste), and throw it into the potato mixture. Chill for several hours before serving.

I also served this at our Memorial Day dinner party, along with this and this.

Baked Ham Sandwiches

I'm about to introduce you to something that will change life as you know it.  Your previous life with typical, mundane ham sandwiches is over.  Thanks to Sarah Foster's Southern Kitchen, (my favorite cookbook now that I indeed have a southern kitchen)...we now have 'Ham and Cheese Rolls' available to us.  They contain all the ingredients that I believe are great 100% of the time: ham ... cheese ... mustard ... butter ... worcestershire. They also involve 'marinating' and 'baking'.....sold?

Luckily, this discovery coincided with planning our annual St. Patrick's Day party. I was looking for a perfect party food that was super easy to make in large quantities, super delicious, and looked good with these balloons that my husband ordered a week in advance.

So I made the ham sandwiches. And let me tell you, they were a party hit. I made a few modifications to Sarah's recipe....I took out the garlic (I don't know why you would add garlic to all these other wonderful ingredients)...I took out the grated onion (same reason)...I added brown sugar (because it seemed natural, and WOW)...and I bought Hawaiian rolls from the store rather than made my own (I'm an underachiever).

Recipe (makes 12 small sandwiches)

• 1 stick butter
• 1 T Dijon Mustard
• 1 T Worcestershire
• 2 T Brown Sugar
• 1/2 lb smoked ham, thinly sliced
• 1/2 lb Swiss or Gruyere cheese, thinly sliced
• 12 Hawaiian rolls (or other slider bun of choice)

In a saucepan, melt the butter. Whisk in the dijon, worcestershire, and brown sugar. Bring to a low boil, remove from heat, and set aside. 

In a baking dish (or aluminum foil pan for ease of cleanup, which is what I did)....assemble the Hawaiian rolls with the ham and cheese.

Pour the sauce over the sandwiches, cover and MARINATE for several hours or overnight. 

The next day, or however long you were able to wait, place the sandwiches in a 350 degree oven and bake, covered, for 10 minutes. Uncover the sandwiches and bake for another 10 minutes.

I made 48 sandwiches for the party. There were 6 left, and we ate the rest of them over the course of the next few days. I even caught myself lying to the neighbor on Sunday when he asked if we had any of those ham sandwiches left. Sorry, I said, we ate the last of them last night. Not my proudest moment.

Texas Caviar

I don't know who came up with the name 'Texas Caviar,' but I like them. What a sneaky and innovative way to make a salad/dip/salsa consisting mainly of canned ingredients sound classy and exclusive.

The first truth is that there is nothing exclusive about this recipe. It is so easy (and cost effective!) - and a great party food. Plus it looks pretty with all the colors it has going on. I made this dip/salad/salsa (it is truly a multi-purpose recipe) for my husband's work lunch, served with Pulled Pork Tacos.

The second truth is that I don't think this is really Texas Caviar. True Texas caviar is composed mostly of black-eyed peas; and most variations contain chopped onions, jalapenos, and a lime-juice marinade. I didn't feel comfortable with any of that, so I made this instead. But it's close enough to the true Texas Caviar that I'm sure no one will be offended I'm using the name.

Recipe

• 1-2 cans corn (depending on your love of corn)
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can white northern beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can cooked black eyed peas
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 1 yellow pepper, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 2 large tomatoes, seeded and chopped
• 3-4 stalks celery, chopped
• 1/2 cup fresh chopped cilantro

Dressing

• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar (please don't use the generic kind)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup olive oil

So, there's really no instructions here. Mix all of the salad/dip/salsa ingredients together, more or less of each to taste. I prefer a corn-heavy mixture, so I used 2 full cans of corn.  Whisk all the dressing ingredients together, then mix it together with the corn mixture. Cover and refrigerate for at least a couple hours before serving, but 24 hours is ideal. Try to stir it occasionally to distribute the dressing evenly. Serve with pita or tortilla chips.

French Toast Casserole

Here is your Christmas brunch recipe. I'm not trying to be bossy, but this is it. I know, I know, Christmas is about family, friends, time together, blah blah blah. To me, it's about the food. And let me tell you, I would have been much better off making this recipe for my family of 9 at Christmas, rather than my Dallas family of 2 on a random Sunday. You just simply cannot stop eating this stuff.

The best part about this recipe (well, the second best part - the first best part is the taste) - is that you assemble it the night before, then simply bake it the day of. It is such an easy and stress-free brunch option.

Recipe

1 loaf french bread (I used a round french boule)

8 eggs

2 cups milk

1/2 cup half and half or heavy cream

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons vanilla

Topping

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 stick cold butter

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (optional, but good)

So, start by greasing a 9x13 inch baking dish. Tear your bread into about 3-inch chunks and throw them in the dish. 

In a bowl, mix together the eggs, milk/cream, sugars, and vanilla.  You can modify the sugar combo if you'd like - I love the flavor of brown sugar so cut down on the white.  Pour the egg mixture over the bread. I think I threw on a few more sprinkles of brown sugar here for fun. Not necessary, but fun. 

Cover and put in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight (I did overnight - and it was really fun to think about that marinating in there the whole time).

The next morning, or a few hours later depending on your life choices, preheat the oven to 350 and remove the casserole from the fridge. To prepare the topping, mix the flour, brown sugar, cold butter, cinnamon, and nutmeg together. I used a hand mixer for this, but I think a pastry cutter would have been more appropriate. I don't have one of those, since I was born in the 80s.

 Pour the topping over the casserole, and then bake for 50 minutes. 

Scoop out the casserole in ginormous sized portions, and top with whatever feels right. We did bananas and maple syrup. And I think that will be my dinner this evening.

 Merry Christmas!

My Mom's Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

I've done a lot of independent research on banana bread. I've tried several different variations, made minor modifications, added different things and baked it differently. After all this effort, the results are in: my mom's is the best.

Sometimes I make it in the form of bread, sometimes as muffins. It all comes out the same: wonderful, tasty, delicious, and comforting. The best days I ever had growing up would be when my mom and I were playing a game of Memory and she would surprise me with a piece of warm banana bread straight out of the oven. I just felt really happy all over again thinking about that. Oh, the good ol' days. Now I have to serve it to myself straight out of the oven, and no one is playing Memory with me.  

If you need a Banana Bread recipe (and you do, everyone does), use this one. 

• 1 stick butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup ripe mashed bananas (2 large)
• 3 tablespoons milk
• Lots o' chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350. In a bowl of a standing mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg, then vanilla.  In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and soda. In another bowl, mash the bananas with the milk.  With the the standing mixer on low speed, add a little of the flour mixture, then the bananas, and continue to alternate until everything is mixed in. Turn off the mixer, and stir in the chocolate chips with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. Or, sometimes I actually like to turn up the mixer to high instead of stirring in the chocolate chips, because I feel like it really smashes the chocolate flavor in there. Up to you.

Grease a bread loaf pan (I think mine is a 9X5), pour in the banana bread batter (is it dough or batter? It looks more like batter), and bake for about 45 min to one hour, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. The edges will begin to look a little darker, but keep it in until the center is done.  If you are doing muffins, they will only take about 25-35 minutes, but keep your eye on them.

Serve warm with butter, or peanut butter, or mashed on top of ice cream. Thank you, mom, for our shared love of board games and desserts!

Hot Beef Pitas

Making one of your husband's favorite childhood recipes is incredibly stressful.  Can I live up to my mother-in-law's hot beef pitas that sound like they are nothing short of magical? I've avoided making these for nearly 2 years for that very reason: fear. Ok, I am exaggerating a little, but my dad STILL says 'my mother's used to be so creamy' every time my mom makes mashed potatoes. Which is pretty much every week.  Trying to recreate the fond and loving memories from your mother-in-law's kitchen is a lot to live up to. 

So, I finally decided to attempt the hot beef pitas. But I added beer. Why? Because then if they didn't turn out I could say, 'it must have been the beer.' And it wouldn't be my overall cooking skill or magical cooking hand (or lack thereof).

Anyway. These sandwiches? Awesome. The beef is so flavorful yet very simple...the idea to put them in a pita? Genius. Pure genius. Thank you Jane Braley.

Recipe:

• 2 lbs boneless rump or chuck roast
• 1 package Lipton onion soup mix
• Beef broth (3-4 cups)
• 1-2 cans beer
• 1/4 cup sugar
• Pitas
• Sour cream, cheddar cheese for serving

I used rump roast for these sandwiches, but I would recommend either that or chuck roast. I think chuck roast might be a little cheaper. Both meats will cook down enough to shred quite easily.

Preheat the oven to 350.  Pat the meat dry with a paper towel, and flour all sides (you can skip this if cooking GF).  Heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a large dutch oven, over medium-high heat. Place the meat in the pot, and brown all sides. This should take 3-4 minutes per side.

Reduce the heat to medium. Pour in about 3 cups beef broth, beer, and onion soup mix. Mix together. Pour in more beef broth if necessary, until it nearly covers the meat.

Stir in the sugar. This was another minor modification...not necessary but I wanted to sweeten it up a bit.

Place the lid on the dutch oven, and slow roast in the oven for about 4 hours. You can check after about 3.5...you want the meat to shred easily with a fork.

When the meat can be easily shredded, turn off the heat. Shred the entire roast with a fork (or 2). We left it in the sauce for serving, but you could also remove the meat to another bowl to make it a little easier. You will still want to pour a little of the sauce in the sandwich, it is so delicious. Meanwhile, toast the pitas! This is not an opinion, this is a fact.

Then, stuff away. Pitas are so fun! We made some with cheddar cheese.

And some with caramelized onions and sour cream.

You could also serve the beef on regular hamburger buns, on tortillas, over nachos...oh the opportunities here are endless. Our dinner was complete with Corn Casserole and Apple and Goat Cheese Salad.

There are several football Sundays left in the season - make these if you would like to become the lady (or man) with the great hot beef recipe.

Macaroni and Cheese

Our wedding was a blast. Yes, I am biased, but I truly believe that overall, everyone had a blast. I clearly did, as evidenced in this photo:

And this photo:

In my mind, there are 3 essential elements for a successful wedding. Plenty of booze, good dancing music, and delicious food. As this is a cooking blog and not a drinking or dancing blog (although maybe it should be), I would like to focus on the food aspect of our wedding.

People are still talking about the dinner that was served at our wedding - I have received so many compliments not only on the deliciousness of it, but the choices.  The food really was amazing, Chef Danny at our Country Club is one ridiculous cook. But the choices were really the key - they were fun, different, and everybody found something they loved. Our approach was to do all of 'our favorite things'....well, not ALL of our favorite things, as we clearly did not have room for 97 different options - but some of our favorite things. We wanted to combine a little bit of Texas, since we live here now, and a little bit of Wisconsin - since the wedding was there and I'm from the lovely state. The menu consisted of BBQ brisket sliders, roasted pork tenderloin, grilled corn on the cob, a giant cheese display (yeah Wisconsin!), Southwest caesar salad, shrimp cocktail (I'm not sure where that fit in, but I really wanted it), and last but not least: gourmet macaroni and cheese. Yes, tons of food. While most people bring a second pair of shoes for post-dinner dancing, I actually had to bring a second dress - in a bigger size.  Just kidding. But it would have been nice to have.

Ok, now to the point of this blog. The mac 'n cheese was a total hit. I decided I wanted to make it on my own, so I started doing some research. It turns out there are 11,674 macaroni and cheese recipes out there. I combined a number of the recipes, and I am convinced this has to be the best one. It was divine.

Recipe

• 4 cups pasta - I prefer the shells
• 1 beaten egg
• 1/2 stick butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2-1/2 cups milk - preferably whole
• 2 teaspoons ground yellow mustard
• 1/2 pound grated sharp cheddar
• 1/2 pound grated fontina
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• paprika
• panko bread crumbs

The cheese sauce in here does magical things to people. It made my husband help me clean the kitchen after dinner. It made me want to skip dessert. It turned my mom into the best dancer at our wedding. It could probably even help Obama figure out how to fix the economy, if only he would try it.

Start by cooking the pasta. You'll want it very 'al dente' - it bakes in the oven for quite a while and you don't want it to get mushy. I checked the pasta after about 6 minutes of boiling, and I think I left it in for another minute or so. You want it slightly underdone.

Preheat the oven to 350.

Make the roux. In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Don't burn it! Sprinkle in the flour and whisk together. Continue whisking for about 5 minutes.

Next, add the milk. Don't be a wimp here - use whole milk. Skim is for sissies. Whole milk really adds to the creaminess of the cheese sauce. Whisk together, then add 2 heaping teaspoons of ground mustard. Continue whisking for about 5 minutes, until the mixture gets very thick and gravy-like.

Reduce the heat to low. Next, you need to 'temper' the egg. Basically you need to introduce some of the gravy mixture into the beaten egg first, to avoid cooking it when you add it to the pot.

Using a 1/4 cup, retrieve a little of the gravy mixture from the pot. Add it to the beaten egg, and whisk constantly to avoid cooking it. Keep whisking until the mixture is cooled. 

Then, pour slowly into the large pot, whisking constantly. 

This is when it starts to get really good. Time to add the cheese! Add all but 1/2 cup. I forgot to do this, I can't be trusted when in the presence of excessive amounts of cheese.

 Oh my god.

Stir until totally melted, then turn off the heat.

YUM. Don't lose focus yet, you need to keep going. You can do it. Now is the time to add extra spices if you desire. I added paprika, and it was a very good decision. Also add the salt and pepper here.

Pour in the drained, undercooked pasta and stir until combined. Transfer the mac 'n cheese to your desired baking dish, and top with remaining cheese. Since I used all of my cheese, I used string cheese! The mozzarella addition was amazing - highly recommend it. It looks sort of stupid though.

Finally, prepare the bread crumbs. I think I used about 3/4 cup bread crumbs, and mixed with about 2-3 tablespoons melted butter. Spread over the macaroni and cheese. Almost there!

Bake for 25 minutes! So close!

DONE! There are no words. Make this if you want to be voted Person of the Year. Or, if you want to have a really fun wedding.

Banana Toffee Coffee Cake

Make this if you only attempt one baked good this year. Or if you know you are dying tomorrow. I used a standard coffee cake recipe (well, a standard coffee cake recipe with an extra cup of flour and 1/2 stick butter)...and added a ripe banana to the batter and toffee chips on top. Not necessary, but highly recommended. 

For the Cake:

• 1-1/2 sticks butter, softened
• 2 cups white sugar
• 3 cups flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1-1/4 cup whole milk
• 3 whole egg whites, beaten until stiff
• 1 large ripe banana, or two medium

For the Topping:

• 1-1/2 sticks butter, softened
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1-1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon
• 1/2 cup Heath toffee bits

This recipe is a serious case of multi-tasking. I creamed the sugar and butter in a stand-mixer, mixed the flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl, mixed the milk with 2 mashed bananas in another bowl, and beat the egg whites.

Alternately add the flour mixture and milk to the butter mixture. Mix until just blended. Fold in the egg whites with a rubber spatula. I added vanilla here, because I add vanilla to everything.

Eat the dough.


For the topping, mix the butter, flour, sugar, and cinnamon with a pastry cutter to chop the butter. Or, use a potato masher if that's all you have. 

Pour the batter in a 9 X 13 inch buttered pan, pour the topping over it.

Bake in 350 degree oven for about 35 minutes, until no longer jiggly. Top with the toffee bits.

Yum.

Eat as much as you can before someone else finds it.

Ham & Spinach Quiche

I decided to make Easter brunch this year. Typically I just like to eat cereal in the morning, but the re-birth inspired me to do something special. So, after careful consideration and interrogating my husband-to-be on possible brunch items, I decided on quiche, banana toffee cake, and fruit salad.


For the quiche, I went straight to my new cookbook, Dorie Greenspan's 'Around my French Table.' My table is not french, but it hopes to be some day. I started by making the crust, or pate brisee if you're fancy. I mixed the dough together, then rolled it up in aluminum foil to refrigerate for 3 hours (or 30 minutes if you are hungry and dying to eat as soon as possible, like myself).

After refrigerating, I rolled out the dough to a 12 inch diameter. I believe this is the step that would have benefitted from 3 hours of refrigeration. However, we both survived and Easter went on.  I placed the dough in a very buttered pie pan, then froze for approximately 42 minutes.

Now it is time to partially bake the crust. In order to maintain a flat crust, I lined it with parchment paper and filled it with ben's instant white rice. I came up with this idea on my own.

Just kidding. That idea was Dorie's. How do people come up with things like that??!  Bake it for about 20 minutes. Take out the parchment paper/rice, and bake for 3-5 more minutes.


For the filling, I did spinach, ham, and mushroom.  I started by sautéing some onions until golden brown.  I then added mushrooms, steamed spinach and chopped ham.

While the tart was cooling, I mixed the quiche filling. I modified Dorie's recipe slightly to add more heavy cream and cheese, to lighten it up a bit. I mixed 3 beaten eggs with heavy cream.  I placed a layer of mozzarella on the bottom of the tart, then the ham mixture, followed by more cheese.

I then poured the custard (I did not know this was called a custard. Dorie is one smart lady) over the soon-to-be quiche. Oh - I also added a lot of pepper. There can never be too much pepper.  I then baked in a 350 degree oven until the middle was set, about 35 minutes.

And...voila! It tasted great and was delicious 1 hour later as well.  Here is the full recipe:


Crust (or pate brisee):
 - 1 1/4 cups flour
 - 1 t. sugar
 - 1/2 t. salt
 - 6 T. very cold butter, preferably unsalted
 - 1 large egg
 - 1 t. ice water


With a food processor ( or your clean hands if you don't own a food processor, like me) mix together the flour, sugar, salt, and cold butter. Mix in the egg (beaten first), and 1 t. ice water. Knead the dough into a ball and refrigerate.


Filling:
 - 1/2 chopped sweet onion
 - 3/4 c. chopped mushrooms
 - 5 oz. baby spinach, steamed and chopped
 - 1/2 lb chopped ham
 - 1 c. cheese of your choice. I always like mozzarella or cheddar.


Custard:
 - 3 eggs, beaten
 - 1 c. heavy cream

So there you have it.  A good, solid quiche recipe you can make again and again for your own french table.