Main Course

In-N-Out Animal Style Potato Wedges

- Elspeth 5 Comments

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Oh. Good. Lord. If this doesn’t have crack written all over it more than crack itself does, then you can slap me. In the face. Because I just had the most delicious ride on the tasty train and let me tell you: I am buying another round trip ticket.

I will also be purchasing some stretchy, elastic-waistband pants to accommodate my soon-to-be mammoth size. I can smell the glory now.

I didn’t want to do animal style fries or a burger, and potato wedges sounded so…hearty. Because that’s what this meal needed– more substance. And boy….mission accomplished.

Make extra onions or else you’ll be fighting over the last morsels (1 onion per person). This recipe makes enough of everything for 3-4 people.

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In-N-Out Animal Style Potato Wedges

sauce recipe from Serious Eats

6 slices American cheese
Sauce
2.5 T mayo
1 heaping tablespoon ketchup
3 t sweet relish
1/2 t white vinegar
1/2 t sugar
Onions
3 large yellow onion, diced very fine
2 t vegetable oil
Potato wedges
3 large Russet potatoes
1 T salt

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, add the oil until shimmering. Add the onions and salt and reduce heat to medium low. Continue to cook, about 25-30 minutes, until brown and starting to really caramelize. Add 1 T water and cook off (about 1 minute), until the onions are melty. Do this a few times.

Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 425. Scrub the potatoes, cut into wedges (cut each in half, then 4 wedges per half), and soak in water for 10 minutes. Dry completely a with paper towel, place on a baking sheet, and toss with the oil and salt. Bake for 20 minutes with a cut-side down, flip, and bake another 20 minutes.

In a small bowl, mix together the sauce ingredients. When the potatoes and onions are done, layer on an oven-proof ceramic plate:

  1. Potatoes
  2. Cheese
  3. Onions

Place that back in the oven and heat until the cheese starts to melt, a couple of minutes. Add a few dollops of sauce on top and serve immediately. Sit back and watch the smiles pour in from your audience of admirers.

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Baked Eggs in Crispy Hash Brown Nests

- Elspeth 2 Comments

Here I am again with potatoes. My old friend. Loyal. Beautiful. Delicious. It’s hard to say no to something this sexy.

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Am I right? Can I get an AMEN?

And what better friend to pair with potatoes than an egg? There is no partnership in the universe that can top this dynamic duo (although Bert and Ernie do a damn fine job of trying).

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A crispy bed of hash browns, cheesy filling, and soft baked eggs make this a wonderfully indulgent breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, etc. The filling is really the key here– it nicely ties together the egg and hash browns with a salty kick from the Gruyere and a sweet slap in the face from the caramelized shallots.

Be sure to wring out your potatoes well to get out as much moisture as possible, or else you’ll have soggy nests. Yum. Soggy. A great word to use when describing food.

Baked Eggs in Crispy Hash Brown Nests
1.5 lbs Russet potatoes
4 T melted butter
4 oz cream cheese
1 c shredded Gruyere
1/3 c milk
6 shallots, diced fine
1 T butter
12 -15 eggs
1/4 c cream
Pepper
Red pepper flakes
Chives

You can either make this recipe into 18 egg nests or 12 nests and 1 small ramekin, about 6″ diameter (I chose the latter). Grease your pan of choice.

In a skillet over medium-low heat, melt the 1 T butter. When hot, add the diced shallots and reduce heat to low after 2 minutes. Continue cooking slowly over low heat for about 45 minutes, or until very soft and brown. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 425. Scrub and peel the potatoes, then shred them in a food processor or with a box grater. You should have about 4-5 cups. Place into a dishtowel or cheese cloth and wring out over your sink. This is best done in smaller batches, to maximize the moisture expulsion. Mix the shredded potatoes with melted butter and press into your greased pans so that you have an even wall of potatoes up the sides and on the bottom of your nests. Bake at 425 for 30-35 minutes or until brown.

Reduce the oven temperature to 375. When the shallots are good and caramelized, place them in a bowl with the cream cheese, red pepper flakes, pepper, milk, and Gruyere.  Mix thoroughly. Spoon a tablespoon of the mixture onto the baked nests and smoosh down to flatten (for the larger ramekin I used about 1/2 c). Crack an egg into each nest (2-3 for the ramekin), spoon about a teaspoon of cream onto each one, and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the eggs are set (ie, they don’t jiggle when you shake the pan). Cool for 5 minutes, run a knife around the edge of each one, and then lift carefully onto plates. Sprinkle with more pepper and the chives, then serve immediately.

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Beet and Potato Pancake

- Elspeth Leave a comment

My coworker sent me this last week and it’s sad how close it hit home. I love potatoes. Like, LOVE them. More than so many things. My boss is scared to even look at french fries when I am nearby, because he knows I will fly into a rage if anyone touches them.

I think I have a problem.

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Oh, well! Better happy with a potato, than normal and sad without one.

The true name of this dish is roesti. It’s basically a gigantic plate of hashbrowns, but Cook’s Illustrated gave me a lovely variation that I used for inspiration. They added beets, but I one-upped them with the further addition of celery root (aka, the unsung hero of the underworld…get it? Because it’s a root?…Screw you guys, I’M laughing).

I paired it with some goat cheese and horseradish sauce, fried shallots (clutch), maple-cayenne pecans (make extra, for insanely good snacking), and arugula salad. DIVINE.

Make sure to keep the heat on the medium-low side of things, so that you don’t burn the bottom. The pieces all went very well together and I would definitely recommend this as a complete meal, but if you just go with the roesti I think you’ll still be quite happy. I have visions of this with a poached egg for breakfast. Mmmm.

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Potato and Beet Pancake

inspired by Cook’s Illustrated

For the pancake:

3/4 lb Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and shredded
1 small celery root, peeled and shredded
3 medium beets, peeled and shredded (I used both red and gold)
1/4 c finely diced scallions
salt and pepper
6 T butter

For the horseradish sauce:

3 T horseradish
1/2 c goat cheese
3 T sour cream
pepper

For the pecans:

1 c pecans
1/2 cayenne pepper
enough maple syrup to coat the pecans (approx. 1/8-1/4 c)

Fried shallots (fry at a low heat in peanut oil for best flavor)

Arugula salad (I went with a lemon-dijon-honey dressing)

For the pancake, mix the shredded potatoes, celery root, and beets together in a bowl with the salt and pepper. Melt 4 T butter in a large cast-iron pan over medium-low heat. When hot, press the potato mixture in until you have a pretty compact cake. You may need to move the pan around over the heat, so that the pancake is evenly browned. After about 15 minutes, loosen the pancake with a spatula, place a plate over the top, and invert onto the plate. Add the remaining 2 T butter to the pan and melt, then slide the pancake back into the pan to cook on the other side. Brown another 15 minutes.

For the horseradish sauce, simply mix everything together in a bowl.

For the pecans, spray a baking sheet with oil and then mix the pecans, syrup, and cayenne together on top. Spread out into a single layer and bake at 375 for 10 minutes.

To assemble, place a wedge of the pancake on a plate, dollop on some horseradish sauce, sprinkle with the fried shallots, toss the arugula salad in with some pecans, and enjoy the heck out of one fine meal, you sexy son of a B.

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