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March 23, 2008

Crispy Potato Cakes Revisited

Back in September, I posted this recipe for Crispy Potato Cakes. This is an updated version of that recipe. The original recipe called for grating potatoes, soaking them in water, squeezing them dry, then mixing with cornstarch, green onions, and seasoning. I've done some Cooks Illustrated-style experimenting with the recipe because I wanted to see if could find a faster way to make these without affecting the quality. To me, the changes are an improvement. They take less time to make and I like the new potato cakes even better.

Test 1: Break out the food processor -- My first experiment was to shred the potatoes using the food processor. The comments for the original recipe warned not to use the food processor to grate the potatoes, but rules were meant to be broken, so I pulled out the food processor and shredded my potatoes. Boy, did that make quick work of shredding the potatoes. And no threat of grated knuckles. That's the only change I made for this version. I didn't notice any difference in the results when I used potatoes shredded with the food processor. The second time I made them with potatoes shredded in the food processor, I decided to lower the temperature from 475F to 425F because at 475F, the edges of the potato cakes had a tendency to burn. The potato cakes cooked more evenly at the lower temperature. I increased the cooking time by 5 minutes. No burnt edges!

Test 2: Frozen Hashed Browns -- Since shredding the potatoes in the food processor worked so well, I decided to try using frozen hashed brown potatoes. I used Alexia Foods Organic Hashed Browns. To defrost the potatoes, I simply opened the bags and spread the potatoes out on a baking sheet and let them sit at room temperature for 1/2 hour. The defrosted potatoes didn't have very much moisture in them, so I decided to skip the soaking and squeezing steps. I tossed the defrosted potatoes with the cornstarch, scallions, and spices. This time, I also experimenting with forming the potato cakes freehand. I filled the measuring cup with 1/2 cup of potatoes and tipped the cup over onto the foil-lined baking sheet. I found that I didn't really need the 3-inch ring to form the potato cakes. The potatoes are moist enough to hold together. I pressed them lightly to slightly flatten them. Eliminating the ring saves a little bit of time. These were baked at 425F for 20 minutes, then flipped and baked for 15 minutes longer. They weren't quite crispy enough after 15 minutes, so I baked them for five more minutes. Ultimately, the baking time depends on how crispy you like them. The potato cakes made using the frozen hashed browns were delicious and took significantly less time to make. This method is the winner in my book.

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Posted March 23, 2008 7:05 PM | Comments (3)

January 11, 2008

Have you ever spatchcocked a chicken?

Or maybe you call it butterflying a chicken. Either way, if you haven't done it, you'll be amazed at how easy it is to do and how quickly and evenly your chicken will cook. When you spatchcock (or butterfly) a chicken, you are removing the backbone and keel bone of the chicken so that it lays flat. Once spatchcocked, the chicken is perfect for quickly roasting or grilling.

Here's a video that shows you how to spatchcock a chicken. It's really easy. All you need is a pair of kitchen shears and your fingers. I use Chicago Cutlery Insignia Kitchen Shears.

Here's my spatchcocked chicken. I rubbed Herbes de Provence under and over the skin. You'll notice that my cutting board is sitting in a rimmed baking sheet. This is a trick that I use to contain the juices from chicken when I cut it. I do the same thing once the chicken is ready to carve.

spatchcocked chicken

Forty five minutes later, we had a beautiful and succulent chicken.

roasted spatchcocked chicken

Posted January 11, 2008 9:15 PM | Comments (1)

November 27, 2007

My Post-Thanksgiving Turkey

I grew up in Plymouth, MA and my family still lives there. If you grew up in the land of the first Thanksgiving, that is where you go for Thanksgiving. My mom cooks the turkey and most of the dinner. That means we don't get a lot of luscious turkey leftovers. So this year, rather than raiding mom's turkey leftovers, I roasted a turkey breast a few days after Thanksgiving.

My friend Kris shared this Herb-Roasted Turkey Breast with Pan Gravy that she had made for her Thanksgiving dinner and gave it rave reviews. Ah, I found the starting point for my turkey breast.

The recipe from Rachael Ray calls for boned turkey breast halves. I decided to skip splitting and boning my whole turkey breast. I added a bit of garlic to the herb rub. And I used a few more bay leaves, and since I didn't have any apple cider, I decided to use white wine and turkey broth in the gravy. I wanted lots of gravy, so I also added 1 cup of white wine to the roasting pan.

I also made some Stuffing Muffins, but I don't have a recipe for them because stuffing is something that I make by adding this and that. The base for the stuffing muffins is whole wheat bread that I dried in the oven. They have celery, onion, sage, sweet Italian sausage, turkey broth, butter, and white wine, but I have no idea how much of each.

Speaking of turkey broth, I use Savory Choice Turkey Broth Concentrate.I love this broth concentrate.

Herb-Roasted Turkey Breast and Stuffing Muffins

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Posted November 27, 2007 9:37 AM

October 21, 2007

Oven-Baked Brown Rice

Last week I had a client menu that had a lot of stovetop dishes, including brown and wild rice. The oven wasn't very busy that day, so I decided to try oven-baked brown rice. I've read about it, but have never tried it. I went to the Cook's Illustrated web site to see what they had to say about baking brown rice. Their recipe was simple and turned out perfectly.

During the week, I like to have cooked brown rice and other grains in the refrigerator so that I can just grab them and use them for our dinners. I'll be making a pan of oven-baked brown rice and wild rice every weekend to use during the week. It takes an hour to cook, but once it is in the oven, you don't have to pay any attention to it.

Rice isn't very photogenic, but here it is.

Oven-Baked Brown and Wild Rice