Alice in the Kitchen

Hasselback Potatoes

Once upon a time, I bookmarked a recipe I saw on Foodgawker for something called Hasselback or Accordion Potatoes.  How could you not want to try to make these gorgeous creatures?

Well, I tried, and I’m here to tell you, they were just so-so.  Definitely pretty to look at, but it was like potatoes with an identity crisis.  Are they baked potatoes?  Are they roasted potatoes?  I never could figure it out.  They definitely are attractive little side dishes though, so don’t write them off entirely.  Looks obviously count for somethin’!

Preheat your oven to 425.  Take your baking potato and slice it into thin strips, almost all the way through the potato.  (My strips don’t look thin because they were sticking together a bit, but in the final result you can see how they fan out.)  Sprinkle with salt and pepper and any other seasonings you like.  I used garlic.

Put your potatoes on a baking sheet and drizzle them with melted butter or olive oil.  I used a little of both.  Make sure it gets down into the slits.

Bake your potatoes for about 45 minutes to an hour, depending on their size.  The skin should be crispy while the inside of the potato should be soft.

I sprinkled these with a little grated Parmesan for the last few minutes of baking.

and serve!

Grandma Kelly’s Hot Dog Stuffing

When Matt and I first started dating, somehow the topic of Thanksgiving stuffing and dressing was broached.  My dad has cooked a number of different types of dressing in my lifetime, like oyster dressing and cornbread dressing.  We don’t have a standard family recipe but instead have experimented with a variety of recipes.

Matt told me emphatically that there was only one kind of stuffing worth eating, much less cooking, and that was his family’s recipe for stuffing made with hot dog buns.

(Hot dog buns?  Did you just wrinkle your nose up like I did when I heard this?  It’s a good thing you are not Matt’s girlfriend.)

So for our first Thanksgiving together, I tasted, with some trepidation, a batch of this stuffing made by Matt’s mom.  And it was delicious!  You would never know it is made with hot dog buns, but I think that hot dog buns provide the perfect amount of bread “crust” to soft bread ratio, which makes it just right for stuffing.  Now I am a believer.
Ingredients:

• 1 ½ dozen hot dog rolls (12 cups)
• 2 sticks butter
• 1 ½ cup chopped onion
• 3 cups chopped celery
• 1 ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp pepper
• 2 tsp ground sage
• 2 chicken bouillon cubes stirred into 2 cups boiling water
• 2 eggs

Tear the buns into quarter-size pieces and throw them into a bowl.  You may need a large bowl, but the buns will shrink dramatically once you have added the liquid.

Sauté onions and celery in the butter and add to buns with the seasoning and toss.

Add liquid slowly, making sure the stuffing isn’t too runny.  Beat eggs and add to mixture.

Stuff turkey and bake leftover stuffing in a greased baking dish for 30-45 minutes (or bake all the stuffing)!  For the record, this is a double batch below.

Black-Eyed Peas and a Happy New Year!

When I was growing up, we would have corned beef, cabbage, and black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day.   Since I don’t have any corned beef fans to cook for these days, I had to at least have some black-eyed peas today, and since it is a serious football watching day, I thought the perfect recipe would be some kind of dip.  I know everyone has seen those “Texas Caviar” where black-eyed peas get mixed in with a basic salsa – but I wanted something warm.  I think this creamy dip turned out pretty good, and it’s very simple.  All you’ll need:

• 2 cans black-eyed peas, drained and mashed with a fork
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup picante sauce
• salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 350.  Then mash the black-eyed peas with a fork.

Then stir in all your other ingredients.

Spread the mixture into a casserole dish and bake for 30 minutes or until bubbly.

Serve with tortilla chips!

Favorite Christmas Truffles

Around here, once we know what we like, we make that thing a lot.  So, for Christmas goodies this year, I made three old standbys (with cute new packaging).

Oreo Truffles – https://aliceinthekitchen.com/2009/11/25/oreo-truffles/

Gingerbread Truffles – https://aliceinthekitchen.com/2009/12/25/gingerbread-truffles/

Cookie Dough Truffles – https://aliceinthekitchen.com/2010/08/13/cookie-dough-truffles/

A peak inside the truffles:

Shrimp and Crab Lasagna

Matt was out of town at a bachelor party a few weekends ago, so I wanted to make a nice meal for him to come home to on Sunday.  After spotting a good deal on lump crab meat at the Costco, I settled on some sort of seafood lasagna.  I had to basically create my own recipe since I couldn’t find one that combined all the ingredients I wanted to use, and it turned out pretty well.  This would be good to serve to company – but it’s SO rich, don’t expect to do much damage to the leftovers!!

Ingredients:

• 16 lasagna noodles
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 5 cups half-and-half
• 2 cups grated Romano
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 pound cooked shrimp
• 1 pound lump crab meat
• 1 cup grated Parmesan

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.   Spray a 9×13 pan with cooking spray.

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the lasagna noodles until they are just done, about 8 minutes.  Drain and set aside.

Melt the butter in a large, heavy skillet.  Add the garlic and cook about 1 minute more.  Over medium-low heat, stir in the flour with a whisk

Gradually add the half-and-half, allowing the sauce to thicken slightly before adding more.  When the sauce has thickened to about the consistency of whipping cream, add the cheese and stir well.

Add the salt and pepper and stir again.  Add the seafood and turn off the heat.

Spoon about 2 tablespoons of the sauce from the skillet into the prepared pan.  Cover the bottom of the pan with 3 noodles, placing them side by side.   Spoon 1/3 of the sauce over the noodles.  Repeat twice – layer 3 more noodles and 1/3 of the sauce.  For the top layer, do not spoon any seafood on top of the noodles; just use the sauce.  Tuck in any edges of the noodles so they’re all coated with sauce.  Top with the Parmesan.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, uncovered, until bubbly. Allow to sit for 10 minutes before slicing.

Cranberry Daiquiri Cocktail

Lauren gave me this recipe, and it is a really nice holiday drink (thanks Lauren!).  It’s a unique change from the standard holiday drink fare.  I made a double batch in the pictures below.  They were really yummy, and the house smelled delicious from the boiling cinnamon sticks!  These would have more of a daiquiri feel if served over crushed ice – and obviously, the glass at the bottom is probably a double serving!!  I also think adding ice would help the cranberries float on top, rather than sinking to the bottom as they did in my version.

Cranberry Daiquiri (as served at the Gramercy Tavern in New York)

Starting Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 stick cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon grated orange peel

½ cup cranberries
½ cup light rum PLUS 1/3 cup light rum (1/2 cup to spike the berries, and 1/3 cup for the drink)
1/3 cup dark rum
1/3 cup cranberry juice
1/3 cup lemon juice

Preparation:
Combine first 4 ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat (sugar, water, cinnamon, orange peel).

Mix in 1/2 cup cranberries.  Cook till cranberries begin to pop.

Cool; discard cinnamon.  Pour mixture into a jar and add 1/2 cup light rum. Chill.

Strain syrup into a pitcher (reserve cranberries). Add 1/3 cup dark rum, 1/3 cup light rum, 1/3 cup cranberry juice, and 1/3 cup lemon juice.

Refrigerate pitcher.  Serve topped with reserved cranberries (would be good over crushed ice – but we didn’t want to water down the punch!)

Pumpkin Ice Cream

I figure after Thanksgiving, I won’t have many more chances to make pumpkin focused recipes, so I wanted to make pumpkin ice cream before it was too late.

I probably should have strained the custard mixture, so if you make this, I’d pour the custard through a sieve.

Overall, I liked this recipe.  It tasted like frozen pumpkin pie!

Ingredients:

* 1 cup canned pumpkin
* 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste
* 2 cups heavy cream
* 3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
* 5 egg yolks
* 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
* 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
* Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

Directions:

In a bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree and vanilla bean paste. Sit aside.

In a heavy 2-quart saucepan over medium heat, combine 1 1/2 cups of the cream and 1/2 cup of the brown sugar. Cook until bubbles form around the edges of the pan, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a bowl, combine the egg yolks, cinnamon, ginger, salt, nutmeg, the remaining 1/2 cup cream and the remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar. Whisk until smooth and the sugar begins to dissolve.

Remove the cream mixture from the heat. Gradually whisk about 1/2 cup of the hot cream mixture into the egg mixture until smooth. Pour the egg mixture back into the pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon and keeping the custard at a low simmer, until it is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon.

Place the bowl in a larger bowl partially filled with ice water, stirring occasionally until cool. Whisk the pumpkin mixture into the custard. Refrigerate until chilled, at least 3 hours or up to 24 hours.

Transfer the custard to an ice cream maker and freeze according to the instructions.  Transfer the ice cream to a freezer-safe container. Cover and freeze until firm, at least 3 hours or up to 3 days, before serving. Makes about 1 quart.

Hot Wing Dip

Directions:
Using a hand mixer or brute force, mix all the ingredients together, with the exception of the last 1/2 cup of shredded cheese.

Voila:

Put the mixture into a small casserole dish and top with the remaining cheese.

Bake at 350 until bubbly (about 20 minutes).  You can also do this in a crock pot, which is good too because it stays nice and warm.

Pizza Casserole

Everyone knows that Matt loves pizza, so I’m not sure what took me so long to make pizza casserole!  This is really easily adaptable – you could add any ingredients you like on your pizza – black olives, green peppers, mushrooms, anything!

• 1 pound rotini noodles
• 1/2 pound lean ground beef
• 1/2 pound mild sausage
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup sliced pepperoni
• 32 ounces pizza sauce
• 1 – 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Let’s get started.

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Cook noodles according to package directions.
3. In a medium skillet over medium-high heat, cook the ground beef and sausage.   Stir in the pepperoni and pizza sauce, and mix well.

By the way, if you are wondering what that strange utensil is in the pan, it is the Pampered Chef Mix N Chop – it’s amazing for cooking ground beef and sausage!!

Add the noodles.

Pour half the mixture into a casserole dish, and layer with half your mozzarella.

Top with the other half of the casserole mixture, then the remainder of the mozzarella and some pepperonis.

Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the mozzarella is bubbly.

And serve – so easy, so good!