Creamy Rosemary Potatoes

I'm a total sucker for marketing. If a product is stuffed into a cute package, in miniature form, or has bright colors somewhere on it, it's more than likely going into my buggy. On one trip to Target with Caitlin, I saw a mandoline that was flat, the safety grip clicked on the black, plus it had lime green accents. Mine. In the buggy. That was about two months ago and I just whipped it out the other day to make this yummy potato dish.

With Easter coming up, many of you may be looking to a dish to take to a family dinner. Put this recipe on your list because it is easy to put together, but looks and tastes impressive. That Pioneer Woman knows her stuff.

Creamy Rosemary Potatoes

Pioneer Woman Cooks, page 204

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter

1 cup half and half

1 cup heavy cream

5 or 6 medium russet potatoes, sliced thin

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 medium onion, finely diced

One 8-ounce package cream cheese, at room temperature

1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt, to taste

Freshly ground pepper to taste

2 tablespoons minced rosemary leaves

3 green onions, light green and medium green parts, thinly sliced

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

3 tablespoons minced chives

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Rub the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish with softened butter. Combine the half-and-half and the cream in a large measuring cup.
Using a mandoline or very sharp knife, slice the potatoes very thinly. Place the potatoes in a large bowl. Drizzle with half of the half-and-half/cream mixture and set aside.
In a large skillet over medium-low heat, melt the butter. Add the garlic and onion and cook until translucent, stirring occasionally, about 4 minutes.
Cut the bar of cream cheese in half and add the halves to the skillet, stirring constantly. Continue stirring until the mixture is smooth and combined about 3 minutes.
Pour in the remaining half-and-half/cream mixture and stir to combine. Add salt and pepper and stir. Taste and adjust the seasonings as necessary. Do not undersalt!
Add the rosemary and green onions and stir to combine. Finally, add 1/2 cup of the grated Parmesan and stir to combine.
Pour the cream soaked potatoes into the baking dish. Pour the cream cheese mixture over the top. Scrape out the skillet to get every drop. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup grated Parmesan generously over the top and bake for at least 1 hour, or until golden brown and bubbly. Remove from the oven and let stand for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with the chives, then cut into squares to serve.

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Baked Potato Soup

" Baby, it's cold outside."

When I made this soup, it was 17 degrees in Arkansas. Seventeen. Are you kidding me?! I live in the South for a reason! What makes the 17 degrees even worse, is that today is the first day of winter and it's going to be 60 degrees here. No wonder everyone in Arkansas is sick!

Baked Potato Soup
Source: Annie's Eats

Ingredients:
4-5 russet potatoes
4 tbsp. unsalted butter
½ cup all-purpose flour, divided
6 cups 2% milk
2 tsp. salt
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
¾ cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
½ cup green onions, chopped
1/3-½ cup light sour cream

For topping:
Sour cream
Shredded cheddar cheese
Chopped green onions
Bacon pieces

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400° F. Prick the potatoes with the tines of a fork. Place the potatoes on a baking sheet and bake for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and let sit until cool enough to handle. Scoop the insides of the potatoes into food processor, discarding the peels. Pulse until the pieces are broken into small chunks. (I have a tiny food processor, so it turned my potatoes into glue. - Santa are you listening? - I found it easier to scoop the flesh out and chop into cubes.)

In a large stockpot or Dutch oven, melt the butter. Add 1/4 cup of flour to the pot and whisk into the butter. Cook, whisking constantly, until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Whisk in the milk and the rest of the flour. Cook until thick and bubbling, about 6-8 minutes. Mix in the potato chunks. Whisk in the salt, pepper, and cheddar cheese and stir until the cheese is melted. Remove from the heat, stir in the green onions and sour cream.

Serve immediately. Garnish with sour cream, cheddar cheese, green onions and bacon as desired.

Roasted Potatoes and Garlic

One of life's greatest triumphs would have to be roasted garlic. Seriously. It's amazing. I love to roast it and then use it as a topping for french bread. This side dish combines two of my faves - roasted potatoes and the wonderful, roasted garlic. Oh, make that three faves - wine.

This side dish is totally easy and is great for just a few people or a lot of people. Just adjust to however many potatoes and heads of garlic you can eat. My recommendation on serving it would be to place the potatoes in the bowl, squeeze the roasted garlic on top and mix it all together.

Roasted Garlic and New Potatoes

Source: Pioneer Woman

20 small to medium new potatoes
5 to 7 whole heads of garlic
1/3 to 1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 to 1/2 cup dry white wine
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Quarter new potatoes and set on a large rimmed baking sheet. Lop off the very top of each garlic head and arrange throughout the potatoes. Drizzle olive oil over the tops of the garlic and all over potatoes; do the same with the wine. Generously salt and pepper potatoes and garlic. Toss potatoes to coat. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake at 375 for 45 minutes. Remove foil and continue baking for 20 to 30 minutes until nice and golden.

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Crash Hot Potatoes

I have a hard time coming up with side dishes. Does anyone else have this issue? I can pick a main dish like none other, but when it comes to side dishes, I'm totally clueless. I really need help in this department.

Anyone have any good side dishes to recommend? I'm all ears.

One that we do love in our house is Pioneer Woman's Crash Hot Potatoes. I've only made them one other time and when they were cooking in the oven, Brian stated that it smelled like Christmas in the house. He had given me one of those Rosemary "Christmas" trees last December and so our living room smelled like rosemary. It was awesome. So when the potatoes were cooking up, our whole kitchen smelled like rosemary, which equates with Christmas in Brian's mind.

The only issue I had with these potatoes this time was that I didn't let them boil long enough so I could not mash them down. I had potatoes flying all over the kitchen.


Crash Hot Potatoes
Source: Pioneer Woman

New potatoes (or any small potato)
Olive oil
Kosher salt
Fresh ground black pepper
Rosemary (or other fresh herb)

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add in as many potatoes as you wish to make and cook them until they are fork-tender.

On a sheet pan, generously drizzle olive oil. Place tender potatoes on the cookie sheet leaving plenty of room between each potato.

With a potato masher, gently press down each potato until it slightly mashes, rotate the potato masher 90 degrees and mash again. Brush the tops of each potato generously with more olive oil.

Sprinkle potatoes with kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper and fresh chopped rosemary.

Bake in 450 degree oven for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

Mini Potato Gratins

We don't eat a lot of potatoes in our house. The baked mashed potatoes and now these mini gratins are the most potato dishes I've made in probably 3 years. Pasta is our carb of choice.

But wow. These little beauties will be making it into the regular rotation.

If you watched the past season of The Next Food Network Star, you probably saw these on the finale. Melissa d'Arabian made these on her pilot for her show, 10 Dollar Dinners. I wanted her to win, mainly because I could not stand Jeffrey. He was so snarky and just acted like he knew he was going to win. Anyone else feel the same?

However, these potatoes have me sold on Melissa. They're such a good idea and make you wonder "Why didn't I think of that??" You can vary the cheeses and fillings based on what you love. I happened to have cheddar cheese at home. I also thought about added crumbled bacon to it, which I think I'm going to try next time. Be sure to really coat the muffin tins with nonstick cooking spray. Also, let them sit for a little while after you take them out of the oven so that they'll come out easier and hold their shape.

Mini Potato Gratins
Adapted from Melissa d'Arabian

2 russet potatoes, peeled and sliced very thin
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3/4 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Spray 12 muffin tins with vegetable spray. Layer potato slices and cheese into each muffin cup. Season with salt and pepper and top each gratin with 1 or 2 tablespoons of heavy cream. Cover with foil and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, removing the foil halfway through cooking time. Invert gratins onto plate and serve.

Baked Mashed Potatoes

Being a Southern girl, I've had mashed potatoes a lot. We'd have them at least once a week. Whenever we'd drive down to visit my Maw Maw, she'd always have fried chicken and mashed potatoes ready and waiting for us. They were the best, well, those and my mom's mashed potatoes that she would beat with an electric mixer because my brother hated lumpy potatoes.

Their potatoes were never like these. You see, I have a thing for a crunchy topping. Throw in cheese to the ingredient list and I'm sold.

I made these potatoes with the Pork Chops from yesterday's post. Brian absolutely LOVES these potatoes. He's eaten them almost every night since I've made them. (This recipe makes quite a lot.) Also, go with the full cup of milk like the recipe states. Trust me, you'll think you've screwed up and put too much liquid in it, but it will work. I promise.

Baked Mashed Potatoes with Parmesan Cheese and Bread Crumbs
Adapted from Giada

1 tablespoon butter
4 pounds russet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1 1/2 cups grated mozzarella
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons Italian seasoned bread crumbs

Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a 13 by 9 by 2-inch baking dish with 1 tablespoon of butter and set aside.

Cook the potatoes in a large pot of boiling salted water until they are very tender, about 15 minutes. Drain; return the potatoes to the same pot and mash well. Mix in the milk and melted butter. Mix in the mozzarella and 3/4 cup of the Parmesan. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Transfer the potatoes to the prepared baking dish. Stir the bread crumbs and remaining 1/4 cup of Parmesan in a small bowl to blend. Sprinkle the bread crumb mixture over the mashed potatoes. Recipe can be prepared up to this point 6 hours ahead of time; cover and chill.

Bake, uncovered, until the topping is golden brown, about 20 minutes.