See, here's the thing. Between my undying love of potatoes and our decision (medical reasons) to eliminate all grains from our diet, I am trying out many new things potato related. Capt has developed grain allergies. Like, seriously. Not just "oh look everyone says grain's bad and I immediately hop on whatever dietary bandwagon is currently trundling down the culinary fad-train track all over Internet Celebrity Hype-Thing". No. We're talking diabetes, gut issues, you-name-it. Here's what happened when grain was eliminated:
- Diabetes (Type 2) went away.
- 45 pounds went away
- Diverticulosis/Diverticulitis disappeared
- Lifelong cholesterol reading of 250+ dropped to 170
- Arthritis and inflammation is gone.
That's not to say it's been easy. Grain is everywhere, even in places you don't expect like most soy sauce (contains wheat), flavored/preseasoned mixes (maltodextrin is often made from wheat), commercially made salad dressings, snacks, even the seasonings on many flavors of potato chips. And, once you've eliminated the stuff from your diet, all it takes is a couple of bites of something containing a grain product to bring all those above-mentioned issues roaring back. Even eating something fried in oil that also fried a wheat product can cause a reaction.
This makes eating out really difficult. We love eating out, trying new things, and having someone else clean up after the meal. Not anymore...too risky. SO...we are trying new stuff at home. I know it sounds like we've gone all carb-free. This isn't true. We love our carbs. We're just getting them in the form of potatoes now. Mmm I love taters. Capt spends a lot of time sifting through the internet, looking for new ways to prepare potatoes that don't just taste like a reiteration of a baked potato.
We had some friends here for a couple of days recently, and an opportunity to try out a couple of recipes on them, with amazing success. I mean...DELICIOUS. Probably more effort than, say, wrapping a tater in foil and shoving it in the oven for a couple of ours, but I love to cook, and mucking around in the kitchen with things like taters and sharp cheese and probably an obscene amount of butter doesn't hurt anyone's feelings at all. Especially when said tater dish is paired up with a delicious marinated steak & chimichurri sauce, or a medium rare grilled eye of round.
So here's the first one we did (seriously, one of those things that is greater than the sum of it's ingredients)
Steakhouse Potatoes Romanoff
- 1 teaspoon of butter or maybe more
- 3 large russet potatoes, scrubbed
- 2 shallots, minced
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon white pepper (preferably freshly ground)
- pinch of cayenne pepper (or to taste)
- 2-1/2 cups grated sharp white cheddar (or yellow but I think white's prettier)
- 1-3/4 cups sour cream
THE DAY BEFORE YOU WANT THIS:
Preheat the oven to 400F (200C)
Wrap each potato in foil and bake for about 90 minutes or until vey tender. Let them cool to room temperature then put them in the fridge until completely chilled- 8 hours to overnight.
THE DAY YOU WANT THIS:
Preheat the oven to 425F (220C) Butter a baking dish generously
Shred the potatoes into a large bowl using a cheese grater. Add the minced shallots. (you want about 1/3 a cup of shallots). Season with the white pepper, salt, and cayenne pepper. Gently toss all this with 2 forks (important! You want it to stay really fluffy!) until combined. Add the cheddar cheese and toss again with the forks. (important! You want it to stay really fluffy!)
Dollop the sour cream onto the potato/cheese stuff in about 1-2 tablespoon sized blobs. Gently stir it in with the forks until barely combined. Pile the mixture gently into the baking dish, fluffing it with the fork and piling high, then pat down very gently, keeping the top kind of rough.
Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, until piping hot and the top is browned.
Notes: I think it would benefit from some minced chives on top.
Tomorrow, I'll put up the recipe for the potato puffs...kind of a hybrid between a pate' choux puff pastry and a potato ball. Because why not. Who doesn't love a crispy pate' choux pastry?
Did I take pictures? Of course not. Putting that stuff on the counter with a delicious grilled eye of round meant it lasted about 10 minutes, amid exclamations of delight and stuff. I never think to take a picture until it's all gone. Just take my word for it. Have I ever lead you wrong? No, not intentionally. So here's a picture of a plain old russet potato:
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