| The LDSCN Weekly Recipe Archive Potatoes |  |
Recipes used by permission. ***Potato Pancakes***
A Sassafrassy recipeFirst shred the potatoes in a food processor or on a cheese grater. Place the shredded potatoes in a medium sized bowl and cover them with cold water. Chill the bowl in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, or even overnight if you prefer. Sometimes when I'm in a hurry I put them in the freezer for about 15 minutes. After soaking and chilling, drain the potatoes very well, squeezing out the excess moisture with your hands.
2 cups shredded raw potatoes 2 medium eggs 3/4 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons flour Bacon Grease or Margarine for frying In a medium bowl, combine the drained potatoes, eggs, salt and flour. Mix it all up with a fork, until it is well combined. Heat about 2 tablespoons of bacon grease or margarine in a large skillet over medium high heat. When it is hot, drop in spoonfuls of the potatoes. Try to keep them kind of small, maybe the size of hamburger patties. Fry them until they are golden brown underneath. Flip them and brown the other side too. Transfer the cooked pancakes to a plate and serve. I like them with applesauce, but they are good with ketchup too. The kids treat them like Mc Donald's hash browns, and eat them as a portable breakfast. You could add a little dried onion with the flour if you liked, maybe 2 teaspoonfuls. This recipe is easily doubled if you are serving a large crowd or your family is very hungry. This is good for breakfast, but also makes a nice main dish for lunch. (These are also called potato latkes. DE)
A Sassafrassy recipe
***Ham and Potato Casserole***
or
***Spam and Potato Casserole***
or
***Sausage Potato Casserole***Melt the margarine in a saucepan. I use a huge iron skillet, or a pot that can go on top of the stove, and in the oven. But you could just use a 2 quart sized saucepan to prepare the sauce first, then later on, pour it over the potatoes and ham in a large casserole.
1/4 cup margarine or bacon grease 1/3 cup flour 3 cups milk 1/4 teaspoon pepper 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 cups cooked, chopped ham OR a 12 ounce can of luncheon mean (like spam) OR a pound of bulk sausage (see note) 6 potatoes, peeled and sliced But before I confuse you unnecessarily, essentially, you are making a white sauce. Melt the margarine in a pan, and stir in the flour until all of the lumps are dissolved. Add the salt and pepper. Gradually whisk in the milk. You could also use a fork to stir in the milk, but a whisk works better. Cook and stir the sauce over medium heat until it boils. Stirring a lot, let the sauce boil for a full minute.
Arrange the potatoes and ham (or spam or cooked sausage) in a large oiled casserole (3 quart size), or a 9" by 13" rectangular pan. Then pour the sauce over top. Or you can do it like I do and after preparing the sauce in a huge skillet, gently add the potatoes and ham (or spam or sausage) to the sauce. You kind of have to press the potatoes into the sauce, so they sink to the bottom. Cover the pan or pot with a lid or tin foil. Bake at 350 degrees for an hour, or a little more. Serve hot with Coleslaw and Savory Green Beans and plain muffins. The family will sing your praises in the streets.
Note on Sausage Potato Casserole: Sausage can be substituted for the ham or spam. Fry up a pound of bulk sausage in a skillet, breaking it up into small pieces with a fork. Drain off most of the fat. Omit the margarine, and add the flour directly to the cooked sausage. Stir it up and gradually add the milk. Add the salt and pepper if you like, or leave it out if your sausage is spicy. Bring it to a boil and simmer for about a minute. Pour this sausage gravy over the potatoes in an oiled casserole or sort of shove the potatoes into the sauce, if you cooked it in a big enough skillet. Cover the dish with a lid or tin foil and bake it as directed. Very good either way.
***Vegetable Beef Soup***
A Sassafrassy recipeFirst off you need 2 pounds of beef. It can be any kind you find on sale, or need to use up. Venison, too, is especially good prepared this way. I have also used hamburger with good results. It cooks the fastest, and should be fried and drained, before combining with the water and vegetables. Usually I use a small beef roast. Beef is easiest to cut when it is still partially frozen. Slice it up and cut each slice into chunks, about an inch square. Then put the meat chunks into a very big pot, 5 quarts or bigger.
2 pounds beef (hamburger is fine) 1 quart water (4 cups) 4 or 5 potatoes, peeled & chopped 1 onion, chopped 2 garlic cloves, minced 3 or 4 carrots, sliced 3 stalks of celery, sliced canned or frozen corn canned or frozen peas or beans a can of tomato product (see note) 2 teaspoons salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper Beef boullion cubes, optional Add the water, onion, garlic, and canned tomato product. You could brown the meat first in a little oil, but I never bother with that step. Put a lid on the pot and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer the meat for 45 minutes. While it is simmering, you can prepare your vegetables.
Use fresh, or frozen or canned vegetables. The raw ones go into the pot after the meat has cooked for 45 minutes. The frozen ones go in about 15 minutes later. And the canned ones go in 15 minutes later still, undrained. The point of juggling the cooking time is so that none of the vegetables get too mushy. You could just put everything in after cooking the meat for a while, and then let things work themselves out. After adding the canned vegetables, continue cooking for about 10 minutes and then serve. The total cooking time, from start to finish, is about an hour and a half, or 90 minutes. The meat needs this long to cook in order to be tender and easy to chew. Add the salt and pepper with the potatoes, and add boullion cubes to taste, if you want to. I usually add boullion because I think they make a tastier soup. If this recipe is too confusing, E-mail me and I will try to write it more clearly. Vegetable Beef Soup is really simple. You just cook meat and vegetables until they are all soft. This recipe makes enough to serve twice. Good with homemade bread.
NOTE: You can use any type of tomato product that you have in the cupboard. A can of tomatoes, or tomato sauce, or tomato paste, or even condensed tomato soup. The size of the can doesn't matter too much either. In a pinch, I have used ketchup, about 1/2 a cup, and had good results. If you have fresh tomatoes to use up along with other garden produce, just chop them all up and add to the soup. They will all cook eventually, and when they cook together, they taste even better.
Hash Browns: Wash as many potatoes as you want to use, or one for each person you are serving. I seldom bother to peel them for this recipe but you could if you wanted to. Shred the potatoes on a coarse cheese shredder, or in a food processor. Heat a skillet over medium high heat with 2 to 3 tablespoons of bacon grease or margarine in it. When the pan is hot, add the shredded potatoes and pat them down so they cover the pan evenly. Fry without the lid on for about ten minutes. Carefully pry the browned bottom up and flip the potatoes over in largish chunks. Add more fat if you need to, about 2 more tablespoons worth. Fry again for another 8 to 10 minutes and serve with catsup. If desired, you may cook a chopped onion along with the potatoes.
French Fries: Peel a potato for each person you are serving, or as many as you'd like to use up. Cut the potatoes into finger sized pieces (the size and shape of commercial french fries). Soak the potatoes in a bowl of cool water for at least 20 minutes, or as long as several hours. You must do this step in order to make home made french fries. I used to try to skip this step to make the work go faster, and my results were never as good as I wanted them to be. Soaking the potatoes removes part of their starch, crisps them up some, and makes them fry up the way french fries are supposed to. After soaking the potatoes drain them very very well. Heat your oil or shortening to about 370 degrees. Use a deep fat thermometer, if you need to. At this temperature, a one inch cube of white bread will turn golden brown in about 50 to 60 seconds. If it takes longer for your bread to brown, turn up the heat. If the bread browns in less time than that, turn the heat down. Carefully drop the dry potatoes into the hot fat, the fat should cover them completely. Cook for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until they are just beginning to turn brown. Drain on paper towels or a brown paper bag. Salt liberally and serve with catsup. These are delicious.
Oven Fries: Peel your potatoes, or not, as you see fit. Cut them into french fry shapes, or thin slices. For each potato you will need about a tablespoon of oil. Put the potatoes into a plastic bag with the oil. Shake them up, coating the potatoes liberally. Arrange them in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes. Depending on how thickly they were cut, it may even take up to 20 minutes. Salt liberally and serve hot. These are good with seasoned salt too. Serve with catchup.
Fried Potatoes: Use cooked or raw potatoes, which ever you have on hand. Cut them into slices about 1/4 inch, or less, in thickness. Heat a little fat in a skillet. Add the potatoes, arranging them in layers if necessary. Cover the pan if the potatoes are raw, but if they are already cooked, you needn't bother with this step. For the raw potatoes, steam them in their own moisture for about 15 to 20 minutes. When they are nicely browned, turn and brown the other side. Add a little more fat if need be, for browning the second side. To fry the cooked potatoes, simply brown them in the pan for about 10 minutes, and then flip to brown the other side. Season with salt and pepper and serve hot.
Scalloped Potatoes: Peel and slice about 8 potatoes. In a cereal bowl combine 1/3 cup of flour, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Arrange a layer of potatoes in a well oiled casserole. Sprinkle on a liberal amount of seasoned flour. Repeat the process until you run out of ingredients. Pour milk into the dish until it barely reaches the top of the potatoes. Dot with margarine and bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes to an hour. The potatoes will be tender when poked with a fork. The flour thickens the milk as it bakes. Allow the dish to sit for a few minutes before serving.
Au Gratin Potatoes: Prepare "Scalloped Potatoes" above. When layering the potatoes and seasoned flour, sprinkle on a little shredded cheese too. Use about a cup of shredded cheese for the whole dish. Make sure to leave some to sprinkle on top before baking. Delicious.
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All recipes compiled by Desi Ellis.
Revised: 31 Dec 01