Red Pepper-Onion Roasted Potatoes

Peppadew peppers, apparently found wild in Africa late last century, are supposed to be found pickled in jars or cans, maybe even in bulk in the deli case. Mild to hot, I guess they look like a cross between a red bell pepper and a cherry tomato. I searched the canned fruit/vegetable aisle, the end-caps of the big bins of the fruit and vegetable stands in the produce section, and in the condiment section amongst the pickles and pepper rings of three different grocery stores and came up empty-handed. If you plan ahead, you can order them. I executed the following recipe and simply omitted the six Peppadew's called for.

Red Pepper-Onion Roasted Potatoes
adapted from Cooking Club, Winter 2014
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6 medium Yukon gold potatoes, peeled, halved lengthwise, sliced crosswise (1/2 to 3/4 inch thick)
1 large sweet onion, cut into 1 1/4-inch wedges
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 1/2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp coarse sea salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Heat oven to 425ºF.

Combine oil, salt and pepper in a large bowl.


Toss potatoes, onion, and bell pepper in oil mixture.


Arrange on large rimmed baking sheet.


Bake 45 minutes or until potatoes are tender, lightly browned and peppers are lightly charred.



As with any roasted vegetables, tossing them in salted/peppered olive oil before spreading them across a big sheet and cooking at high heat yields tender, slightly sweetened, delicious veg. I didn't miss the Peppadew peppers but did wonder what they'd bring to the table. If I come across them in the future, I'll try this again.

Cost:

• Yukon gold potatoes: $2.50
• sweet onion: $0.95
• red bell pepper: $1.50
• extra-virgin olive oil: $0.14

Total: $5.09 or about $0.85 for each of 6 servings

Buttermilk-Parsley Mash with Bacon

What goes with some braised beef better than mashed potatoes? How about mashed potatoes with bacon, parsley and onions stirred in and baked like a casserole? I wasn't sure about that either but it sounded like something worth trying.

The original recipe said to use 2.5 lbs of potatoes but the bag I bought only had 2 pounds in it. I might've used a half-pound of bacon. And I'm not sure how much parsley I used but it was whatever a bunch yields.

Buttermilk-Parsley Mash with Bacon
slightly adapted from Cooking Club
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2 - 2 1/2 lb. Yukon gold potatoes, peeled, cut into 2-inch pieces
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp kosher salt, divided
4 oz. bacon, diced
2 c lightly packed very coarsely chopped fresh parsley
1/2 c hot water
1 c chopped green onions
3/4 c buttermilk
1/4 c unsalted butter
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

Heat oven to 375°F. Butter shallow 2- to 3-quart glass or ceramic baking dish.

Place potatoes in large pot with enough cold water to cover; add 1 tablespoon of the salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; boil 15 minutes or until tender. Drain. Reserve pot.


Meanwhile, heat medium skillet over medium heat until hot. Add bacon; cook until nearly crisp, stirring frequently. Pour off half of the drippings.

I started with a cold skillet, threw the bacon in, and cooked it for 10 minutes.

Add parsley and hot water; cook 5 minutes or until liquid evaporates and parsley is tender. Add green onions; cook 30 seconds.


Place buttermilk, butter, remaining 1 teaspoon salt and pepper in same pot used to cook potatoes; bring to a simmer over medium heat. (Buttermilk will look curdled).


Add potatoes; mash with potato masher.


Stir in parsley mixture.


Spread potatoes in baking dish, leaving top uneven so potato peaks brown. (Potatoes can be prepared to this point up to 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Increase baking time 10 to 15 minutes.) Bake 30 minutes or until browned on edges and peaks.



The dish tasted good and went well with the beef. But I am not totally convinced that baking the potatoes after mashing them is a necessity. After all, all the ingredients were already cooked and hot when mixed together. I might short-cut this next time.

Being shy a half-pound on the potatoes didn't seem to make a big difference in the final outcome. More bacon wouldn't hurt, but when would it ever? As for the water added to the bacon with the parsley, a little less would've resulted in fresher looking cooked parsley. It took my water more than 5 minutes to evaporate and the parsley looked a little sickly by the time the water was off. One last thing...if I do this and bake the potatoes again, I'll do it in an 11x7" dish instead of an 8x8" square. It'll make portioning the servings a little simpler (if that is important).

Cost:

• Yukon gold potatoes: $3.99
• bacon: $1.88
• fresh parsley: $1.88
• green onions: $0.89
• buttermilk: $0.20
• unsalted butter: $0.20

Total: $9.04 or about $1.13 for each of eight little servings.

Sticky Lemon Chicken and Champ

Okay, so the initial Ramsay recipes were good but not absolutely outstanding. The good-yet-not-absolutely-outstanding ones were quick ones, as far as time spent on recipe execution. And then I struck upon the time-consuming-ish stuffed chicken legs recipe which was exceptional. I'm not sure where this one will lie - it's straightforward and quick and maybe not so great? OR it's straightforward and quick yet totally awesome. As with all recipes, there's only one way to find out. Let's roll.

As usual, I had to Americanize the quantities in the ingredients list before I got started.

Sticky Lemon Chicken and Champ
adapted from Channel 4
click to print

Chicken
1 large chicken, jointed into 8–10 pieces
sea salt
black pepper
3–4 tbsp olive oil
1 head of garlic, halved horizontally
Few thyme sprigs
Splash of sherry vinegar
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
3 tbsp honey
1 lemon, finely sliced (ideally with a mandolin)
Bunch of flat leaf parsley, chopped

Champ
2.2 lbs Russet potatoes, peeled
sea salt
black pepper
2 tbsp butter
 6–8 spring onions, trimmed and chopped
100 mL heavy cream
100 mL whole milk, plus extra if needed

Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over high heat.


Season the chicken with salt and pepper.


Brown the chicken pieces (in batches if necessary) with the garlic for 2–3 minutes on each side until golden brown.
 
I did two batches, reserving the first batch on a plate. The garlic went into the skillet with batch two. The splatter screen is definitely a good idea.

Return all the chicken to the pan, add the sherry vinegar and bubble until reduced by half.

This just took two minutes.

Drizzle the soy sauce and honey over the chicken, add the thyme, and shake the pan to mix.

The thyme was supposed to be added to the skillet with the chicken when it was browning. I goofed up and when realizing my error, threw the thyme in ASAP.

Pour in a good splash of hot water and add the lemon slices. Let the liquid bubble and reduce down until syrupy, which will take about 10 minutes or so. By now the chicken should be cooked through.


Meanwhile cut the potatoes into similar-sized chunks and bring to a boil in salted water for about 10 minutes, until tender when pierced with a small sharp knife. Drain well.

2 lbs of potatoes in my 3.5-quart saucepan.

Mash the potatoes while still hot, using a potato ricer if you have one.


Stir through the butter and spring onions.


Pour the cream and milk into a saucepan and bring just to the boil.

Oh poop, the milk and cream boiled over within 4 minutes. Keep an eye on this!

Gradually pour the warmed cream on to the potatoes, mixing well. If the mash is too thick, add a little extra milk. Season generously.

I used only about half the cream mixture.

Transfer the chicken to a platter and sprinkle over the chopped parsley, serve with the champ and green beans.

Crap, I didn't do the green beans.



Excellent! I learned that champ is mashed potatoes with green onions in it I'd call them mashed potatoes with green onions (or in the case of colcannon, cabbage) but they actually have names.

The chicken is nicely browned, glistening, lemon flavored, and juicy. The skin though, is a little too wet and rubbery for my preference so I wound up removing it before eating the chicken. Skin notwithstanding, the chicken is awesome! The only thing I regret is that I didn't have the green beans on the side like the original recipe suggested.

Just an FYI, I used 2.36 lbs of potatoes (mass before peeling) and only half the cream/milk to make the champ. Consider this if you try it.

One last thing, in case you're wondering how this compared to the stuffed legs. Didn't come close. Definitely second. Well, I did like the rice. And the wings. And the orechiette even though it was salty. Let's just say it wasn't as good as the stuffed legs.

Cost:

• chicken: $12.02
• olive oil: $0.24
• garlic: $0.36
• thyme: $0.50
• sherry vinegar: $0.47
• honey: $0.36
• lemon: $0.53
• flat leaf parsley: $0.59
• Russet potatoes: $1.63
• butter: $0.14
• spring onions: $0.49
• heavy cream: $0.41
• whole milk: $0.15

Total: $17.89 for about $4.47 for each of four servings.

Roast Chicken with Pesto and Potatoes

After making pesto and having quite a lot of it left after making the stuffed burgers, I couldn't dream of doing anything but making that same chicken recipe I'd talked about. This time around I'm going to do it with all of my current know-how along with that homemade pesto. And an expensive chicken. I have a feeling it's going to be awesome.

The original recipe includes chicken stock that you're supposed to add to the pan for making sauce once the chicken and potatoes are done. Remembering how good the chicken turned out when I did it almost 20 years ago, I knew I wouldn't need the pan sauce and skipped it.

Roast Chicken with Pesto and Potatoes
adapted from Epicurious
click to print

about 1 c pesto
4 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
6-lb roasting chicken
2 lbs medium-size red-skinned potatoes, quartered
salt
fresh-ground pepper

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Stir pesto and garlic in medium bowl to blend.


Transfer 1 tablespoon pesto mixture to small bowl and reserve for sauce.


Spread half of pesto mixture under the skin, over outside, and inside the cavity of the chicken. Truss the bird if you like.


Place potatoes in large roasting pan and toss with remaining pesto mixture.

I should've added a little more oil in the pan.

Push potatoes to sides of pan; place chicken in center.

The recipe didn't suggest trussing the bird, but I opted to do a quick truss by cutting a slit into each side of the skin flaps near the cavity and jamming a leg into each slit. Bourdain explains it with much more description in his Les Halles Cookbook. And then I was paranoid so tied the legs together with twine. The twine was probably not necessary.

Sprinkle chicken and potatoes with salt and pepper.


Roast until thermometer inserted into breast registers 165°F and potatoes are brown and tender, about 70-80 minutes.

I had set my probe to beep once the chicken reached 160°F assuming the chicken temperature would reach the USDA/Food Network recommended 165°F while standing. My bird was in the oven for 70 minutes.

Transfer chicken and potatoes to platter.

Had I added more oil earlier, the chicken back skin probably would not have stuck to the pan. If you notice the temperature meter, it says the chicken breast is up to 171°F - that's a 6 degree difference in less than 5 minutes.

Serve chicken with potatoes.


Twenty minutes into the oven and I was dying, it smelled so good. I'd set my temperature probe to beep when the breast reached 160°F and the temperature was zooming up so fast it was to 165 by the time I got the bird out of the oven. Next time, I'll set the probe to beep at 155°F knowing that the temperature will rise another 10 degrees. To try and keep myself from cutting into the bird too quickly, the bird and potatoes were transferred to plates. Skipping the sauce (I wouldn't eat anyway), I squirted some soap in the roasting pan and got some hot water in there before putting the Brussels sprouts on.

And man, the potatoes, the potatoes! So freakin' good! The majority came out with nice crusty exteriors, just very mildly seasoned, with the ultimate interior texture, just perfect. The chicken, while the rest might be dry from my letting it rest only a brief time, is spot on. Exquisitely seasoned (man, I used Maldon's and it is awesome) with hints of pesto the bird is extremely juicy. The sandwiches this will make!!

Oh, and I liked the simple truss technique. It's not nearly as fussy and annoying as trussing with twine. Click the pic if you want to see how the Bourdain truss looks after cooking.


Cost:

• pesto: $6.11
• garlic cloves: $0.32
• chicken: $11.38
• red-skinned potatoes: $1.38

Total: $19.19 or about $4.80 for each of four big servings.