Thanksgiving taste-test: Ultimate mashed potatoes

I'll be spending the next few weekends testing recipes for Thanksgiving dinner.

Ingredients
6 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and quartered
4 cloves garlic, peeled
1 cup half & half
12 tablespoons unsalted butter

Method
Put the prepared potatoes and garlic in a large pot filled with fresh cold water and bring to the boil. Turn the heat to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are tender, 20 minutes.

Drain in a colander and shake out the excess water. Add the half & half and butter to the pot and heat until melted together. Push the potatoes and garlic through a ricer into the pot and season with salt. Stir and cook over moderate heat until very hot. Garnish with freshly grated parmesan, fresh chopped parsley, or sweet paprika.

Nice package: Klondike bars

My purchase of Klondike bars last night baffled me for a moment. I thought maybe I was standing in the store’s freezer a bit too long and my brain had gone numb, but sure enough, my Klondike bars were in a 4-sided box with a graphic on the front asking the same thing I was “What’s with the box!?” Turns out Klondike ran out of the foil in which their famous bars are wrapped! So instead of pulling back on production, Klondikes are, temporarily, wrapped like a Ho-ho … another product that was once wrapped in foil, but now wrapped in white opaque plastic. It took me a while to accept the change in the Ho-ho and the King Dons, but the Klondike bar doesn’t come in a 4-sided box and the silver foil is darn near iconic. I hope whoever the foil buyer at Interstate Brands is/was finally got his/her act together and some new foil is on the way.

By the way, take a look at the bottom of the 4-sided Klondike box. There is a website address that will take you to a page where you can get a coupon for $1.00 off your next purchase of Klondike bars, foil-wrapped or not.


Scan by moi

Hey, Tom! Boring eggs

Hey, Tom! I need a simple (but not bland and boring) recipe using eggs as the main ingredient.

A. Let me be the first to say that I can’t think of a time when I had anything with eggs as the main ingredient and thought “wow, this is really bland and boring”, not even scrambled eggs. But there are many wonderful dishes that could illicit major kudos and props instead of just being safe.

Quiche is the first thing that comes to mind, but frittatas take the advantage in that they can be made with any number of eggs and in any size pan. Quiche typically requires more of a recipe whereas frittatas are more of a method. Here is an especially tasty one from the depths of my website.

Mushroom frittata

Ingredients
1 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 small red potato, scrubbed and sliced into 1/4 inch slices
2 cups diced fresh mushrooms
2 teaspoons coarse salt, then more to taste
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, then more to taste
1 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes, them more to taste
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning or dried thyme
3 ounces grated Fontina cheese

Method
Heat oven to 350. Heat a skillet (non-stick, if you have one) anywhere from 8 to 10 inches over medium-high heat for 2 minutes. Add the oil and heat another minute. Add the potato slices and mushrooms and sauté, turning occasionally, until the potato is tender, 8 to 10 minutes; season with salt, pepper and dried red pepper flakes. Shake the pan to distribute everything into an even layer.

Crack the eggs into a large bowl; add the dried herbs and salt and pepper and whisk until the yolks and the whites are just combined. Pour the egg mixture into the pan over the potatoes into an even layer. Cook over medium-high heat until the eggs are moist but set, 5 to 8 minutes (depending on the size of your pan). Sprinkle the frittata with the cheese and place in the hot oven and bake until the cheese has melted (and to whatever degree of brown you like).

Cut the frittata into wedges and serve hot.

Usually when I serve this I can’t help but present it by saying “Mushroom frittata! Ta datta!”

Candy land: English toffee

It’s the chocolate that distinguishes English toffee from regular toffee. Almonds are a good nut choice, but so too are cashews and pistachios look especially festive. Be sure to remove the entire layer around your pistachios to uncover that famous green color.

You can use chocolate chips but know that they contain a stabilizer (ever wonder why chips don’t melt in the oven?) which can make it just that much hard to melt them. Too, the better the quality of your chocolate, the better your English toffee will be.

Ingredients
1/2 lb unsalted butter, plus extra for the baking sheet
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup finely chopped chocolate, dark as you like
1/2 cup finely chopped nuts, put through a sieve to remove any dust

Method
Grease a rimmed baking sheet with butter and set aside.

Combine the butter and sugar in a medium sauce pan with a heavy bottom over medium-high heat and bring to the boil. Stir the mixture constantly until it is the color of a brown paper bag. Pour the mixture into an even layer onto the prepared pan. Sprinkle the chocolate evenly over the toffee; as it melts, smooth into an even layer. Sprinkle the chopped nuts evenly across the chocolate. Set the toffee aside and let it harden before breaking into pieces.

Coming soon: Baby Coke!


Image courtesy of Coca Cola Company

Coca Cola announced that they will be selling some of their most popular soft drinks in smaller 90 calorie cans. The smaller cans will be an option for those who are watching their calories without switching to a sugar-free product. Look for 7 1/2 ounce Coke, Sprite and other varieties in New York and Washington D.C. by December and a national roll out by March 2010.