The Pefect Fried Potato!

Maybe I've just been living under a rock since birth but I've recently mastered
the perfect fried potato
... and the trick is in the MICROWAVE.

For 2 servings--
Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 5-8 mins in microwave (unless you're using leftover baked potatoes!!), 10-15 mins in pan


After you pick your taters you wanna fry up, scrub em down (or peel if that's the way you roll), and stab them with a fork. Place on microwave safe plate and nuke for about 5 minutes - give or take depending on the size of tater. Carefully remove tater from microwave and if fork easily goes through the thickest part, you're done with the microwave... otherwise stick it back and nuke for another couple minutes or so.

Let stand for a couple minutes and then slice taters. *Please be careful as taters nuked for a couple minutes retain their heat very well... I highly recommend the use of an Ove Glove or something like it!* Let cool a little and dice or cut up to sizes you want.

Prep your pan- heat pan on med-high, add oil and/or butter.
Add taters and let sit for several minutes.
Add seasonings to your liking.
Toss taters occasionally and when they get the color you like, remove.

I like mine nice and crispy so I leave mine sit for about 5-10 minutes on each side, turning occasionally.

SOOOO YUMMY.  And SOOOOOO much faster than either boiling taters first (something I learned to do from my husband) or just cooking them down from raw.

Crash Hot Potatoes - for hot weather

I love love love Crash Hot Potatoes. I love potatoes, period, but hot damn are those CHP's all kinds of awesome. So because I'm trying (really really hard) to cook more, I wanted to make these again... except it's been near 90 the past couple days and there's no way in hell I'm turning on the oven when it's that hot out. Sorry. Not gonna happen.

Then I remembered seeing an episode of Racheal Ray's 30 minute meals during my maternity leave (oh yeah, I had a baby end of December!!! HOLLA out to the cutest babe in the world!!) where she made a potato dish that ended up looking very much like CHP's except she did it all on the stove TOP in a pan! No oven turning on needed!

But. I can only really go online at work (did I mention I had a baby? yeah my time is hers when I'm not at work) and this computer is ridiculously slow and old so trying to find something on foodnetwork.com is just too much to put up with.

So I just went with this (below) and it turned out... FANTASTIC!! Wahoo!! : )

Hot Weather CHP's

(serves 2 hungry adults)

You'll need:

• 8 each small red potatoes
• extra virgin olive oil
• seasonings of your choice
• microwavable plate
• microwave
• skillet
• stovetop

You'll do:

• scrub/clean 8 small red potatoes
• poke each tater with fork a couple times
• place on microwavable plate and microwave on high for 5 minutes*
• when tender (if fork easily goes through) but not too tender, press taters down (mashed potato thingie works great!)
• heat skillet
• while skillet is heating, drizzle olive oil on top of taters
• season well with salt, pepper, thyme, basil, whatever you want/like!
• add couple turns of olive oil to hot pan
• gently add taters and cook for 5-10 minutes per side
• remove when brown and crispy looking and ENJOY!

Quick, easy, and perfect to make when it's too hot out (and in) to turn on the oven. Even the husband liked them (again)! : )

Honey Mustard Pretzel Chicken and Crash Hot Potatoes

I have a thing about texture... so unless my chicken is fried and crispy or in small bites surrounded by sweet and sour sauce or something, I tend to stay away. But because I'm trying to cook more, and trying to keep that cooking a little more healthy, I needed to think of different ways to keep both my picky palate and Stephen happy.

Last week I tried Cheez-it Chicken and got the "best meal so far" comment from Stephen, but I have a feeling tonight's meal is going to put that one to shame.

At least the smell does.
If you're one of those measuring types... unfortunately, this recipe entails no exact measurements.

Honey Mustard Pretzel Chicken

• Boneless Skinless chicken breast
• Pretzels
• Mayo
• Dijon mustard
• Honey
• Salt
• Pepper

1. Take about 1/2 a cup mayo and about 1/4 dijon mustard and mix. Add about two spoonfuls of honey and mix well. Taste. Keep adding a little more mayo, mustard, or honey to taste. (You'll want some leftover sauce to use as a dipping sauce so be sure to separate some off to the side for later as any that touches the sauce is to be discarded! But if you've come to this blog, I'm sure you know that you cannot eat anything that's touched raw meat and hasn't been cooked! Ewww!)
2. Next take your chicken (I rinse and dry mine first) and salt and pepper both sides and then dip in the sauce and really get it covered and then place it into a zip lock baggie. Once all chicken pieces are covered in sauce and in bag, add any remaining sauce (not the one you separated though!) and let sit.
3. Next take a bunch of pretzels and add to a big zip lock baggie and pound pound pound. Leave the bag a little open so air can escape and don't go crazy with the pounding or you'll poke holes in the bag. Trust me on that one. Empty your pretzels onto a plate.
4. Preheat your oven to 350.
5. Spray down a cookie sheet with cooking spray. Take your chicken that's been soaking in your homemade honey mustard goodness and place in crushed pretzels. Press down on chicken with tongs to so that it picks up lots of the crushed pretzels. After both sides are covered in pretzels, add to cookie sheet.
6. After all pieces are covered and placed on cookie sheet, spray the chicken with cooking spray (you'll want to do this to avoid a soggy crust).
7. Place in oven for about 25 minutes, flipping once.

Serve alongside your reserved homemade honey mustard sauce and...

Crash Hot Potatoes

• Small red potatoes
• salt
• pepper
• herbs of your choice
• olive oil

1. Boil potatoes till fork tender.
2. Preheat oven to 450 and make sure you have a rack up high.
3. Cover cookie sheet with olive oil (enough so nothing sticks).
4. Add potato to cookie sheet, give an inch or two between each.
5. Take masher or serving fork (I don't have a masher) and gently press down. Be careful because they may spread or move a lot.
6. Brush each potato with more olive oil.
7. Add salt, pepper, herbs.
8. Pop in oven till golden brown.

Thank you so much Angie for turning me onto these fabulous taters, and, of course, she found these from the Pioneer Woman.

Damn Good Mashed Potatoes

It really doesn't get much more basic and simple than this!


Mmm, mmm, these are just damn good!

For 6-8 servings

• 3/4 bag of potatoes (I used red and left the peels on)
• salt
• pepper
• butter - about 1/2 stick
  
• milk - about 1/2 a cup
• sour cream - about 1/2 a cup

1. Clean and cut potatoes into chunks and throw in large pot.
2. Fill pot with water about two inches above potatoes and boil until fork very easily can poke through potatoes.
3. Warm up milk and butter so that it's hot enough to melt the butter.
4. Drain potatoes and bring back to pot.
5. Add salt and pepper and press down on potatoes with unplugged hand mixer beaters (or masher).
6. Add warm milk/butter.
7. Mix on low - maybe 20 seconds.
8. Add sour cream.
9. Mix on low.
10. Taste.
11. Add salt and pepper or more milk and/or butter if need be.

So, so good.

I made these tonight and will stick in the oven tomorrow when the green been casserole is baking. Before I put it in the oven, I'll throw a couple dots of butter on top and hopefully these will turn out even better than they did tonight.

Cuz tonight... tonight, they were Damn Good mashed potatoes!

4/13/09 update: Even reheated - by way of the oven with the taters covered with aluminum foil after adding a couple dabs of butter - these were SPOT ON.