Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Garlic Mashed Potatoes


2 lb. peeled and diced potatoes (I like to use traditional Idaho russets, but just about any variety of potato will do).
1/2 to 1 head garlic cloves, peeled and mashed
6 T. butter
1/2 to 3/4 C. milk, warmed
1 T. salt (or to taste)
½ t. freshly cracked pepper (or to taste)
¼ cup fresh chives, chopped, for garnish (optional)


Place potatoes in a large heavy-bottomed pan. Add water sufficient to cover them. Put lid on pan and bring to a boil over medium heat, watching to be sure pan doesn’t boil over. Once the water is boiling, reduce heat slightly and simmer until potatoes are fork-tender.

Drain cooked potatoes and set aside. Return empty pan to heat and add butter. When butter melts, add garlic. Cook until tender. Return cooked potatoes to pan. Mash or whip with immersion blender until nearly smooth, gradually adding warm milk until potatoes are the desired consistency. Add salt and pepper. Place in warmed serving dish, top with chives if desired. Serve.

Note—some people salt the water the potatoes are boiling in, which raises the temperature of the boiling water and lets the potatoes cook faster. I prefer to add salt at the last, when I have more control over the amount the dish has—I think it leaves the potatoes more tender, too. But either method works.

Contest!

Win books by Julie Hyzy!

(Originally announced on http://juliehyzy.blogspot.com/)

Contest - Presidential Trivia.

Everyone who answers correctly will have their names put in a hat. At the end of June, one name will be drawn. He/she will receive his/her choice of one of Julie Hyzy's books.

Choices are:
Artistic License (trade pb)
Deadly Blessings (trade pb)
Deadly Interest (hardcover)
Dead Ringer - written with Michael A. Black (hardcover)
These Guns For Hire - (hardcover anthology. Julie's short story from this volume won a Derringer Award)
State of the Onion (mass market pb)
Hail to the Chef (mass market pb)

To which of our presidents is this quote attributed?:

"Far better it is to dare mighty things - to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure - than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat."

If you type your reply in the "Comments" section, everyone will see your answer.

So, instead, please visit my website: www (dot) julieahyzy (dot) com and send it to me via e-mail from there.
Thanks and good luck!

Henry’s Famous Hash Browns (With fresh chives and fresh thyme)

4 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
3 potatoes, peeled and grated
6 sprigs of fresh thyme, rinsed and stems removed (Use 1/2 tsp powdered if fresh is not available)
¼ cup finely chopped fresh chives (green onions will do in a pinch)
1/3 tsp salt (or to taste)
Fresh chive stalks and thyme branch for garnish (optional)

Place olive oil in a large nonstick skillet. Heat over medium heat.

Mix all ingredients except olive oil in a large bowl. Place grated potato mixture in a potato ricer and use the ricer to squeeze any superfluous water out of the potatoes (This makes them crispy.). (If you don’t have a ricer, press the grated potatoes between sheets of paper towels and press to remove excess moisture).

When oil is heated to a shimmer, pour potato mixture into skillet and mash it down to a thinnish pancake using a spatula. Cook until bottom layer is browned and crispy (about 4 minutes). Turn over and cook other side until browned and crispy (about 3 minutes). Place onto warmed plate or platter and serve garnished with sprigs of fresh thyme and chives tied together with a knotted chive leaf.

Honey Almond Scones

Honey Almond Scones
This recipe is also from State of the Onion, and it's one of my personal favorites. What's nice is that, except for the buttermilk, I usually have all these ingredients on hand in my kitchen all the time.


Scones:

1/4 C. buttermilk or plain yogurt
3/4 C. honey
2 eggs
1/4 t. almond extract
3 C. flour
4 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/2 C. butter
1/4 C. sugar
1/2 C. finely chopped almonds

Glaze:
3 T. butter, melted
1 T. hot water
1 t. vanilla extract
2 drops almond extract
1 C. confectioner’s sugar

Heat oven to 375°F.

Grease scone pan or place parchment paper on a baking sheet and spray with cooking spray.Add honey to buttermilk, stir, then beat in the eggs.Sift together flour, baking powder, soda, and salt. Cut in butter with a pastry cutter. Add sugar, and almonds. Toss to coat.Add the wet mixture to the flour mixture. Stir with a fork until a ball forms. Turn out dough onto a floured board. Knead 5 to 6 times to make sure it is well mixed.

If using scone pan, spoon dough into the pan, spreading evenly among the indentations. If using baking sheet, roll dough into a ball and flatten it some. Cut into 8 wedges.

Bake for 25 minutes or until medium golden brown.Cool on a wire rack.

In a medium bowl, mix melted butter, vanilla, almond extract, and hot water. Add confectioner’s sugar. Stir. If glaze is too thick to pour, add more hot water, a teaspoonful at a time, until the glaze has the consistency of thick syrup. Spoon the glaze over the warm scones.

Extra hint:
If you don't have a scone pan, and the batter proves too unwieldy to cut into those 8 wedges (it's a pretty sticky batter), you can use a mini-muffin pan. I love this option because then the scones come out a little bit smaller. Like two-bite-sized. I spray or otherwise grease the mini-muffin pan, and fill each about 3/4 full. I also cut down the baking time a bit... keep an eye on them. Take a look after about 10 minutes, then turn the pan. Let them bake a bit longer until golden brown. I think I had my last batch in for about 17 minutes and they came out perfectly.

Bucky's Brussels Sprouts

Bucky’s Brussels Sprouts
(this recipe was referred to, but not included in State of the Onion)

These cheesy herbed appetizers will change the mind of any hater of Brussels sprouts.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Ingredients:

Brussels sprouts:25 fresh Brussels sprouts
4 quarts boiling water
1 tsp salt
2 quarts ice water

Blanch the Brussels sprouts for roughly 4 minutes each by dropping the sprouts 5-6 at a time into a 6 quart pan filled with boiling salted water. After four minutes, remove the sprouts with a slotted spoon, dropping them into ice water to stop the cooking process. Continue until all the sprouts have been blanched. Remove the sprouts from the ice water and let them dry.

Cut off stems from Brussels sprouts. Cut each Brussels sprout in half, beginning at the stem end and cutting down to the top of each sprout. Use a small melon ball to remove the middles of the sprouts. You can reserve these centers for a later use (they are great in soups and casseroles), or toss them. Lay the halved Brussels sprouts on their cut sides down on a paper towel covered surface and allow them to drain while you make the filling (below).

Arrange the drained sprouts rounded sides down on a large cookie sheet. You should end up with a tray full of hollowed out Brussels sprouts, hollowed side up. They are now ready to stuff.

Stuffing:
4 oz. good feta (goat) cheese at room temperature
3 oz. cream cheese, softened.
2 TBSP fresh dill, chopped (or 1 TBSP dried dill)
2 cloves garlic mashed and minced (or to taste)
½ cup finely chopped walnuts
1 TBSP of olive oil

Mix together ingredients in a medium bowl until combined.

Assembly:

Place a heaping tablespoon full of filling into each hollowed out Brussels sprout. Place the tray of filled Brussels sprouts into the preheated oven. Cook until filling is melted and sprouts are warmed through—about 12-15 minutes. Turn on broiler, cook until cheese filling bubbles and begins to brown—about 1-2 minutes.Remove from oven and serve warm.

In this recipe, I substituted Laughing Cow Garlic and Herb cheese for the feta and it worked out marvelously. My family and I don't particularly care for Brussels sprouts but these were a hit. I've made them three times so far, and they keep asking for me to make them again.

Let me know if you like these. I'll be sure to pass along your comments to Bucky!

Enjoy!

Brand New Blog with Recipes

Hi there!
Olivia Paras here. But you can call me Ollie. If you've read any of the White House Chef Mysteries, written by Julie Hyzy, then you know I'm the (fictional) first female Executive Chef in the White House. We have a *real* female Executive Chef in the White House right now. Her name is Cristeta Comerford and, from all reports, she's doing marvelously. Any similarities between Cristeta and me are purely coincidental. I'm proud of my fictional adventures, just as I'm sure she's proud of the incredible role she plays in the First Family's life.

So far there are two books chronicling my story. The first is State of the Onion where I whack a White House intruder in the head with a frying pan and get myself involved in an international crisis. The second, Hail to the Chef, came out in December 2008. In that book, I'm in trouble, yet again. This time with bombs ;-)

The third book is due out in January, 2010, and I'll talk more about that one as we get closer to publication date.

For now, I want to introduce ... RECIPES!

Lots of readers have asked to have the recipes from the books available online. This way they can be printed out and taken to the grocery store, or placed on the counter as the food is being prepared. So here they are! (Or... will be. Soon.)

I like the fact that the recipes I've included in the books are simple ones. Quick and easy recipes are the ones that usually become family favorites.

Stay tuned. The next post will be a recipe from State of the Onion. In the meantime, please feel free to comment and let me know if there are any suggestions or ideas you have to make this site better!

Thanks!
Happy cooking,
Ollie