Rebecca Davis 4/13/22 Rebecca Davis 4/13/22

Everything potato gratin

This easy side dish is the perfect way to make something that seems fancy (gratin!) while using all the shortcuts (barely any chopping!).

Take me to the recipe!

So, I used Jamie Oliver’s method for a quicker potato gratin. Gratin’s usually need up to an hour in the oven, but by combining cooking methods, you can get a creamy, crunchy, crispy dish in less than 30 minutes. Also, using everything bagel spice means that you don’t have to chop any onions or garlic or really measure much of anything.

Just a quick word of warning: Use oven mitts to secure the tin foil over your skillet or tin on the stove. You want a tight seal so that the potatoes steam a bit before going into the oven. ALSO, use caution when removing the foil as the steam is plentiful and HOT.

A note about SALT: I don’t add any in this recipe because most of the pre-made Everything Bagel spice mixes are pretty salty. Check your labels and then decide if you want to add more salt. I would recommend a sprinkle of sea salt over the top of the finished gratin if you feel like it needs more.

Everything Potato Gratin

1½ lbs russet potatoes (about 2 very large), peeled and sliced thinly
½ cup heavy cream
½ cup water
2½ Tbsp everything bagel spice, divided
5-6 sprigs of fresh thyme
1½ cups grated cheese (mixture of gruyere, asiago, gouda)

Time: about 30 minutes, mostly active
Yield: 5 side servings

Preheat the oven to 425.

In a large oven-proof skillet or tin, spread the thinly sliced potatoes.

In a large measuring cup, combine the milk, water, and 1 1/2 Tbsp of everything bagel spice. Pour over the potatoes in the skillet. Add the fresh thyme and stir well to combine and to spread out the dried and fresh herbs.

Over a medium-high flame, bring the liquid to a boil. The liquid around the edges of the pan will boil quickly. Look for the first few bubbles in the middle of the pan and turn down the flame to medium-low.

Carefully wrap a piece of tin foil over the top of the skillet or tin. I wear oven mitts to do this because I want a tight seal, but I don’t want to burn myself. Let cook over a medium-low flame for 6 minutes.

Turn off the flame and CAREFULLY remove the foil being sure to wear oven mitts and to remove the foil away from you to avoid the hot steam.

Top evenly with the grated cheese.

Cook, uncovered, in the oven for 15 minutes. Top with the remaining 1/2 Tbsp of everything bagel spice.

Let cool slightly and serve.

Rebecca Davis 3/15/21 Rebecca Davis 3/15/21

Browned butter and leek mashed potatoes

What’s better on your Easter or Passover table than some decadent (browned butter! cream!), spring-y (leeks!) mashed potatoes?

Take me to the spuds!

Spring holidays are the best. They feel like a gateway to blue skies, warmer weather, and, this year, like we’re one step closer to some sense of safety and normalcy. Maybe that’s overstating it, but last year’s holidays were SO WEIRD, right?. I was about 5 minutes postpartum with Z, so I’m sure everything felt worse in that state, but I remember being so afraid. We knew so little about Covid and how it spread. We wiped down our groceries with BLEACH. I was afraid to go in our front yard. We left our mail outside for WEEKS. WHAT THE FUCK.

Anyway, this year has been wild. I was actually imagining talking about it in the future. It’s going to be one of those conversations where the other people all went through the same thing, but we all need to talk about it like we were the only ones.

Anyway, about the potatoes. These are so quick and easy, but a little fancy and extra, which is what I like on a holiday table.

But let’s talk about ricing your mashed potatoes for a sec, shall we? I’m an avowed lazy cook/cleaner. I think it was years of dishwasher-less NYC kitchens that conditioned me to avoid extra dishes at any cost, so I really resisted using a ricer for a long time (and I still don’t use it unless it’s a special occasion). Some people are ricer devotees for achieving those ultra fluffy, creamy potatoes. And when you’re making straight-up, unadorned mashed potatoes, I do think the ricer makes a difference.

However, there are going to be lumps in these potatoes because we’re adding leeks, so I recommend skipping it and saving yourself some time and dishes.

Want to make these extra decadent and fancy? Add a drizzle of cream on top of the potatoes along with a sprinkle of flaky sea salt and some Aleppo pepper to finish it off. It’s *chef’s kiss*.

Brown butter and leek mashed potatoes

Time: 20 minutes, all active
Yield: About 4-6 side servings

1 lb Russet potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1-inch pieces
¼ cup heavy cream + more for drizzling
1 tsp kosher salt, divided
4 Tbsp butter
1 small leek, trimmed, quartered and sliced
¼ tsp pepper
Pinch of Aleppo pepper (optional)

In a medium soup pot, cover the peeled and chopped potatoes with cold water. Bring to a boil over a high flame. Once boiling, continue cooking at a rolling boil (you may need to turn the flame down if the water threatens to boil over) for 8-10 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender.

While the potatoes are boiling, clean and chop your leeks and set aside.

Add the butter to a small pan or pot and heat over a medium flame until the butter has melted and begins to bubble vigorously and pop slightly. If the popping is too much or too dangerous, turn the flame down slightly, but you want to maintain the bubbling. Let the butter cook for 1-2 minutes and check to see if little brown bits are separating and falling to the bottom of the pan beneath the bubbles. The butter should smell nutty. This may take a few minutes longer depending on your pan and how cold your butter was to start, so keep checking regularly.

Once the browning has begun, add the leeks and ¼ tsp salt to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes, until the leeks also begin to brown. If the browning happens too quickly, turn down the flame.

Drain the potatoes and add ¼ tsp salt. Mash well.

Add ¼ cup heavy cream to the mashed potatoes and whip vigorously with a spatula or whisk. When the leeks and butter are sufficiently browned, add them to the potatoes. Season with the remaining ½ tsp of kosher salt and ¼ tsp of pepper, or more to taste.

Rebecca Davis 9/22/20 Rebecca Davis 9/22/20

Warm potato salad

Potato salad might be the perfect transitional food: It’s reminiscent of the BBQs and long summer days that we’re leaving behind, but as we head towards fall, what’s more comforting than a bowl of starchy goodness?

Bring me to the potatoes!

Phew. I am in the thick of this motherhood in a pandemic thing, y’all. (While also trying to be okay with what we have [in-person school half of the time; outdoor, distanced playdates], and what we don’t [travel, grandparents without preplanning, sports, activities]. I was about to actually start this blog post asking, “from where is our worth derived?” And then I said to myself: GET A GRIP BECCA, THIS IS JUST A FUCKING FOOD BLOG.

One thing I’m really missing, and I think we can all relate to this somewhat, is that sense of having discreet portions of the day. I blame the pandemic, the world being both literally and figuratively on fire, and being home all the time, but having a 5.5 month old baby who is, thus far, schedule resistant, also doesn’t help.

Whatever the cause, I miss those few downbeat moments every day where you could switch from one mode to the next. Now I feel like I’m never able to focus on one thing completely. I can’t just test a recipe or take some photos. Instead, I’m doing that while comforting a crying baby and finding a very specific episode of Paw Patrol on the DVR and getting some water and searching for a missing Lego and nursing and and and.

On the flip side, I find myself not tuning in to my kids entirely either, which makes me really upset with myself and this fucking situation we’re in. I think that fear, anger, resentment, and frustration makes it hard for me to find the bandwidth for a really involved pretend game or art project or science experiment. But that sucks for my kids because they aren’t responsible for the pandemic. But I’m also human and I can’t be the perfect mom all day, every day. * PRIMAL SCREEEEAAAAAMMMMM *

But anyway, time marches on and suddenly summer has turned into fall. I don’t know what we did with the warm months. Did they even happen? Who knows.

We did celebrate summer produce thanks to our prolific cucumber, zucchini, and basil plants AND our favorite farm stand. Now that fall is bearing down on us, there’s nothing like a meal to mark the changing of the seasons and this potato salad is the culinary equivalent of a light jacket: A nod to both warm and cold, casual and cozy.

While potato salad might seem relegated to side-dishery, I topped this with a runny egg for an unexpectedly fab breakfast. Try it!

Warm potato salad

Time: About 15-20 minutes, mostly active
Yield: about 3-3.5 cups of salad

1½ lbs small potatoes (new, fingerling, red, etc; cut any larger ones so that most pieces are about the same size)
¼ cup mayonnaise or Greek yogurt
3 Tbsp dijon mustard
¼ cup chopped red onion (about 1 thick slice from a medium or small onion)
2 Tbsp finely chopped chives
1/4-1/2 tsp kosher salt
¼ tsp smoked paprika
Dash of red wine vinegar or 1 tsp of chopped capers

Microwave the washed potatoes in a glass bowl covered with plastic wrap on high for 10 minutes. Or cover the potatoes with cold water until they’re just submerged. Heat over a high flame until boiling. Boil, lowering the flame slightly to avoid the water boiling over, until fork tender, about 12-14 minutes.

While the potatoes are cooking, combine the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.

Once the potatoes are fork tender, add them to the mixture and stir to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.