Loaded Baked Potato Dip with crispy fingerling potatoes

I thought about saving this one for the NFL playoffs or the Superbowl, but then I realized you all are probably doing a lot of partying these days. What with all the holiday family gatherings, work parties, Christmas and New Year's Eve. Maybe a super easy, crowd pleasing dip would come in handy right about now?

This dip has all the toppings you love on a baked potato - sour cream, cheese, bacon, some chives. Only this way you get a higher toppings to potato ratio which is all anyone really wants, right? If you're traveling with this then just serve it with some thick-cut potato chips, but if you're home and have the oven space, it totally deserves to be kicked up a notch with creamy, crispy-skinned fingerling potatoes. Little mini baked potato dippers! Just make sure to have some pronged toothpicks or forks so you can get a good grip on the little buggers!

Loaded Baked Potato Dip 

with crispy fingerling potatoes

For the dip:

12 slices thick cut smoked bacon, or about 12 oz, cooked until crisp

1 cup sour cream

1 cup greek yogurt

2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

1/4-1/3 cup chopped fresh chives

LOTS of black pepper (if that's your thing)

For the fingerling potatoes:

1 1/2 lbs of the smallest fingerling potatoes you can find

1-2 Tbsp olive oil

salt & pepper

1. In the bowl of a food processor add the cooked bacon (broken into pieces), sour cream, yogurt, cheddar, chives and a few grinds of black pepper. Pulse 5-10 times, or until the dip is well combined but still slightly chunky. Cover and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to an hour. (If you chill it for much more than this, bring it back to room temperature for about 30 minutes before serving)

2. While your dip is chilling, roast the potatoes. Preheat oven to 425F. Clean up the potatoes and dry well. If the potatoes are on the larger side, cut in half, or otherwise bite sized pieces. In a bowl, toss the potatoes with 1-2 Tbsp olive oil until well coated. Spread evenly on a greased baking sheet, or 2 baking sheets if needed, and sprinkle with salt. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until potatoes are soft on the inside and the skin is slightly crispy. Serve warm with dip.

Curried Beef Hand Pies with potatoes and peas

I love eating with my hands. Who doesn't? I mean, I'm not going to dive into a bowl of soup with my fingers, but a nice portable little package is always great. Bonus: less dishes to wash!

Ever since I started making this recipe I've been really into hand pies. Sweet, savory, whatever! In fact, since we left Yellowstone I've been talking about how we should move out there and open a pie shop in a gateway city, ha! They're convenient and super versatile, and while making them at home may not be a 30 minute meal, it's easy enough to double a batch to stick in the freezer for an extremely quick and easy lunch or dinner.

For this spin on hand pies I took my most beloved cheesy pastry dough and swapped out the cheddar for comté which I thought would play better with the flavor of the curry. The peas add a bright sweetness, the potatoes are creamy, and there's a nice pop of curry flavor all made extra rich with a light gravy. 

Don't let the length of the recipe scare you away from making these. You'll only actively be cooking or preparing components for about 30 minutes. If you want to make it even easier, just make the pie dough the day before. It's all basic stuff, and if you've made pie dough before then it will be easy peasy for sure! 

Curried Beef Hand Pies with potatoes and peas

(makes about 6-7 pies)

For the crust:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/4 tsp sweet curry powder

1/8 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp salt

2 sticks/8oz chilled unsalted butter, cut into cubes

4 oz comte, cubed

6-10 Tbsp ice water

eggwash: 1 egg beaten with 1 Tbsp water

For the filling:

1 large yukon gold potato, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes

2 Tbsp olive oil, divided

1 1/4 tsp sweet curry powder, divided

1/2 tsp garam masala, divided

1/2 cup onion, chopped

1 large clove garlic, minced

1 lb 90/10 ground beef

1 Tbsp flour

1 cup chicken broth, divided

1/2 cup frozen peas, or fresh (blanched)

salt & pepper, to taste

1. To make the crust, add the flours, curry powder, garam masala, salt, cold cubed butter and comte cheese to the bowl of a food processor (you can do this by hand if you prefer of course.) Pulse the mixture about 5 times, or until the butter is cut into pieces the size of large peas. Drizzle in 6 Tbsp of water and pulse a few times, adding more water 1 Tbsp at a time if needed just until the dough holds together when you pinch it. Don't overdo it with the food processor - you want to see small chunks of butter in the flour. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead a couple times until it holds together. Flatten it into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, but can be held overnight.

2. To make the filling, bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the cubed potatoes and cook until tender. While the potatoes are cooking, heat 1 Tbsp of olive oil in a large pan over medium high heat. Once the potatoes are done, drain well and add them to the hot pan. Add 1/4 tsp curry powder, 1/8 tsp garam masala and a pinch of salt. Stir well and cook just until some of the potatoes are lightly browned, about 5 minutes, then remove from the pan to a small bowl and set aside. 

3. Return the pan to the stove and reduce heat to medium. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil, then add the onion. Cook until soft and lightly brown, about 5 minutes, then add the garlic and stir just until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the ground beef, remaining teaspoon of curry powder, 1/4 tsp garam masala, and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Cook until beef is browned and cooked through, about 5-10 minutes. Add the Tablespoon of flour, stir well and cook for another minute or 2. Slowly pour in 3/4 cup of chicken broth (reserve the rest) and bring to a boil. Add the reserved potatoes and cook until liquid is thickened, about 5 minutes. Add the peas and cook just until heated through. Taste for seasoning and add salt as needed. Remove from heat and let mixture cool to room temperature. 

4. Once the filling is cooled, look to see if it seems dry. The potatoes will absorb some of the gravy, so if it seems lacking on the gravy or needs to be loosened up a bit, add some of the reserved chicken broth and stir until it is moist. 

5. Preheat the oven to 425F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Unwrap the refrigerated dough and place it on a lightly floured counter and lightly dust the top with flour. Roll the dough out to slightly less than 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out the pie shells using a 6 inch circular cutter if you have it, or find some other instrument like tupperware that's roughly the same size (I used the top of my food processor), or use a knife. Gather up the scraps and re-roll as needed to get 6-7 circles. 

6. Distribute the cooled filling evenly onto the center of each circle of pie dough. Wet the edges of the dough slightly with a little water on your finger, and fold dough in half over the filling. Pinch the edges tightly together and seal by pressing with a fork. Using a fork, poke a few holes in the top of each pie crust, then brush the tops lightly with the eggwash. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown. Cool for 10 minutes before eating. These also freeze beautifully - just cool to room temp, wrap in plastic and place in a resealable plastic bag and freeze! They can be reheated in the oven straight from the freezer. 

Potato Gnocchi with Peas and Pancetta - Daring Cooks July 2011

Steph from Stephfood was our Daring Cooks' July hostess.  Steph challenged us to make homemade noodles without the help of a motorized pasta machine.  She provided us with recipes for Spätzle and Fresh Egg Pasta as well as a few delicious sauces to pair our noodles with!

Pasta hates me. Or more accurately, pasta and pasta machines hate me. See, this is the second time I attempted to make fresh pasta and the pasta machine gave me the finger. I don't know what I ever did to you, pasta machine... can we kiss and make up?

The last time I tried to make pasta, I took my brand new machine out of its box and began to roll out my dough only to find that a piece of the metal on my machine was bent causing the pasta to clump up and get stuck. Fooey. I could brush that off as a mechanical failure, though.

This time I enlisted the help of my BFF and a different machine, very confident that all would go as planned. The pasta rolled out into beautiful sheets which I liberally dusted with flour and set aside. I was so proud! Then came time to cut it...

Where did I go wrong?! I don't know, but the machine refused to cut all the way through the pasta creating lumps of mangled, angry spaghetti. ANGRY spaghetti. After a couple attempts I decided to just cut it into fettuccine since that was easier to separate by hand at least. But after cutting a couple sheets into fettuccine, I came to the realization that all the rest of the sheets had stuck together despite my best efforts to avoid just that!! Why?!

The  best I can do is blame the humidity. It's always the humidity.

I did end up with a small, but very delicious bundle of pasta anyway, so not all was lost. I still need to settle the score with Pasta though....

In the end I made some gnocchi to complete this challenge. They were light and fluffy and extremely easy to make. Probably what I should have made to begin with!

Potato Gnocchi with Fresh Peas and Pancetta

Makes about 3 servings

For the gnocchi
8 oz potatoes (whole, unpeeled)
1 egg
1/2 cup all purpose flour

For the sauce
3 thick slices pancetta
1 Tbsp all purpose flour
1 clove garlic, minced
3/4 cup whole milk
1/2 cup parmigiano 
1/2 cup fresh peas, shelled and blanched for about 2 minutes
Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Put potatoes in a pot with enough water to cover by an inch. Bring to a boil and cook until very tender, about 20 minutes. Remove from the water and let cool for a couple minutes, then peel the skin off. (You can then use the boiling water to blanch your peas.) While still hot, put the peeled potatoes through a ricer into a large bowl. 

2. Add the egg to the riced potato and mix well. Add the flour in two stages, mixing until a uniform dough forms. Divide the dough in half, and on a floured work surface, roll each half out into a 1/2 - 1 inch thick log (depending on how big you want them). Using a bench scraper or knife, cut the log into 1/2 inch pieces. With the back of fork or your finger, make an indentation into each gnocchi on one side. Refrigerate until needed. 

3. While preparing your sauce, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the gnocchi - they are done when the float to the surface. Drain.

4. To make the sauce, cook the pancetta over medium heat until crispy. Using a slotted spoon, remove the cooked pancetta from the pan and set aside. There should be about a tablespoon of fat left in the pan - if there's more, drain the excess. 

5. Add the minced garlic to the pan with the fat. Saute for just a minute, then sprinkle in the flour, whisking constantly for about 30 seconds. Slowly whisk in the milk, scraping up any little brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Let simmer until beginning to thicken, then add the parmigiano and peas and cook for another minute. Add the crispy pancetta, reserving a little bit for garnish. Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste. Pour the sauce over the drained gnocchi and mix gently. Serve immediately topped with the reserved pancetta and extra parmesan if desired.

Southwestern Potato Salad - Daring Cooks June 2011

Jami Sorrento was our June Daring Cooks hostess and she chose to challenge us to celebrate the humble spud by making a delicious and healthy potato salad. The Daring Cooks Potato Salad Challenge was sponsored by the nice people at the United States Potato Board, who awarded prizes to the top 3 most creative and healthy potato salads. A medium-size (5.3 ounce) potato has 110 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no sodium and includes nearly half your daily value of vitamin C and has more potassium than a banana! 

 I love potatoes. I'm pretty sure I've already mentioned that. My Polish blood and all that. 

Strangely enough though, I'm pretty picky about potato salad. This is mostly because I'm not terribly fond of most mayonnaise and I hate it when potato salad is drowning in the stuff. I also don't love German potato salad because I do like it creamy rather than oily. 

The obvious way for me to deal with this is to replace some of the mayonnaise with greek yogurt as I normally do in many mayonnaise based recipes, but I wanted to try something a little different for this challenge. Instead of mayonnaise I chose to make a creamy sauce using one of my favorite healthy fats - avocado! And for the sake of reducing calories and adding some more veggies, I pureed the avocado with sweet peas which added a pleasant sweetness as well as keeping the salad creamy. 

I'll definitely make this little experiment again. It's like guacamole + potatoes! Who couldn't love that?

Southwestern Potato Salad

Makes about 6 servings

1 1/2 lbs baby red potatoes, scrubbed and quartered

1 cup frozen sweet peas, thawed

1 avocado

juice of 1 lime

1 garlic clove, minced

1 small red onion, chopped

1 jalapeno, minced (veins and seeds removed if you don't want it spicy)

2 Tbsp cilantro, minced

3/4 cup frozen corn

1/4 tsp salt, or to taste

1/4 tsp black pepper

1. Add the potatoes to a large pot and cover with cold water. Season liberally with salt, bring to a boil and cook for 15-20 minutes, or until tender. 

2. Meanwhile, add the flesh of the avocado, peas, lime juice and garlic to a food processor and process until a fairly smooth puree forms. Transfer the puree to a large bowl and add the chopped onion, jalapeno, cilantro, corn, salt and pepper and stir until well mixed.

3. Drain the potatoes and let cool for about  10-15 minutes. Once they've cooled slightly, add to the avocado mixture and stir gently until everything is well incorporated. Taste for salt and pepper and add as needed to taste. Chill and garnish as desired!

Irish Champ

Anyone who knows me knows that I love potatoes. I could make a meal of just that bowl of potatoes right there. That little pool of irish butter is just calling out to me...

I'm not Irish, but I love to cook around St. Paddy's day. Maybe it's because I don't live too far from Boston or something. Or maybe it's just fun. Either way, I prefer something a little more authentic than green beer, so as the first part of my favorite St. Patrick's day dinner menu, I introduce you to champ - an absurdly simple but absolutely delicious variety of mashed potatoes.

These creamy mashed potatoes are filled with cream, butter and green onions. The onions are steeped in the dairy which mellows them slightly and really lets the onion flavor infuse the whole dish. And don't you worry on about carbs or fat - just make them for a day and enjoy!

Champ

Makes about 4-6 servings

2 pounds potatoes (russet or yukon gold) peeled and cubed 

1/2 cup heavy cream (or whole milk if you're no fun)

2 oz (1/4 cup) butter, preferably Irish (like Kerrygold)

1 1/2 cups green onions, sliced

1. Place potatoes in a large pot and cover with about an inch of cold water. Bring to a boil and cook until very tender, about 15 minutes.

2. While the potatoes are cooking, add the cream and butter to a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Mix in your green onions, cover and set aside off the heat. 

3. Drain your cooked potatoes, return them to the pot and mash. Add the cream mixture and stir until blended. Season to taste with salt and pepper. When serving, make a little well in the middle of your potatoes and add an extra pat of butter to dip your potatoes in  as it melts. Enjoy!

Egg Stuffed Potatoes

I likes me some eggs. Poached eggs on toast is one of my favorite comfort foods and I'll eat it any time of the day. I think a runny egg yolk makes almost anything taste awesome x10. Not much beats the creamy, rich flavor and texture a nicely cooked egg adds. I also happen to think that adding an egg to almost anything makes it a meal. Lucky for me it really does! Eggs are a great source of protein and good fats, especially if you're cooking with high quality eggs.

Speaking of which, I've become a real Egg Snob lately. I've been buying eggs from local farms as much as I can and find myself turning my nose up at the pale yellow yolks you find in grocery store eggs. They make me sad. If you've never had a real farm fresh egg, you should so go out of your way to find some. It's worth it, trust me.

I also love potatoes. Mmm, starchy goodness. It must be my Polish genes. When I happened across this idea at Home cooking in Montana, I knew I had to try it.

These little potatoes are so delicious. You can stuff them with just about anything you'd like - various cheeses, veggies, meats, etc. Of course, the bigger the potato, the more fillings you can fit in! They're great as a light dinner alongside a salad, or would be perfect for a brunch dish as well. Best of all, they're super cheap and easy!

Egg Stuffed Potatoes

2 PRE-BAKED Potatoes

2 Eggs

Butter

Salt

Pepper

Various Filling Ideas:

cooked meats: crispy bacon, ham, sausage, leftover chicken/steak, tofu etc

veggies: chopped broccoli, spinach, roasted garlic, asparagus, onions, peppers, salsa

CHEESE!: cheddar, mozzarella, pepper jack, gouda, muenster, you name it!

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Slice just the top of your (already cooked-through) potatoes off to expose their fleshy goodness. Scoop out some of the flesh - you want plenty of room for your fillings, but you still want a good later of potato. Reserve the flesh for another use.

2. Sprinkle the inside of each potato with a little salt and pepper. Place some of your fillings into the hollow of your potatoes. How much you use will depend on how big your taters are. Just make sure to leave room for your egg. 

3. Carefully crack a whole egg into each potato. Sprinkle with a little more salt and pepper to taste, and add a bit more cheese and fillings to the top.

4. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until the whites are set but the yolk is still runny. (Bake for a few minutes longer if you prefer a firmer yolk.)