Tag Archives: potatoes

Recipe: Roasted Greek Potatoes

21 Sep

Cavender's Greek Seasoning It’s been six months since I’ve discovered the secret to making Greek food with the same intense savoury flavour that you’d find in a restaurant. It’s called Cavender’s All Purpose Greek Seasoning. I can buy it at my local Loblaws-brand grocery store. I’ve also seen it in many grocery stores in the United States. It’s also available for order online.

I use it to season meat, in homemade Greek salad dressing and tzatziki and in this recipe for lovely garlic-infused roasted Greek potatoes. So next time you’re browsing the spice aisle, look for a jar of this stuff and prepare to use it on everything.

Roasted Greek Potatoes

Greek Roasted Potatoes | baconavecbacon.com

1/3 cup olive oil
1 1/2 cups water
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 packets chicken bouillon
1 1/2 teaspoons Cavender’s Greek Seasoning
6-7 potatoes, peeled and cut into 1″ pieces

In a large baking dish mix the olive oil, water, garlic, lemon juice and bouillon until combined. Add the potatoes and stir to coat them well. Sprinkle the Greek seasoning over top of all of the potatoes.

Cover the dish with a sheet of tinfoil and bake until tender (approximately 1) hour at 350 degrees. When tender, remove the tinfoil and broil for 5 minutes. Watch carefully to make sure they don’t burn.

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Recipe: Garlic Baked Chicken & Potatoes

9 Feb

This dish is so cheap, so easy and so full of flavour that it’s hard for it not to become a favourite. It’s based on traditional Lebanese flavourings called ‘toum, zait w haamid’. Translated from Arabic that’s garlic (toum), zait (oil), haamid (lemon). Here, this tangy combo covers potatoes and cheap bone-in chicken (legs & thighs work best) for a hearty winter meal. It’s probably not a good pick for Valentine’s Day, but we really like it.

Garlic Baked Chicken & Potatoes

Garlic Baked Chicken & Potatoes | baconavecbacon.com

6-10 pieces of bone-in chicken
3-5 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced in 1/2 inch thick discs
20 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 cup lemon juice
4 tablespoons olive oil
salt
1 teaspoon shawarma style spices (available at your friendly neighbourhood Arabic grocery store)

This recipe is easily scaled to fit your family. Depending on how much chicken you’re using, use either a 9×9 or a 9×13 baking dish. Arrange the chicken in the bottom and make cuts in the flesh with a sharp knife. (This will help the sauce to soak in later.) Rub the chicken with a couple of tablespoons of oil, salt and the shawarma style spices.

Take the sliced and peeled potatoes and zap them in the microwave for 4 minutes. This helps to soften them so they’ll be done at the same time as the chicken. Then toss them on top of the chicken and salt lightly.

Throw the dish into the oven and bake at 400 degrees for about 50 minutes.

In the meantime, break out your blender or food processor. Add the garlic, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil and blitz the garlic until smooth (4-5 minutes). Add the lemon juice and blitz for another 4-5 minutes.

When the chicken is done (use a meat thermometer to be sure) pour the sauce overtop of the potatoes and chicken and stir to cover all of the pieces. Switch the oven to broil and bake for another 10-15 minutes or until the potatoes start to brown nicely.

Serve with a nice fresh salad.

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Recipe: Boursin Mashed Potatoes

27 Dec

So this isn’t even really a recipe, it’s more of a method to get beautifully creamy, sinfully delicious herbed garlic mashed potatoes with the least amount of effort possible. I did this to the mashed potatoes we made for Christmas dinner on a whim and all six of us agreed that mashed potatoes have to be done this way from now on. But only for special occasions given the calorie count!

Boursin Mashed Potatoes

6-8 potatoes (preferably yukon gold or russet), peeled and cubed
1 wheel (150 g) of Boursin Garlic & Herb cheese (Costco sells a two-pack for a very reasonable price)
1/4 cup milk

Choose your method of cooking potatoes. Either boil in salted water on the stove top till soft OR microwave in a glass bowl covered with plastic wrap on high for approximately 10 minutes, stirring once. Then let stand for 5 minutes.

When the potatoes are soft, either place in a stand mixer, or use a hand mixer with the milk and cheese and whip with medium power until well combined and fluffy. Serve immediately.

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Recipe: Spanish Chorizo Fritatta

28 Jun

I think we all have those days where you get home from work and stare into the fridge blankly wondering what you can throw together for dinner. Sometimes when that happens, I give up and break out a freezer meal (either homemade or an old standby like chicken fingers) but sometimes, that just won’t cut it because you want something real.

This is a recipe for one of those days.

Spanish Chorizo Fritatta
(based on Martha’s Tortilla Espanola)

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 large potatoes, diced in 3/4 inch pieces
1/4 medium onion, diced
salt & pepper
1/2 PC Spanish style chorizo (hot or mild), diced into bite sized pieces
7 large eggs, beaten
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, optional

On medium-low, heat the oil in the bottom of a high sided non-stick frying pan. Add the potatoes (up to you whether you take the time to peel them or not) and the onion, salt & pepper and cook, covered for approximately 20 minutes stirring often until tender. Throw in the chorizo and let that cook for 3-4 minutes or until it starts getting fragrant. Salt & pepper the eggs before pouring overtop of the potato and egg mixture. Let it cook until the edges are set and the middle is only slightly runny, about 6 – 8 minutes.

Here’s the hard part – slide the whole thing out of the pan and on to a large plate. Then invert the pan over top of the plate and flip quickly so that the top of the fritatta is now in the bottom of the pan. Don’t worry if it doesn’t come out perfect – it’ll still taste great! Cook for another 3-4 minutes until done.

I like cheese with my eggs and potatoes so I decided to add some to the top at the end. Probably not very Spanish, but still very tasty. If you want to speed this dish up a bit, try popping the potatoes in the microwave for 5 minutes before chopping.

This is becoming a favourite in our house (anything with chorizo is a winner). Hope you like it as well!

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