Home Fries

Salty, crunchy, golden brown, garlic-ky, and slightly sweet= HOME FRIES. I cooked up a batch this morning for breakfast after seeing the recipe on the Cook's Country DVD I rented from Netflix. As soon as I saw the recipe I knew that these would be perfect to make for my hubby. While they take awhile to cook (about 35 minutes), the time is well worth it.

This recipe makes four "normal" sized servings. Between the two of us (who had worked up an appetite on a run in the morning) we got about three servings out of it.

The recipe also calls for 1/2 stick of butter. Now, I'm the total opposite of Paula Deen when it comes to butter-- I try and use as little as possible, but today  I figured I'd better follow the recipe to a "t", just since it was the first time making it. (And yes, the 1/2 stick of butter is totally worth it!)

You begin by cutting up the potatoes and nuking them and 1 tablespoon of butter in the microwave for about 7 minutes.

In the meantime, you saute an onion (in this case, half of a very LARGE onion) in 1 tablespoon of butter in a nonstick skillet until it turns golden brown.

Then, remove the onion to a bowl and melt 2 tablespoons of butter in the skillet and then put the potatoes in the skillet, and pack them down. Leave them alone for 7 minutes, then flip and pack 'em down again. Don't touch 'em for another 7 minutes.

In the meantime, mince up 3 cloves of garlic and some herbs to add to the potatoes (I used thyme, parsley, and sage). And if I were you, I'd start getting some eggs together so you can scramble them.

After the potatoes have browned on side 2 for 7 minutes, then you can stir them around, and let them cook for another 10 minutes, just to get all the sides browned and crisp. With 5 minutes left in the cooking time, I added the garlic, salt, pepper, and herbs.

These were fantastic on their own, but I added a squirt of ketchup. I served these with herb scrambled eggs.

MMM mmm mmm!

Here's the ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs. Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 3/4 inch pieces
4 Tbsp. of unsalted butter
1/2 large onion, finely chopped
3 cloves of minced garlic
salt & pepper to taste
1 Tbsp. of chopped fresh thyme, sage, and parsley

Here's the process:
Microwave the potatoes with a tablespoon of butter in a microwave safe dish covered in plastic wrap for 3 minutes. Give the potatoes a shake (don't remove the wrap), and nuke for another 3 1/3 minutes.
While the potatoes are in the microwave, saute an onion in 1 Tbsp. of butter over medium heat. Once that's golden brown, transfer it to a bowl.

Put the potatoes in the same skillet you used to saute the onion-- pack them down and don't move them for 7 minutes (it's tough, but you can do it). Flip the potatoes, pack them down, and cook for another 7 minutes. Then, cook the potatoes for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. With 5 minutes left on the cooking time, add the minced garlic, salt, pepper, and herbs.

Baked Brown Rice

Since this week is going to be REALLY busy, I cooked a big batch of brown rice to eat this week. It's great with stir-fry, or mixed into soup.

I am rice-challenged (if I cook it on the stove top it's either too mush or burned). Fortunately, Good Eats came to my rescue with a recipe for baked brown rice. It couldn't be any easier.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x9 baking dish with cooking spray and set aside. Then bring 2 1/2 cups of stock to a boil (don't use water-stock is so much tastier).

In the meantime, measure 1 1/2 cups of rice and pour it into the baking dish.

Wait for the stock to boil (don't watch it or it won't boil ;-)).

Once it's boiling, kill the heat, and pour the stock into the baking dish. Stir the stock and rice together.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour.

See, perfectly cooked rice!

 

 

Be sure to fluff it with a fork before serving (or storing).

This recipe makes 4-6 servings (depending on how hungry you are).

Baked Brown Rice
1 1/2 cups of brown rice
2 1/2 cups of stock

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x9 oven-proof baking dish with non-stick spray. Bring the stock to a boil. Once stock in boiling, pour into baking dish and stir in brown rice. Cover dish with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour. Remove from oven and fluff with a fork before serving.