Category: MISC

These guys may be a re-post from when I first started my food blog but they are one of my favorite side dishes for grilled steaks. Plus they can be made up ahead of time and then finished on the grill indirect while the steaks rest.

Southwest Twice-Baked New Potatoes
Adapted from Southern Living March 2006

2 pounds medium-size new potatoes
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
2 tablespoon sour cream
1 tablespoon melted butter
2 tablespoon heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 poblano, anaheim, or jalapeno peppers

Cut a thin slice from the bottom of each potato to make it flat so the potatoes will be stable. Rub them with oil and then rub with the 1 Tbsp of salt.

Bake them at 350f just until soft to touch, about 45 minutes. Remove and let cool for about 10 minutes.

While the potatoes are cooking, char the pepper over a hot flame until blistered. Place in a ziptop bag for 5 minutes, then peel, seed, and dice it. Use half or more of it for these recipe.

Cut a thin slice from the top of each cooked potato. Use a melon baller or a very small spoon to carefully scoop out most of the insides of each potato to make a little bowl. Keep all of the pulp in a mixing bowl.

Add shredded Cheddar cheese and next 6 ingredients to potato pulp in bowl and mash with a potato masher or just a fork. Mix in the diced pepper.

Stuff some of this mixture into each potato shell.

Bake potatoes at 350° for another 10 – 20 minutes until the tops start to turn golden.

Garnish with your choice of more sour cream, paprika, cheese, cilantro or just about anything.

This is one of those “application” posts.  So many things you can do once you master this simple sauce…

I like to use phrases like, “Not your Grandmothers’s…” (Like my“Not your Grandmother’s Herbes de Provence”).  Often, with availability of ingredients, new fangled cooking appliances or even building on years of other cooks experimenting, updated recipes really are better.  But also often, all you are really doing is dressing up a classic that doesn’t really need to be dressed up.
And marinara sauce is one of those things that really doesn’t need much of a dressing up.  Tomatoes are still available fresh, but only for a little while longer.  Cheap; $2.50 a pound is the going rate for sorted, top quality, and as little as a dollar for a bag if you are willing to take fluctuating sizes, a few bruises and variations in color.  For this recipe, grab the dollar a bag ones.  In fact, grab 5 or 6 bags.  Make a big batch, freeze in bags of 1 cup size each bag and you will be very glad you did.  February is just around the corner.  I don’t think my wife will take me to the tropics this year.  But with a few bags of these in the freezer, next winter, I can take my wife to the Mediterranean.  Well, at least her taste buds.

Need I add that this bounty all came from my Farmer’s Market.  If you missed it, I did a photo review of the Kansas City River Market.  Click HERE to see one of the best in the country.  Again… Farmer’s markets are terrific.. even this late in the season.


And you don’t need much to make this thick rich sauce.  All “real food”, nothing zingy.  But deep rich flavors will add all the zing you need.


1 TBS Extra Virgin Olive Oil
4 clove Garlic, smashed and minced
3 pounds ripe Tomatoes (a $1 bag), skins removed
1 tsp sugar
and a few leaves of Basil
2 TBS “Not your Grandmother’s Herbes de Provence”   
or, use the herbs you like, thyme, rosemary, lavender, whatever you please.  My  “Not your Grandmother’s Herbes de Provence” herb mixture works great, and since I always have a little bag of it handy, easy and fast, and is a ready made batch of the herbs I like.

Removing the skins is an easy thing to do.  Get a pot of water boiling, and have a bowl with ice water handy.  Cut an X into the top (not the vine end, the other end)just enough to break the skin.  Plunge them into the boiling water for only 15 seconds.  You want the outside to cook just a shade, but not so hot that the inside starts to cook.  Remove and plunge into the ice bath.  The skin peals easily now.


Smashing and mincing garlic is just as easy.  Take a wide chef’s knife, put a garlic clove between the flat of the knife and a cutting board and smash away with the flat of your hand.  Then just mince away.  Easy and fast!

And now, once all the prep work is done, it is finally time to cook.  In a big cast iron skillet, heat the olive oil.  Add the minced garlic and sauté for just a few minutes. 


While that is working, rough cut the tomatoes into quarters.  Be careful and don’t cut your hand, but best to quarter the tomatoes over the skillet. Every bit of juice you lose on the cutting board is just a bit less flavor.  Also, while you are cutting, remove any hard parts.  the stem end, and if the center is not ripe and red, pull it out.


Add a little sugar, add the “Not your Grandmother’s Herbes de Provence” spices (or your own favorites) and stew away at a gentle simmer.  At a simmer, it takes about 45 minutes for the tomatoes to break down properly.  BUT, the longer you allow them to simmer, the sweeter the sauce will be.  I was doing other things around the house, and let mine cook for an hour and a half.  If you have less time, you can cook at a higher heat.  But keep an eye on them and stir often so they do not scorch.

And here it is after the hour and a half… All bubbly, sweet and filled with flavors.  I moved this in a couple of batches into a food processor and pulsed for just a few times to break it up.  At the last minute, add some fresh minced Basil leaf.  If you want a thin sauce, pulse a lot.  If you want a thicker sauce, no real need to pulse at all.  Me, i like the smooth even look, texture and taste of a thick but not chunky sauce.


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Can you stand a little history???  As originally printed in theWISEGEEK.COM site…

Marinara sauce originated with sailors in Naples in the 16th century, after the Spaniards introduced the tomato to their neighboring countries. The word marinara is derived from marinaro, which is Italian for “of the sea.” Because of this, many people mistakenly believe marinara sauce includes some type of fish or seafood. However, marinara sauce loosely translates as “the sauce of the sailors,” because it was a meatless sauce extensively used on sailing ships before modern refrigeration techniques were invented. The lack of meat and the sheer simplicity of making tasty marinara sauce were particularly appealing to the cooks on board sailing ships, because the high acid content of the tomatoes and the absence of any type of meat fat resulted in a sauce which would not easily spoil.

Even though marinara sauce has a reputation for being easy to make at home, there are currently several hundred different types of marinara offered on the market. Perhaps the increased popularity of marinara sauce is due to recent research which revealed that cooked tomatoes are rich with lycopene, an antioxidant which may help reduce the risk of certain types of cancer.

Written by A. B. Kelsey

 So, simple, fast, easy to make and much richer than the jars you get in the stores.  And CHEAPER!  Save a dollar here and 50 cents there, and you have the budget to buy those little extras (like Kalamata Olives that add so much extra flavor to a simple tuna casserole (well, not so simple actually)).  But, that’s a post for another day.


And the go great with some pasta and meatballs… And that’s today’s subject of my post on my own site… Take a look





Dave here from MY YEAR ON THE GRILL. It really is just this easy!  

 … I CAN COOK THAT! 

And so can you!

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
• Line a cookie sheet with parchment or spray with non-stick spray.
• In a small bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
• Melt together one of the Symphony bars with the stick of butter – I did this in the microwave, stirring after intervals of 30 seconds.  The cookbook says to use a double-boiler technique – your choice.  Once melted, allow the mixture to cool.
• In a large bowl, beat together the cooled melted chocolate, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.
• With the mixer on low, add the flour/cocoa mixture.
• Chop the remaining Symphony bar, and add to the cookie dough. 
• Chill for 15 minutes.
• Using a small cookie scoop, drop cookie dough onto prepared pan.  The cookies spread, so allow at least 2″ between them.
• Bake for 12-13 minutes at 325 degrees.
• Allow to cool before removing from pan.