Easy Potato Dauphinoise

For today's post, I'm throwing it back (who else is a Throwback Thursday fan?) to Thanksgiving.

One of my favorite potato dishes is potato dauphinoise--a delicious layer of potatoes with gruyere cheese, creme fraiche, and nutmeg. It's heavenly but requires a lot of work. You have to peel and slice potatoes, pre-boil the potatoes with garlic and milk, layer them with creme fraiche and cheese, and then bake to a golden brown.

My family used to make this every year at Thanksgiving until we found a recipe that side-stepped all of the potato peeling and pre-boiling!

Though this recipe is a "Thanksgiving" recipe in my family, there's no need to only eat it once a year! It's really sad that I only eat it every November because it is so simple and delicious

. Yes, it's a caloric treat. But with all of this cold weather across the country, it's the exact thing you want to eat on a cozy Saturday night.

Enjoy!

Easy Potato Dauphinoise

From Anne Byrn

1 package 32 ounce frozen hash browns
1 cup grated Gruyere cheese
2 cups heavy cream
Grated nutmeg to taste
Grated pepper to taste
Assorted herbs (Rosemary, thyme)

Heat oven to 400 degrees. 

Put half of potatoes in a glass or ceramic 13 by 9 inch pan. Cover with half of the cheese. Add grated nutmeg and pepper. 

Repeat with the rest of the potatoes, cheese, nutmeg, and pepper. Top with assorted herbs if desired. 

Cover with aluminum foil and bake until potatoes are soft and cream begins to bubble, about 30 to 35 minutes. Take foil off to let spuds brown. Serve!

Kale Salad with Honeycrisp Apples and Parmesan

I could eat this salad every day for lunch AND dinner. I love the lemon and mustard dressing, the salty grated Parmesan cheese, and the crisp sweet apples. 

I found the recipe in Bon Appetit Magazine, and after a few tweaks, it is exactly where I want it to be. Simple enough for everyday, yet elegant and refined for company, this salad is perfect for every occasion this fall. 

Enjoy!

Kale Salad with Honeycrisp Apples and Parmesan

Adapted from Bon Appetit Magazine

Serves two

5 stalks green kale, removed from stem and chopped

1 tablespoons honey

1/2 shallot, chopped

Juice from 1 lemon

1 tablespoon dijon mustard

Salt

Pepper

1/6 cup olive oil

1 honeycrisp apple, thinly sliced

1/6 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Place kale in your salad bowl. Sprinkle salt on top of the kale. Massage for ~5 minutes.

In a bowl, whisk together the honey, shallot, lemon juice, dijon mustard, and salt and pepper. Slowly whisk in the olive oil.

Toss the salad gently with the salad dressing. Add the apple and cheese to the salad, and toss again. 

Enjoy!

Eggplant with Buttermilk Sauce

Since 2010, I have been eyeing Plenty, a vegetarian cookbook from Yotam Ottolenghi. Every time I went into a bookstore, I would flip through it, thinking to myself, "I NEED this book." Yet being a college student with little to no time for cooking, I refused to let myself buy it. I just couldn't justify buying a cookbook when I had no kitchen to even cook in.

This year I finally managed to get myself a copy of Plenty (thanks Dad!). I was pouring through the book, and I kept getting drawn back to the recipe on the front cover. Roasted eggplant, tangy sauce, and sweet pomegranate seeds...it sounded like summer dinner party heaven.

Ottolenghi calls this recipe "rustically elegant," and I couldn't agree more. Serve this with pita or bread as a starter for your next dinner party (whether its two or four people).

Eggplant with Buttermilk Sauce

From Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi

2 long eggplants
1/3 cup olive oil
1 1/2 tsp lemon thyme leaves, plus a few whole sprigs
Maldon sea salt and black pepper
Pomegranate seeds
1 tsp za'atar
9 tbsp buttermilk
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 small garlic clove, crushed
pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Cut the eggplants in half lengthwise, cutting straight through the green stalk. Use a small sharp knife to make three or four parallel incisions in the cut side of each eggplant half, without cutting through to the skin. Repeat at a 45-degree angle to get a diamond-shaped pattern.



Place the eggplant halves, cut-side up, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush them with olive oil--keep on brushing until all of the oil has been absorbed by the flesh. Sprinkle with the lemon thyme leaves and some salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, at which point the flesh should be soft, flavorful, and nicely browned. Remove from the oven and allow it to cool down completely.

To make the sauce, whisk together the buttermilk, yogurt, olive oil, garlic and salt. Taste for seasoning, then keep cold until needed.

To serve, spoon plenty of buttermilk sauce over the eggplant halves without covering the stalks. Sprinkle za'atar and plenty of pomegranate seeds on top and garnish with lemon thyme. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil.

Berries with Greek Yogurt Creme Brûlée

In celebration of Berry Week, Day Two, I bring you a tangy, slightly sweet combination of berries of and yogurt. 

The best thing about creme brûlée is the crunchy caramelized sugar top, that cracks every so beautifully with your spoon. So when I saw this recipe for Greek yogurt with the same addictive topping, I knew it was a match made in heaven.

This dish is perfect for weekend brunches. It seems impressive thanks to the burnt crust, but it couldn't be any easier! It's a delicious marriage of berries, granola, yogurt, and caramel that would please even the pickiest of eaters.

Now, this recipe does turn out better if you follow Bobby Flay's instructions exactly and use a kitchen blowtorch. Since my blowtorch is still sitting in a Sur La Table waiting for me to purchase it, I used the broiler on high heat. While mine did not come out quite as beautifully as Bobby Flay's, they were equally delicious!

Berries with Greek Yogurt Creme Brûlée

Recipe from Bobby Flay

16 ounces 2-percent Greek yogurt

1/2 vanilla bean

2 cups fresh berries

1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus more

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1/2 cup granola

Remove the seeds from the vanilla bean. Combine the vanilla bean seeds and the yogurt in a bowl, then place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Put the berries in a small saucepan with 1/4 cup of water, and cook over medium heat until the berries are softened, about 3 minutes. Remove from the stove and stir in lemon juice and 1/2 cup of sugar. Let cool slightly before dividing the mixture equally amongst 4 eight ounce ramekins.

Sprinkle the granola over the berries, then spoon the yogurt over the top, filling the ramekins. Cover and place in the freezer for 5 minutes.

Remove the ramekins from the freezer and sprinkle 2 tablespoons of sugar over ramekin. Using a kitchen blowtorch, caramelize the sugar by slowly sweeping back and forth over the surface of the yogurt. Let the sugar harden before serving.