There’s nothing quite like a big mound of mashed potatoes with a little pool of melted butter in the middle. I only melted that little bit for the purpose of the photo – normally I don’t add more butter – there was butter in the potatoes already, although not much. But doesn’t that make you want to dip your spoon there and take a big mound – and snag a little bit of butter? Good stuff, this.

Fresh spinach hadn’t quite gotten used up, so I hunted for a recipe that included it. Sure enough, found one in one of my holiday cookbooks, Welcome Home for the Holidays (Gooseberry Patch) . The one that generally doesn’t get looked at except . . .during, . . . well, the holidays. But I figured there might be a plentitude of mashed potato recipes. Sure enough, there were. The book gave me an idea, but really I did my own thing here, adding buttermilk (instead of canned evaporated milk, yuk), and my own concoction of herbs (fresh rosemary, chives and Italian parsley from our garden) and a few ounces of Boursin cheese. Lots of salt and pepper, plus a couple of tablespoons of butter. Then I added in the baby spinach that I’d chopped up. It didn’t require cooking, just residing in that hot mass was enough to cook baby spinach. If you use regular spinach you might have to cook it a bit. Or, easier yet, use a box of frozen chopped spinach. And I used Yukon Gold potatoes – my go-to favorite because they’re already almost buttery-tasting.

This would be a great way to serve potatoes, which everybody likes, but make it more healthy with the addition of spinach. You could easily add even more spinach – I used half a pound. It would serve as a really nice bed for chicken, or steak, or a pork chop. Or even fish too. So, it’s very versatile. Nothing fancy. Just plain cookin’ and delicious.

A year ago: Hazelnut Chocolate Chip Cookies with Rum
Two years ago: Beef Tenderloin in Puff Pastry

Greek cooking isn’t a cuisine I turn to very often. Not that I don’t enjoy it – I do – but I just don’t think of Greek food first. Other types of culinary culture pop up in my mind first (like Italian or French). But we were making a Greek rotisseried leg of lam for a dinner party we had the other night. I needed a side dish to go with it and the grilled vegetable salad, the Syrian pita bread salad, and the Lemon Upside Down cake I’d planned.

I don’t even own a Greek cookbook, but found this recipe in my ancient Woman’s Day Encyclopedia of Cookery. It’s a set of 12 cookbooks (you can buy them used – wow, they’re worth $86!). The set was a gift from my then father-in-law in 1966. They offer a treasure-trove of information. I turn to it every now and again and always learn something.  Although they aren’t in-depth about any one thing, there are stories and cultural tales throughout, in addition to thousands of recipes and factual and historical information. Not only can you look up specific ingredients or cooking methods (like horseradish, turnips, frog’s legs, fricassee, [how] to fold or flapjacks) but you can research cuisines (like Chinese, Turkish, German). So, I turned to the G volume for Greek, and spotted this recipe. I did change it just a bit – I didn’t sauté the rice (like for a pilaf) because I just didn’t take the time. I also added chicken broth instead of plain water. But otherwise, the recipe is the same.

And it was perfect for this meal. I made the rice in my Zojirushi Rice Cooker, which made it ever-so easy and it sat there awhile on low until the dinner was done and I was ready to serve. The rice: VERY good, considering that it’s a very simple side dish of rice, onion and spinach. The spinach is added in at the last – I used baby spinach so it took only a minute or two to cook through.

A year ago: An essay about food trends for 2009
Two years ago: Spinach and Berries Salad (that’s the salad that’s up there at top – my Tasting Spoons photo)

You want a tasty grilled vegetable salad? Oh gosh, is this one ever good. My friend Linda T. came to visit last week and she told me all about this recipe, telling me I just HAD to make it. It fit in perfectly with a rotisserie Greek lamb dinner I made last night. I doubled this recipe, and have just a little bit leftover after serving 7 people. Everybody liked it. I loved it. The recipe came from Ellie Krieger at the Food Network. I followed it to the letter.

Simply put, it’s nothing but grilled vegetables (bell peppers, onions, zucchini and eggplant) with a red wine vinegar, oregano and olive oil dressing drizzled over it, with some freshly cut tomatoes and crumbled Feta cheese. And some mint. The BEST part is you can make it up a few hours ahead (Dave was busy on the barbecue for quite awhile, he was quick to tell me) and let it sit at room temp until you’re ready to dress it and get it ready for serving. I poured it into the new bowl (pictured above) that Linda gave me for Christmas (thank you, Linda). Goes perfectly with my dishes. I didn’t have one of those curly edged bowls. Now I do. And I’ve got this great recipe which would be good any time of year.

Am sure you can change the ingredients a bit – use more or less of anything. But this combo of peppers, zucchini, eggplant and onion was perfect. A winner of a recipe.

A year ago: White Chocolate Bread Pudding
Two years ago: Seared Steak Salad

This is an oldie. But a goodie. It used to be a regular on my holiday menu – whether it be Easter, Thanksgiving or Christmas. Or even just for a dinner for guests. I’ve made it with fresh broccoli (like this time), but hey, it tastes just great with frozen chopped broccoli. So if you don’t feel like fussing with fresh, you’ll not be disappointed using frozen chopped. I decided to post it, in case you’re thinking about some easy, but different casserole to make for Easter dinner. It can be prepared ahead and popped in the oven when dinner is close. My recollection is this recipe came from an ancient Sunset Magazine. I searched their website but couldn’t find it. I got it from a distant relative, Gerry Black, a loo-ooo-ng time ago. But it’s weathered the ages. Well. 

Somehow, we’ve gotten out of the habit of making cream sauce. Well, you know, maybe it’s not so good for us, especially if you use butter and cream. But, this one CAN be made with non-fat milk and a bit less butter if you want. It calls for mayo, so you can use non-fat mayo if you want, though I prefer low-fat. Of course, it doesn’t taste as good, but it’s okay. So, you may alter the recipe any way it suits you.

There’s the dish, L-R: Mixing in the broccoli to the cream sauce; in the hot water bath ready to go in the oven; easy serving right out of the casserole.

A note about the onion. I think I’ve mentioned here on this blog before, that when I was a young woman and still learning to cook (this, when I was in my 20’s) I was a bit loose with the herbs and spices. I figured that if a teaspoon of thyme (one of my favorite herbs, still is) was good, then 2 teaspoons would be better. It probably worked fine with thyme, maybe not so well with curry powder. Time, age and humility have set in, though. I now use what the recipe calls for first. THEN, if I want to, I’ll diddle with the proportions. Hence with this and the onion. The original called for about a tablespoon of onion. Well, I don’t know about you and onions, but with me — who uses a tablespoonof onion, for heaven’s sake? So, I started using more. But then I noticed that it tasted more like an onion casserole with a green vegie in it, instead of a broccoli casserole. That’s the humbling part of it – I learned that this recipe really doesn’t like tons of onion in it. So be gentle. But I’ll tell you that the mayo is an important component – don’t skimp on it, be it full fat or low or non. Of course, it makes it delicious.

A year ago: Bailey’s (Irish Cream) Cream Cheese Brownies (very rich, very sweet)
Two years ago: Warm Bean & Brie Dip (very easy, a quite delish)

It’s been about 3 years since I posted this recipe, back in May of ‘07. And “keepers” sometimes need to be repeated – those recipes I would encourage you to make. Over and over. Cooked carrots have a bad rap sometimes. Remind people of baby food, or something.  But these little gems have a burst of flavor – from garlic, olive oil and lemon juice. And a little bit of ground cumin and brown sugar. They’re especially good if  you make them ahead and allow them to sit overnight in the dressing (chilled, of course). I like to let them sit out and get to room temp. You just need to briefly cook the carrots – you’ll want them to be just barely tender, or you can make them more crunchy if that’s your preference. The dressing is very easy to make (good at this time of year with ripe lemons filling bowls in my kitchen) and just stir it all up and let the carrots marinate. This is best with some kind of highly seasoned dinner – don’t serve this with a filet of sole, for instance. Not unless you’re making it with garlic and lemon juice. This recipe could also be made with zucchini – or maybe better yet, do both and serve them side by side. Would make a very colorful side dish.

What’s in this: carrots, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, ground cumin, brown sugar and parsley. And a bit of salt and pepper too. That’s it. Click HERE for the write-up I did back in ‘07. I took new pictures of the carrots, and will insert this new one in the old recipe since this one is much closer and clear!

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A year ago: A list of the 50 top blogs
Two years ago: Sugar Snap Pea Tops

Thanks goodness for photography. I might never have made this side dish had I not seen the photo of it. Isn’t it unusual? I always like unusual. Anybody can make scalloped potatoes. Or mashed, or home fries. So somebody at Martha Stewart obviously thought outside the box – standing thinly sliced potatoes on their sides.

What a neat idea! Making this is really quite easy, although it does take a bit of time to slice 4 pounds of potatoes! My DH did the peeling for me, and I got out my trusty Oxo Good Grips Mandoline Slicer which made short order of 4 pounds of potatoes – I used Yukon gold, or Russets would be fine. Once sliced, you gather up a handful of the potatoes at a time and stand them up together – you don’t really want them to be all together  in a uniform shape like the original whole potato – the irregular heights helps make this different. You do this by small groups, and eventually you’ll get all the potatoes to form a full circle and fill in the center of the well-oiled pan. Then you push some shallot slices in between the slices.

More butter and oil are brushed or drizzled over the top, along with some salt, pepper and red pepper flakes and into an oven they go for 1 1/4 hours. Fresh sprigs of thyme are added to the pan and they return to the oven for another 35 minutes. SO, we’re really talking about 2 hours of baking time to make this. Just plan ahead. You can’t make it ahead, of course, or the potatoes would turn brown. Just start this 2+ hours before you want to eat. Were they difficult? No. And the taste? Really good. Everybody at our Valentine’s dinner table exclaimed over them. Will I make them again? Absolutely! I think they’d be best for a special-occasion dinner – like Easter ham, or a roast. But I’d also like to try them made in individual gratin dishes too – like larger ramekins. They’d take less baking time, so I’d have to experiment with that part.

A year ago: Ginger Picks (a British appetizer – on a toothpick, little cubes of ham, canned pear and crystallized ginger soaked in port – very yummy)
Two years ago: Pear and Chocolate Tart (my mouth is watering remembering this – a rustic pie crust loosely folded over the filling of fresh pears and chocolate)

Cabbage isn’t the most photogenic blossom on the block, I’ll admit. And the leeks hiding inside didn’t much poke their heads above range, so what we have is a kind of beige looking glob. But the taste – well, that’s all that matters, isn’t it?

When I read about this recipe over at Marie’s blog, I knew my DH would love it – he adores cabbage in almost any way, shape or form. So with the addition of leeks, a cheesy cream sauce and a breadcrumb topping, I knew he’d be in seventh heaven. And he was. It’s a simple recipe, really. Just needs to be made in steps: (1) cooking the sliced cabbage and leeks in boiling water; (2) making the traditional cream sauce with butter, flour and low-fat milk, with some grated cheese and a smidgen of grated nutmeg added; and (3) preparing the buttered crumbs to sprinkle on top. I made everything the day before – just didn’t do the crumb topping until the last minute.

And I must tell you a story. I took this dish to our son and daughter-in-law’s home on Sunday for a festive family Valentine’s dinner. In the photo at top – - I brought the Berkshire ham you can see on the plate at right, the potatoes you can see in the foreground, and Karen made fresh asparagus. So I popped this casserole in the oven 35 minutes before serving time. Right on time I opened the oven and the casserole was still very pale looking, so I turned on Karen’s broiler. And within about a minute the infrared broiler element had set the bread crumbs on fire. I mean flames. Our son saved the day by pulling out the casserole from the oven and extinguishing the fire, fortunately. And at that point I was looking at this blackened – a la flambé – mess. Not the kind of flambé that you want, though. But once I took a flat edge to the casserole I was able to scrape all the blackened crumbs to one end and we ate it without mishap. In the picture above you can definitely see the result of my broiler mishap. But you know what? Those blackened crumbs tasted just fine! And the casserole itself was delicious. Definitely a make-again dish. Everybody loved it, me included. A keeper. Marie had suggested cheese as an addition, which I did. I used some imported England sharp cheddar, and Parmigiano-Reggiano. I also put some additional grated cheese on top of the cream sauce too, then the crumbs were sprinkled on top of that.

This recipe goes way back in my repertoire. Given to me by a friend from college. One evening when I visited her home many years later, she made these carrots, and I’ve made them oodles of times since. I forget about them because they’re not one of those veggies that are all that good for us – they’re a carb rather than a true vegetable. But carrots were all there was in the crisper. Since my DH was cooking the dinner, I knew these would not be difficult for him to make.

I sat at our kitchen island and gave him directions. I did some of the chopping (slice the carrots on the diagonal if you can – makes them much more attractive) and coached him along the way with the preparation. They’re NOT hard by any stretch of the imagination. But they do require a couple more steps (to get sugar and clip some fresh parsley out of the garden) before making them.

Obviously it’s the sugar that makes them French. And they’re oh-so succulent when they’re cooked just right (meaning they’re not overcooked). Well, they do have some butter in them too – that makes them especially tasty as well. This dish is a very nice colorful veg for a company meal. It can be made ahead and reheated just before serving too. That’s always nice, isn’t it, to have something all done and all you have to do is reheat it. Dave was a happy camper with these carrots – he made them all by himself and he wanted to dig in for seconds.

When the carrots were perfectly cooked, sometimes you still have an abundance of water in the pot. Remove the carrots, boil down the sauce a bit, then put the carrots back in for a re-warm and serve. See, these are really quite versatile.

A year ago: Homemade Turkey Breakfast Sausage
Two years ago: Raspberry-Almond Truffle Tart

Yellow crookneck is one of my favorite squash varieties. With friends coming over for dinner the other night, I needed a new version of this, so decided to combine a carb and veggies at the same time. I found a similar recipe to this on the internet, but I changed it some. You may even have this recipe – it’s not anything innovative or new. Just good and tasty.

The squash, onion and chicken broth are cooked together, then that’s combined with rice, a small can of chopped green chiles and a bunch of cheese, some sour cream and seasonings. And a bit of cheese is sprinkled on top. You can also broil the top just at the end if you prefer a more browned look. I didn’t bother with that step. This is delicious. Not over the top, but a good comfort-food kind of side veggie. I’d make this again.

A year ago: Schnecken Rolls (a sweet-ish dinner roll)

This dish is really yummy. Can you tell by looking at the photo? Cauliflower florets just dripping with cheese and cream. Not much in that NOT to like. I don’t want to know the calorie and fat count. Just eat it and enjoy. The recipe came from Bobby Flay (Food Network). I was watching it the other day and it looked really easy. And tasty. I took this to our son’s and daughter-in-law’s home the other night. Everybody loved it. And the creamy, saucy stuff down in the cauliflower was wonderful with the beef roast Karen served. The sauce spread around the plate (too much actually), but we enjoyed mopping up the sauce with a bit of the roast. And with the potatoes that went alongside.

The cheeses are a bit different – Monterey Jack, Parmigiano-Reggiano AND goat cheese. It’s the goat cheese that makes it unusual, I suspect. Then you pour heavy cream all over it. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and into the oven it goes. The recipe indicated it would be tender in 30 minutes. Uhm. No. Not. But then, I doubled the recipe. However, it was perfect after about an hour and 15 minutes. I doubled the recipe, so perhaps the cauliflower that was submerged in cream was cooked in 30 minutes, but the rest of it wasn’t. It also depends on how large you cut the florets, too. So keep that in mind if you make it. I’ve altered the recipe some to account for the few things I’d do differently. On the Food Network site many people weighed in (uhm, no, not that kind of weighing) with their opinions – lots of people didn’t like the soupy thin-ness of the cream. I agree. There was too much cream altogether. And if I made this again I would add about a tablespoon of all-purpose flour – and toss that around with the grated cheeses. That would provide some thickener to the sauce.  But if you’re asking me did we like it? Absolutely, and yes, I’d make it again with those changes.

A year ago: Baked Rice with Poblano Chiles & Corn