Sliced Baked Potatoes

Recipe: Sliced Baked Potatoes

Source: Great American Recipes

http://www.recipelink.com/msgbrd/board_31/2006/OCT/41248.html

Time: 1:15

Ease: 3

Taste: 5

Leftover Value: 2

Down the Drain or Keep in the Strainer: Down the Drain!

I love potatoes.  I have always loved potatoes.  I remember telling my second grade teacher that I wanted to eat mashed potatoes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  She told me that I would get tired of eating them after a while.  I didn't believe her.  I couldn't imagine how anyone could ever tire of the buttery goodness that is mashed potatoes.

But just in case she was right, it's a good thing I never tried it.

Because I still love potatoes, and my heart would be broken if I didn't.  

Mashed.  Baked.  Scalloped.  Smashed.  Fried.  

It doesn't matter.  They all make my heart sing.

This particular potato, of this particular recipe, sadly left a little more to be desired.  It is my future hope to come up with a fabulous rendition of this "Down the Drain" recipe that will transform it into a "Keep it in the Strainer" option.

*And perhaps, this is the sparking of a new idea for this blog: "Down the Drain" recipes become "Keep it in the Strainer" ones?  I'm loving the sound of it.

The start of this recipe makes it seem a rather serious task.  After cutting or peeling off undesirable parts of your potatoes, make slices across the short side of the potato spacing them only about a quarter of an inch.

While I disliked this recipe, it did teach me how to make this slicing action happen.  Whenever I learn something that I can use in the kitchen, success has been found.

Place a spoon face down on your cutting board and its handle will act as a stopper for the blade.  This way you don't end up cutting your potato into chunks instead of a still attached sliced potato.

There were a few slices that went a little too far, creating hinged pieces in my potato (see following picture).  Next time I'm going to try sliding the highest point of the spoon's handle with me as I go along with the knife.

Place the sliced potatoes into a baking dish.  Open them up a little, but not too much or the areas you cut too far in will stick out like a sore thumb just like.....oh yes, the potato that is front and center in this shot.

Here's a mini confession: I love red potatoes.  Sometimes, I will just completely ignore all other potatoes in the grocery store.  I know, I need to broaden my horizons, but red potatoes have never steered me wrong.

Sprinkle the potatoes with a little salt.

This part.  Ah, this part.  It makes me wonder how these potatoes didn't instantly transform into delicious mountains of goodness.

Drizzle 2-3 T of melted butter over each potato.

The recipe gives you the option of sprinkling 2 to 3 T of chopped fresh herbs or 2-3 tsp of dried herbs.  I went with a dried mixture because I didn't have anything fresh on hand.

Bake in a oven that has been preheated to 425 for 50 minutes.

Then sprinkle with 4 T cheddar cheese and 2 T Parmesan cheese.

Hello fresh Parmesan cheese.  I love you.  I'm sorry I wasted you on this recipe.  But it was for the sake of experimentation.

My gut says, 'We need more cheese'.  Definitely.  We will have more cheese next time around.

Place potatoes back in the oven for another 10 to 15 minutes.

If I was rating this recipe on looks alone, I'd give myself a 10 for delicious looking factor.

Maybe it was a bad batch of potatoes.  (But they're red, so how could it be?)  But maybe not.  There is a future for this recipe, just not the one that currently exists.  Keep your eyes open for its come back.

Mock Pillsbury Crescent Rolls

Recipe: Butter Crescents
Source: Great American Home Baking Recipe Card #4, but you can find it here:
http://www.recipelink.com/msgbrd/board_2/2007/NOV/21766.html
Time: 2 1/2 hrs, includes time for rising and baking
Ease: 6
Taste: 5
Leftover Value: Would love to tell you, but Hubby threw the leftovers away
Down the Drain or Keep in the Strainer: Down the Drain!

I hate rating recipes "Down the Drain", but after all, that is one of the main purposes of this blog.  To try out recipes and let you know how they tasted, if they were good leftover, and if I would ever make them again.  If I hadn't been bold enough to rate this one 'Down the Drain' hubby's reaction would have made it happen.

If we were rating them on looks though, they'd certainly pass. 

There were a lot of separate bowls needed for this recipe, something that I cannot stand.  I'm a big fan of one pot/bowl/pan recipes.  It makes my cooking experience so much the opposite of what it was last night: a clutter of chaos and screams of, "Why me?" 

Let's not talk about that.

What's worse about the above picture is that the mixture in my mixer (say that ten times fast: "The Mixture in my mixer...The Misher in my mizer, yeah I can't even do it twice) had to be heated on the stove top first.

Letting dough rise is one of the moments in the kitchen that truly tests my patience.  I know how important it is to allow it to rise, but waiting an hour for it to happen is asking a bit much.

What makes the whole rising process worthwhile is getting to punch the dough.  I love punching dough.  I should always keep some on hand in my fridge so that I can pull it out and punch it whenever I get frustrated.

But that rarely happens....

Wait....can you actually see my fist in that lump of dough?

This recipe had the audacity to then have me separate the dough and let it 'rest' for ten more minutes.  I can't honestly say I waited the full ten minutes.

This part was fun and reminded me a lot of making scones, another long, tedious, but delicious, process.

After flattening the dough into a circle, which mine surprisingly resembled, it is cut into six wedges.  My wedges seemed rather large to me...especially the one in the center of this picture which is clearly double the size of the two next to it.  If I was going to do this recipe again, I would either roll my circle thinner and cut more than six wedges, or split the dough into four circles instead of two.
  

Once you have the wedges, you roll the dough just like Pillsbury crescents are rolled.

And then, God forbid it finally be time to cook these bad boys, they need to sit for thirty minutes!  THIRTY minutes, people!

My impatience aside, the taste is truly why I will not make these rolls again.  Hubby ate one, but found the consistency to be too thick.  For a recipe which claims they are "melt-in-your-mouth" crescents, I found them to be more "stick-to-your-ribs" crescents.  Not that bread of that sort is a bad thing.  I love a good hunk of heavy bread and butter, but, not when I'm expecting light and airy.

I was willing to overlook this issue, since the next time I'd make them I would go into it with the knowledge that they would not be the Pillsbury Crescent Rolls that I'd expected.  However, when I thought long and hard about it (this was somewhere around the time that Hubby threw the nine leftover rolls in the trash) I realized that I can make a loaf of bread in my bread maker, that tastes much better, in the same amount of time and with a thousand less steps.

My conclusion therefore is, just buy the can.  If I find something else better along the way, I'll let you know.  I'm not sure any amount of effort can beat hitting a can with a spoon, popping it open, rolling the dough out, and then putting it in the oven to bake.