The Best Potatoes You Will Ever Eat, Ever (A Pin a Day #4)

So I'm sitting here blogging, and Charlie asks me what I'm going to write about. It goes a little something like this...

Charlie: What are you going to blog about?
Me: Remember those delicious potatoes?
Charlie: The really delicious ones?
Me: Yes.
Charlie: Those were delicious.

We're very articulate around here with our food.

So here's the deal. You read the blog, you know how my family has a love/hate relationship with food. They hate the healthy stuff, and love to drive me crazy reminding me of that. So when I saw this pin on the feed, I knew they would love it because it's enveloped with bacon, garlic and Parmigiano Reggiano, the undisputed king of cheese. I don't think I've ever found a roasted potato recipe that's ever been this delicious. It's a keeper for sure.

Now I'm not exactly sure if you believe me when I say that these are seriously the best potatoes ever. Because they are. The best. Really. Yes THAT good! 

You will need;

• Small to medium tender fleshed potatoes such as Yukon Gold (maybe 5 per person to be safe, cuz you don't want to run out of these!)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 thick cut bacon (the good stuff, do splurge here)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (more if you really like garlic)
• fresh rosemary
• fresh flat leaf parsley
• course salt
• pepper
• 1/2 cup FRESH grated Parmigiano Reggiano (go ahead and buy the chunk of it and grate it fresh with a micro plane, you'll use the rest of it for a ton of other recipes you didn't even know you were missing out on)

Start by boiling the potatoes in a large pot of salty water. Cook until fork tender, about 15 minutes, drain and let cool.


Cut bacon into chunks and cook until about halfway done. If you over cook the bacon now it will really crisp in the oven, so just cook them until they render out most of their fat. Remove from pan and drain. Do not discard the drippings.

Preheat the oven to 450* and mince the garlic, rosemary and parsley. Set aside.

Prepare your baking sheet by brushing the olive oil on it and drizzling half of the bacon grease as well. Put into the oven to get hot.



Quarter cooled potatoes, pull out hot baking sheet and place potatoes, cut side down, on the hot pan. Bake for 30-40 minutes. Toss potatoes halfway through.

 Reduce temperature to 375*. Sprinkle with garlic, rosemary, bacon and cheese. Return to oven for another 20 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and parsley. Serve.

Sliced Garlic Baked Potatoes (Hassleback Potatoes)

Here's a little Scandinavian treat I whipped up the other night! Even though I am Danish, and my mother used to cook all kinds of Scandinavian dishes when we were growing up, she never made these and now I'm super mad at her. These are pretty to look at, easy to make, and fun to eat. They are called Hassleback Potatoes and a Google search pulls up a ton of results for recipes.

I used some good sized russet baking potatoes, but I think any sized potato would work fine, you would just need to adjust the cooking times. Mine took a little over an hour, and even then the very center of each slice was still a bit too firm and we ended up nuking each potato for a couple minutes longer. I think next time I'll make smaller ones of a waxy variety.

You will need;

• 1 medium to large potato for each person (I used 2)
• 2-3 large cloves of garlic, sliced thin
• butter
• olive oil
• salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 450* and scrub your potatoes. Using a VERY sharp knife, carefully slice the potato thinly ALMOST all the way through, but leaving the slices intact on the bottom. I've read in a couple recipes that you can place the potato on the divet of a wooden spoon as a slicing guide, but I have not used this technique. Place the thin slices of garlic in between the potato slices, doubling up on some if needed. Place on a lined baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place VERY thinly sliced pats of butter on the top of the potatoes, so the butter will melt into the slices when cooking, and place into the oven for 40-90 minutes depending on the size of your potatoes.

We served these with some Pan Roasted Brussel Sprouts and Perfect Pan Fried Pork Chops.

 Once again, we used standard baking russets and ours took over an hour and were still not totally done. Charlie mentioned using our convection toaster oven next time and I think that might be a better bet so we don't heat up the house so much.

Zuppa Toscana

Yesterday I made a pot of this tasty soup for a few reasons; 1. I LOVE this soup!, 2. I had all the ingredients on hand from an earlier meal, and 3. I was cleaning out the fridge and needed to make something before it went bad. I understand for some people that soup isn't really a summer staple (I'm in California remember? It's hotter earlier here!) but I just love soup all the time, and it's just a great and quick lunch to have on hand.

I posted this on my Facebook page and got a few comments regarding wanting the recipe, so I figured, why not? Here you go!

 Zuppa Toscana

(An Olive Garden inspired Copycat Recipe, after the cut)

German Pancakes!

So this past weekend I had a craving for pancakes. It didn't really matter what kind of pancakes, but I knew I needed some. After much hemming and hawing, I convinced Gary to make the trek up to Kearney Mesa so we could go to the Original Pancake House. (It's a chain, so look it up please!)
After scoping out the menu, we ordered what he affectionately called "The World War II Special"; German Pancakes and Potato Latkes, with a side of Green Tea for the Japanese influence.

We both agreed that the only thing that would have made it better would be to violently tear apart some French Toast and make it submit under the pancake. Taking it a bit too far eh?

I had never had a German Pancake, I had only seen it ordered here, and over my salivation had vowed to order it one day. It's basically a HUGE oven baked crepe that you eat with copious amounts of butter, powdered sugar and lemon.

The best thing about German Pancakes, is that almost, if not all of the ingredients required for it, are already in your kitchen! I had yet another craving, so I scoured the internet for a recipe, and now I bring it to you.
If you wanna get all fancy and make the latkes too, there is a great and hilarious YouTube show called "Feed Me Bubbe" and they do it step by step. You can find the video here.

German Pancakes, adapted via. Living in the Kitchen with Puppies

Pancake:

3 large eggs

3/4 cup milk

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp Vanilla extract

2 Tbs butter

In a big skillet on the stove, heat the butter until melted and hot.
In a blender (or something similar) blend the remaining ingredients, pour into hot butter and throw into a 450* oven for 15 minutes.

Turn the heat down to 350* and cook for 10 more.
When it's done it should be all puffy and fluffy like above. Make sure you use oven safe pans, and a heavy duty oven mitt when taking it out of the oven. This seems like a no-brainer, but I assure you, it's FREAKING HOT.


Carefully transfer to a plate and fix it up. You can really put anything you want on it, syrup, jam, jelly, but I like to garnish with butter, powdered sugar, and fresh squeezed lemon.

Bing Crosby's

Being a foodie is on the up and up, honestly. Most of you already are foodies, or there are foodies inside of you gnawing their way out. It's ok, grasp your inner foodie, and give him or her a big hug. Welcome them home.

Being a foodie doesn't mean that you only eat the fanciest of things, or stick your nose up at the notion of fast food. Being a foodie means you appreciate all things food (and even drink) and embrace it wholeheartedly.

I know I am a foodie. I have been one since I was a child, but I just never knew the term for it. I am just as down for a juicy In-n-Out Burger as I am a trip to a fancy restaurant with perfectly proper place settings. Luckily, I've had enough burgers this month, and it was time for a bit of epicurean delights. Enter Bing Crosby's.

Now I hardly go to the mall, so I didn't know this place even had existed (it's in the Fashion Valley Mall, across from Cheesecake where Crocodile Cafe used to be) but after a quick peruse of the menu, I was uber excited. Anytime I see things like Champagne Beurre Blanc and Black Truffle Demi Glace, I can't control myself.

We started off dinner with the Baked Fresh Goat Cheese appetizer with pesto and pepper relish on grilled olive bread. It had a great consistency, warm and nutty. The bread had a bit too much of that "grilled" taste, but it was good anyway.

For our entrees we both got the Bing Crosby's Signature Dish.

Grilled Filet Mignon (cooked medium) on top of a bed of haricot vert (french green beans) and braised spinach, crispy potato cannellonis, garnished with fresh herbs, drizzled with Black Truffle Demi Glace, and topped with roasted garlic and chives.

SERIOUSLY!?! OMG. I vote for this every time I eat here. It was Amazing! Tender perfectly cooked beef, crispy snappy beans, and the most creative way I've EVER had mashed potatoes.

To finish off a perfect meal, we opted for the Grand Marnier Creme Brulee. I am a sucker for anything with "creme brulee" in the title.

A perfectly creamy creme, topped with the thinnest layer of caramelized sugar. If you've never had creme brulee, you are pretty much missing out on life. This one had some pulled candy with almonds, strawberry, raspberries and candied orange zests. The orange flavor from the zests and Grand Marnier was very subtle and delicious.

Honestly I didn't think this place would have been nearly this good, but the ambiance and mood is a really great combination. Every now and then they have live piano, but we didn't get to witness that. We did however enjoy the Jazz music and it reminded me of Andrea. I think this is a place she would just fall in love with.

The Del Mar Fair

As a kid, one of my fondest memories of San Diego was going to the Fair every summer. To some the fair means shoddy hastily put together rides, to some it means looking at animals and to some it means randomly booked concerts of people who you thought weren't even touring anymore. But to most it means any kind of food you can think of, battered and deep fried, awaiting your hungry mouth.


Every year there is a "new thing" at the fair. Some new fried anomaly that probably should have just never been thought of, yet you want to order and try anyway. Becca and 1 month old baby Jackson joined me on our quest to find the BEST OF THE FAIR! Read below...

We started off at an old favorite and staple, the Australian Battered Potato. Now I'm not exactly sure if this is something that people actually eat in Australia, maybe my reader from down under can chime in and let me know, but these babies are delicious. They are essentially slices of potato, battered, deep fried and drizzled in an array of toppings of your choice. We chose ranch.

Afterwards, we decided to get some zucchini. Becca swears up and down that Juicy's has the best, but I disagree!!


After ordering some fried zucchini, obviously we weren't going to order more from somewhere else to prove my point, but trust me, Juicy's is only second best.


We needed to let the fried settle, so we went to check out the booths and pitchmen inside the halls.

Inside Becca found the tiny baby donut maker and we just had to get a half dozen.

We didn't stop the fried food bonanza there! After a while we were feeling pretty hungry again (I have no idea how) and Becca wanted a funnel cake, and I wanted a churro. We found the best of both worlds....

MEXICAN FUNNEL CAKES!!! They also had Chocolate Covered Bacon (which we didn't try, but I hear it's all the rage)

It's like a PLATE OF CHURROS! This was the best of at the fair for me, and I would be hard pressed to find something else this year that made me quite as happy.

We mozied over to Chicken Charlie's cuz Bec was jonsin' to try this insane new crazy weird fair treat called a Zucchini Weeni. It's a hollowed out zucchini, stuffed with a hot dog, and you guessed it, battered and deep fried.

It was weird. Mostly because I couldn't figure out what to dip it in. Ketchup on a zucchini sounds nasty to me, and ranch on a corn dog is blaspheme.

For "dinner" we ate the "Fair Special Plate" at Chicken Charlie's.

Chicken strips, onion strings and zucchini curls with like a million kinds of dips. We both left stuffed and smelling of hot frying oil.

The Fair runs until July 5th.

Nick's at the Beach

So I got a text earlier commenting that I have been slacking on the blogging. I didn't realize there were people who counted on my posts, so here comes a flood of them starting with Nick's at the Beach.

809 Thomas Avenue, Pacific Beach
San Diego, CA 92109
(858) 270-1730

Nick's is in Pacific Beach and is a *mostly* seafood restaurant. I know I said I would never post about seafood, but I got steak.

It came with some basic sauteed vegetables and some pretty garlicky mashed potatoes. If you are not a fan of garlic, it's best to pass on this side.

Nick's has been voted "The Best of..." a few times and came highly recommended by San Diego's Unknown Eater. For steak it was so-so, but for seafood I assume it's probably pretty boss.

I ordered mine "medium" and it came with a nice pink center.


My friend ordered the Chilaquile Seabass.

It came with the same sides, which were just a little boring for me for a "nicer" place. Not bad at all, just kinda boring.

For dessert we opted to skip Nick's and head down to Mission Beach to an old standard favorite of mine as a kid.

It's just a plain old ice cream stand. But inside...

The closest thing to Hawaiian Shave Ice I've had since being IN Hawaii.

Complete with Ice Cream in the bottom. Om nom nom.