Category: Vegetarian

Posted on

Oven Roasted Potatoes

When my assistants and I are performing demonstrations at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival, we will often whip up soemthing to see what happens. We have lots of successful (experiments) and a few failed ones. This one was a popular success.

Oven Roasted Potatoes
1 lb of baby red potatoes
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp of fresh rosemary, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ tsp black pepper
½ tsp sea salt

Optional ingredients:
chopped bacon
green onions, diced
red peppers, diced

Wood-Fired Roasted Potatoes


Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a ceramic dish, add your uncut baby potatoes (very small potatoes). Drizzle the 3 tbsp olive oil on top of the potatoes and stir until they are completely covered. Sprinkle the rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper and stir the potatoes again.

Place inside the oven and bake for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, stir the potatoes and place back into the oven for another 10 minutes; repeat until the potatoes are tender. Remove from the oven and let cool 2-3 minutes before serving.

Posted on

Mushroom Pâté

This past weekend, I did a small catering event that required a lot of finger food.  Below is a recipe for mushroom pâté, a vegan friendly recipe.  It looked like real pâté, but tasted even better.  My apologies for the lack of a photo; the guests began eating it before I could document my work. 

Ingredients:
1 lb sliced portabella mushrooms
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
½ cup pine nuts
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cup water
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1 tbsp fresh thyme
Pinch of fresh rosemary, minced
¼ tsp fresh ground black pepper
Sea salt to taste

Begin heating a pan on medium heat.  Add the olive oil, garlic, shallots, and pine nuts and begin to sauté.  After about two minutes, add the thyme, rosemary, black and cayenne pepper and continue to sauté for 2 more minutes.  While stirring, add the mushrooms.  Keep stirring so that everything is covered in oil and will not stick to the pan.  Add 1 cup of water and cover the pan and continue to let it cook. 

The goal is to let the mushrooms cook down a bit so that they are soft.  If the water is evaporating too quickly, add more water. When the mushrooms are soft, drain off most of the extra water and place the cooked mushrooms and spices in a food processor or mortar and pestle and begin to mix and pulverize the cooked ingredients.   Place the mixture into a mold and refrigerate for two hours until firm.  Place the mold upside down, onto a plate and release it from the mold.  The pâté is ready to serve.  It is best served with roasted garlic or caramelized shallots on toasted bread or crackers.

Posted on

Dijon potato salad

(Serves 1-2)

2 medium red potatoes, baked
Pinch of salt
Pinch of black pepper
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 green onions, diced
Pinch of dried red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp of olive oil or margarine
1 rib of celery, minced

Take two baked red potatoes and cut them up and place them into a bowl. Ideally, these should be baked in the oven rather than microwaved so that the skin is not soggy.

Add the oil or margarine and the garlic and use a fork to mash them together. Add the Dijon mustard, green onions (and optional celery), black pepper, red pepper flakes and salt. Stir together and serve hot or cold.

20130408-220209.jpg

Posted on

Caramelized Shallots

Ingredients

Caramelized Shallots
Caramelized Shallots

2.25 lbs of shallots, peeled and cut into half and large ones in quarters
6 cloves of garlic
3 sprigs or fresh rosemary
3 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 tbsp of raw sugar
6 tbsp of olive oil
2 tbsp of balsamic vinegar
Salt and black pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

In a large bowl toss together the shallots, garlic, rosemary, thyme, raw sugar, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. Season with the salt and pepper and toss (mix well).

Place items in an oven proof dish with cover. Cover the items and bake for 20 minutes. Pull it out, stir well and place back in the oven uncovered for another 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. After 30 minutes, most of the liquids should have reduced to a nice glaze.

Transfer the items into a serving dish. When served hot, it makes an excellent relish for steak or chicken. When served cold, it complements cheese and crackers.

I’ve also added it to scrambled eggs and fried potatoes as well. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do.

Posted on

Garlic Roasted Red Potatoes

1/2 lb of red potatoes (baby ones work best), cubed with skins on

Roasted Garlic Red Potaotes
Roasted Garlic Red Potaotes

4 tbsp olive oil
1 shallot, minced
5 cloves of garlic, minced
5 green onions, diced
1 sprig rosemary
sea salt
black pepper

Pre-heat oven to 350°F.

Heat up a sauté pan on medium heat and add the olive oil.  Once hot, add the shallots, garlic and half of the rosemary.  After a minute, add the cut up potatoes.  Sauté, stirring occasionally to avoid burning and to make sure the potatoes have been thoroughly covered in oil, shallot, garlic and rosemary.  Sauté for about 5 minutes and transfer to an oven safe bake pan.

I usually recommend putting down tin foil to minimize the sticking.  Once in the pan, add the green onions and cover it up and bake at 350°F for 15 minutes.  Pull out of the oven, flip potatoes over and add salt and pepper.  Turn up the oven to 400°F and continue cooking the potatoes uncovered until browned.

Pull out of the oven and serve.