Rayrena, of I Love Happy Cows, and Belita of Culinary Adventures chose this month’s Recipes to Rival (R2R) challenge:  you could make either Beef (Rendang Daging Sapi) or Potatoes Rendang (Rendang Kentang).  I chose potatoes, because I knew I wouldn’t eat the beef and I really, really wanted to try this!  In a nutshell, this dish was a big hit – my husband, the Honorable Master Chow, requested that I put it on the repeat list. For those of you who haven’t heard of this before, R2R celebrates the savory side of cooking, in contrast to The Daring Bakers and Tuesdays with Dorie.  I felt that I needed a balance in my cooking, so I joined last month.

The beef version comes from Cradle of Flavor: Home Cooking from the Spice Islands of Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia, by James Oseland.  Rayrena and Belita were able to get the potato version from the author, but he did not give his permission to post it publicly. (Rayrena tells me I can post the recipe, and you’ll find it after the jump).  You can find the beef recipe here.  If you read the beef recipe, the potato version is made in a similar manner, it just takes less time to cook.

I have Oseland’s book, and have drooled over it quite a bit, but never got my rear in gear to actually use it until now.  I have to tell you, the house smelled wonderful while this was cooking, and I’m lucky enough to live in an area where I could find the lemongrass, fresh turmeric, galangal, etc., that both the beef and potato recipes call for.

Top row, left to right:  lemongrass, ginger, garlic
Bottom row, left to right: shallots, turmeric, galangal

As for slight modifications, I used a combo of light and regular coconut milk, and I held off on the Thai chili peppers, substituting just a dash of red chili paste (I don’t like a lot of heat).  Everything took about  three hours to cook.  The potatoes ended up with a lovely crispy crust, and a complex flavor with a surprisingly sweet finish (not too sweet).  For those of you who hate coconut (like my husband), the good news is that I could not taste it in the final dish, but I suspect that is where the faint sweetness came from. He absolutely loved these potatoes, especially the crispy crust on the bottom.  I should also point out that he is not a big fan of potatoes, so his enthusiasm over this dish says something.

One word of warning:  turmeric stains everything, including your hands, so wear grubby clothing and wash your hands.  Turmeric should be peeled, but the peel is so thin that, like ginger, you can use a spoon to scrape it off.

From what I understand, this is what is known as a “dry” curry, something that I’d never made before, so I learned a fabulous new technique that I plan to apply to other vegetables. Thanks, Rayrena and Belita, for a great choice that forced me to push the envelope and use ingredients that I don’t use often enough.  I will be cooking from Cradle of Flavor a lot more in the future.  To see how what others did with the recipe, check out the R2R blogroll!
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The intrepid Bread Baking Babes invited those of us in the culinary blogosphere to join them this week for some pizza. Interestingly enough, I’d been experimenting with different pizza dough recipes, trying to recreate my mum’s extraordinary pizzas.

Believe it or not, I never had commercial take-out pizza until I went to college and discovered Pizza Hut pan pizza, which is still near and dear to my heart. We had a huge garden, and every Sunday my mom would make homemade pizza using homemade tomato sauce (from our garden’s tomatoes), parmiggiano reggiano (when most of America was eating the stuff in the green can), mozzarella, manzanilla olives, and anchovies (for my dad). The taste was out of this world, and the crust was crisp on the outside, with a chewy center. Most of all, the crust actually had *gasp* flavor.

In my recent efforts to make a good home pizza, I have come to the conclusion that Olive Oil Is Your Friend. By that I mean, be generous with it. Really generous. It keeps the dough from sticking to the pan, and gives the crust a richer flavor. This means, if you’re watching calories (HA!), try to cut back on them by choosing your toppings wisely. At least, that’s my philosophy. Luckily, I like simple toppings like basil, tomato, not too much cheese. I remember being shocked at how much olive oil my mom was using, my teenage ego believing it was totally unnecessary. Boy, was I wrong.

I’ve also been experimenting with sourdough, so I was delighted to find out that the Bread Baking Babes were using a sourdough pizza crust from Daniel Leader’s wonderful new book, Local Breads: Sourdough and Whole-Grain Recipes from Europe’s Best Artisan Bakers. I dove in and made the Genzano Potato Pizza, because I wanted to try something different, and at 80% hydration, the dough was wet enough for me. I wasn’t in the mood to be fighting anything – I wanted to have some fun!

What a delicious crust! I put about three tablespoons of olive oil on the sheet pan (and the pizza still stuck slightly, but a little bit of effort detached it from the pan), so the bottom of the crust was a golden brown, extremely crisp, with no trace of sogginess. The rest of the dough was slightly chewy, filled with airholes, and light as a feather. I halved the amount of potatoes, rosemary, and onion called for in the recipe, but I was generous with the salt, and doubled the amount called for in the topping (but not in the dough). I’ve found that some of Leader’s recipes need a bit more salt.

Would I make this again? Yes! But next time I think I’ll go back to my simple old standby, pizza Margherita. This crust is so wonderful, it could stand up to a tomato sauce, not to mention the prodigious amount of toppings that Master Chow likes on his pizza.

Thank you, BBBs, for inviting us to join you again this month. Check out all my Bread Baking Babes, The Sour Dough (Mary), A Fridge Full of Food (Glenna), Bake My Day (Karen), Cookie Baker Lynn (Lynn), I Like to Cook (Sara), Living on Bread and Water (Monique), Lucullian Delights (Ilva), My Kitchen in Half Cups (Tanna), Grain Doe (Gorel), Notitie van Lien (Lien), Thyme of Cooking (Katie), and What Did You Eat (Sher). And be sure to check back with their blogs to see what next month’s invitation will bring!

Above, a photo of one of my favorite meals, bar none!

If I were rescued after being stuck on a desert island, my first meal would probably be hash(ed) brown potatoes and two eggs, with runny yolks. Oh, yum.About 30 years ago, my mum found a recipe for hash browns in a woman’s magazine, probably McCall’s, but I don’t recall for sure. I remember making them with her at that time, and the recipe included lots of sour cream and melted cheddar cheese. Ah, the memories, and the metabolism of a teenager. But I digress.

One of the things I have used from that recipe over the years, is this quick and easy way to make hash browns. No shredding raw potatoes. No squeezing the liquid out as you wring the spuds in a towel. No, siree. Are you ready? Here goes:

Step One:
Start with a starchy potato, such as a russet, like this one.

2. Step 2
Bake it. Then, ideally, refrigerate it overnight. You can even bake it in the microwave, but I prefer the oven.

3. Step 3
Put a pan, preferably NOT non-stick (I use my cast iron skillet), over medium high heat. Add some olive oil. Obviously, the more olive oil, the more delicious the end result, but Master Chow and I do try to watch our waistlines, so I tend to be careful. Most of the time.

4. Step 4
Using a box grater, grate the potato directly into the pan. If you like, remove the skin beforehand, but I find that as I grate the potato, the skin falls off and I just pluck it out of the pan.

5. Step 5
After you’ve finished grating the potatoes, spread them in the pan, season them with salt, pepper, and a bit more olive oil. Spread them out in the pan again, and then leave them alone! Let the potatoes cook for a few minutes, lower or increase the heat if necessary. Flip the potatoes over when they have formed a nice crust on the underside. This is not an omelette, and the whole thing won’t flip over in one piece. Just flip bits over, piece by piece. At this point, I start to cook the eggs. Gastronomic delight is just around the corner!

6. Step 6
Eat!

Mmmm. Those crispy potatoes you see in the picture above never made it to a plate, much less a serving dish. Boy, were they good.

What inspired me to try this was an episode of America’s Test Kitchen on public television. I’ve butterflied and roasted a chicken before, but what intrigued me about this recipe was the placing of potatoes under the chicken while it roasted. The test kitchen crew raved about the results, claiming that the potatoes were so popular that the chicken almost became the side dish.

Well, I had to try this. I had about two-and-a-half pounds of red skinned potatoes that I wanted to use up. And I had just purchased an organic chicken (on sale!) at Whole Foods. Chicken is Master Chow’s soul food, so I’m always keeping my eyes peeled for good deals.

So, I brined the chicken (using 1 cup of kosher salt to 8 cups of water) first. This helps retain moisture and adds flavor. Do not brine a chicken for more than two to three hours; if you do so, it can lead to chalky meat. Not always, but better safe than sorry. I butterflied it by removing the backbone, then I pushed down on the chicken until it was flat. I prepared an herb butter to put under the skin, lined the bottom of the grill pan with heavy duty foil, and layered in the potatoes with salt, pepper, and left over herbs. Into a 500 F oven, and an hour later . . . voila!

Those potatoes were good. Egads. They were crispy and golden on the outside, but the insides were moist and creamy. As I said, they never made it off the cutting board. I ate about half the potatoes before I begged Master Chow to get in the kitchen and finish them off. I felt like an anaconda that had just eaten its winter food supply. I had to go lie on the couch, belly distended, to recover. And I kept thinking about those potatoes . . . .

Roasted Chicken with Crispy Potatoes

Adapted from America’s Test Kitchen

• 1 3.5 pound to 4 pound chicken, preferably organic

• 3 Tablespoons softened butter

• 1 Tablespoon fresh chopped parsley

• 1 teaspoon fresh chopped thyme

• 1 garlic clove, crushed

• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

• 1-2 teaspoons lemon juice

• 2 quarts (8 cups) water

• 1 cup kosher salt

• salt and pepper to taste

• 2 – 2 1/2 pounds of potatoes

Line the bottom of a grill pan with heavy duty foil. Place oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 500 F. Please make sure your oven is immaculately clean before you cook at this high a heat, or you will fill your kitchen with smoke!

The Brine

Dissolve 1 cup kosher salt in 2 quarts water. Soak chicken (unless it’s a kosher bird, then it already has been brined) for 2-3 hours. Remove chicken, rinse off salt, and thoroughly pat dry. Wet skin will not brown well in the oven. In fact, the Test Kitchen crew advises leaving the bird uncovered in the refrigerator for a few hours after brining to assure that the skin is thoroughly dried out.

Preparing the chicken

In a small bowl, smash together the butter, parsely, thyme, garlic, mustard, and lemon juice. Set aside. Remove the backbone from the chicken. Press down on it to flatten it as much as possible. Salt and pepper the bird. Place the chicken on the top part of the grill pan. Gently work the butter mixture under the breast and leg skin.

Prepping the potatoes

Scrub the potatoes clean and pat dry (I used red skinned and one russet). Using the #1 slicing disk (the thinnest one) on a Cuisinart, slice the potatoes. Spread them out in the lined grill pan, add salt and pepper, and any left over herbs.

Roasting

Place the slotted grill pan with the chicken on top of the potatoes. Place in oven and cook for 45-60 minutes until done (it will depend on your chicken size and your oven). Remove from oven and let chicken rest for about 10 minutes, while you devour the potatoes and burn your fingers. Alternatively, turn the potatoes out onto a plate and peel back the foil to expose the crispy undersides.

Oh, I will have to make these again!