Restaurant Style Baked Potatoes

This can’t truly be considered a “recipe” but this is the closest I’ve tasted to restaurant style baked potatoes. Crispy and salty on the outside, nice and fluffy on the inside.

Restaurant Style Baked Potatoes

Ingredients:

• Baking Potatoes
• Olive Oil
• Kosher Salt

Scrub potatoes under running water and pat dry.

Place ¼ cup of salt in a large shallow bowl.

Pour a tiny bit of olive oil into the palm of your hand and rub the oil over the potatoes.

Place potatoes in salt and toss to coat. Place potatoes on baking sheet.

Bake at 400 degrees for approximately one hour, depending on the size of your potatoes.

Oven Roasted Potato Wedges

French fries  in North America refer to any elongated pieces of fried potatoes as fries, while in the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand, long, thinly cut slices of fried potatoes are sometimes called fries to distinguish them from the more thickly cut strips called chips.

French fries are served hot and generally eaten as an accompaniment with lunch or dinner, or eaten as a snack, and they are a common fixture of fast food. French fries are generally salted and served with ketchup; though in many countries they are topped instead with other condiments including vinegar, mayonnaise, or other local specialities. Fries can also be topped more elaborately, as is the case with the dishes of poutine and chili cheese fries.

Thomas Jefferson had “potatoes served in the French manner” at a White House dinner in 1802. The expression “French Fried Potatoes” first occurs in print in English in the 1856 work Cookery for Maids of All Work by E. Warren. In the early 20th century, the term “French fried” was being used in the sense of “deep-fried”, for other foods such as onion rings or chicken.

It is unlikely that “French fried” refers to frenching in the sense of julienning. Previously, Frenching referred only to trimming meat off the shanks of chops. Belgian journalist Jo Gérard claims that a 1781 family manuscript recounts that potatoes were deep-fried prior to 1680 in what was then the Spanish Netherlands (present-day Belgium). Some believe that the term “French” was introduced when American soldiers arrived in Belgium during World War I and consequently tasted Belgian fries. They supposedly called them “French”, as it was the official language of the Belgian Army at that time.

Variants of French fries include thick-cut fries, steak fries, shoestring fries, jojos, crinkle fries, curly fries, hand-cut friesand tornado fries. Fries cut into rough cubes instead of sticks are called home fries. Fries cut thickly with the skin left on are called potato wedges, and fries without the skin are called steak fries, essentially the American equivalent of the British chip.

Curly fries are characterized by their spring-like shape. They are generally made from whole potatoes that are cut using a specialized spiral slicer. They are also typically characterized by the presence of additional seasonings (which give the fries a more orange appearance when compared to the more yellow appearance of standard fries), although this is not always the case. This seasoning also gives the fries a slightly spicier taste than standard fries.

Tornado fries are made by skewering the whole potato, and then cutting with a specialized spiral slicer. The potato is spread evenly along the skewer and deep fried. The cooking process fuses the potato to the skewer and holds it in place. It is then sprinkled with dry seasonings or served with dipping sauce. Tornado fries gets their name from the tornado-like shape that the potato has on the skewer.

Baked Potato Wedges

Ingredients:

• 4 medium sized Russet potatoes
• 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
• 2 tablespoons Sea salt

Scrub potatoes under running water until clean. Cut potatoes into 6 wedges each.

Place cut potatoes in a single layer on baking sheet that has been coated with non-stick cooking spray. Drizzle with olive oil, then sprinkle liberally with salt.

Bake at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until golden and crispy on the outside.

Serve with your choice of condiments.

Hasselback Potatoes

Let’s talk about Hasselback Potatoes. Ever heard of those? Probably not. Basically, this dish is a Swedish version of baked potatoes. But these are anything but the average baked potato. What seems to be a complicated dish is created by using a clever but little-known treatment that produces both a soft and crispy side dish.

This recipe originated in the 1700s at the Hasselbacken, a restaurant in Stockholm, Sweden and still appears on the menu there. As the potatoes bake, the slices fan out slightly to create a show-stopping presentation for your next dinner party or family get together. A unique and delicious way to add some pizzazz to the humble potato.


Hasselback Potatoes

Ingredients:

• 4 large, preferably oblong, potatoes
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons coarse salt, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon parsley

Scrub potatoes thoroughly, with skin on. Place each on cutting board and cut off the bottom, about a half inch deep, to make a flat bottom surface. Then make slices in top of potato, about one-fourth to one-half inch thick, cutting only through three-quarters of the depth of potato to leave it joined at the bottom. Place, flat side down, in pot of boiling water (enough to cover potatoes) with one teaspoon coarse salt. Boil for 12-15 minutes.

In a small bowl, mix garlic, olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt, pepper, paprika, and Worcestershire sauce.

Lift potatoes with slotted spoon onto baking sheet, flat-side down. Brush each potato thoroughly on top and sides with liquid mixture. Bake at 425 degrees for 40-45 minutes.

Remove from oven, sprinkle with parmesan and parsley, and serve.

Baked Apple and Brown Sugar Oatmeal

Oatmeal, also known as white oats, is ground oat groats (i.e., grains), or a porridge made from oats (also called oatmeal cereal or stirabout). Oatmeal can also mean ground oats, steel-cut oats, crushed oats, or rolled oats.

The oat grains are de-husked by impact, then heated and cooled to stabilize the “Oat groats”, the seed inside the husk. The process of heating produces a nutty flavor. These oat groats may be milled to produce fine, medium or coarse oatmeal.

Rolled oats are steamed and flattened whole oat groats. Steel cut oats may be small and broken groats from the de-husking process; these may be steamed and flattened to produce smaller rolled oats. Quick-cooking rolled oats (quick oats) are cut into small pieces before being steamed and rolled. Instant oatmeal is pre-cooked and dried, usually with sweetener and flavouring added. Both types of rolled oats may be eaten uncooked as in muesli or may be cooked to make porridge. It is also used as an ingredient in oatmeal cookies and oat cakes, or as an accent, as in the topping on many oat bran breads and the coating on Caboc cheese. Oatmeal is also sometimes porridge with the bran or fibrous husk as well as the oat kernel or groat. In some countries rolled oats are eaten raw with milk and sugar or raisins. Oatmeal is also used as a thickening agent in savoury Arabic/Egyptian thick meat plus vegetable soups.

Oatmeal is a perfect way to start a day of healthy eating. And who would have thought that a single serving of oatmeal could provide over half of the daily value for those hard-to-find omega-3 fatty acids!

Banana Brûlée Baked Oatmeal

Ingredients:

• 2 cups rolled Oats
• 1/4 cup Brown Sugar
• 1/2 cup Milk
• 1 tablespoon Butter, melted
• 1 Egg
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1 Apple, chopped
• 1 tablespoon Sugar

Spray an 8×8 inch baking dish with non-stick spray.

In a large bowl, mix together all ingredients except sugar.  Pour into baking dish and baked at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until cooked through.

Remove dish from oven, move baking rack to the highest position and set the oven to broil.  Sprinkle the sugar evenly over the top of the oatmeal.  Return the pan to the oven and broil, watching very carefully, until top is caramelized.

Remove from oven and cool for 5-10 minutes, cut into squares and serve garnished with fruit, nuts and/or warm milk, if desired.

Orange Glazed Salmon

Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true. Salmon live along the coasts of both the North Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and have also been introduced into the Great Lakes of North America. Salmon are intensively produced in aquaculture in many parts of the world.

Typically, salmon are anadromous: they are born in fresh water, migrate to the ocean, then return to fresh water to reproduce. However, populations of several species are restricted to fresh water through their lives. Folklore has it that the fish return to the exact spot where they were born to spawn; tracking studies have shown this to be true, and this homing behavior has been shown to depend on olfactory memory.

The term “salmon” derives from the Latin salmo, which in turn may have originated from salire, meaning “to leap”. The nine commercially important species of salmon occur in two genera. The genus Salmo contains the Atlantic salmon, found in the north Atlantic. The genus Oncorhynchus contains eight species which occur naturally only in the north Pacific. Chinook salmon have been introduced in New Zealand. As a group, these are known as Pacific salmon.

Salmon is a popular food. Classified as an oily fish, salmon is considered to be healthful due to the fish’s high protein, high omega-3 fatty acids, and high vitamin D content. Salmon is also a source of cholesterol, with a range of 23–214 mg/100 g depending on the species. According to reports in the journal Science, however, farmed salmon may contain high levels of dioxins. PCB (polychlorinated biphenyl) levels may be up to eight times higher in farmed salmon than in wild salmon, but still well below levels considered dangerous. Nonetheless, according to a 2006 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the benefits of eating even farmed salmon still outweigh any risks imposed by contaminants. The type of omega-3 present may not be a factor for other important health functions.

Salmon flesh is generally orange to red, although white-fleshed wild salmon occurs. The natural colour of salmon results from carotenoid pigments, largely astaxanthin, but also canthaxanthin, in the flesh. Wild salmon get these carotenoids from eating krill and other tiny shellfish.

The vast majority of Atlantic salmon available on the world market are farmed (almost 99%), whereas the majority of Pacific salmon are wild-caught (greater than 80%). Canned salmon in the US is usually wild Pacific catch, though some farmed salmon is available in canned form. Smoked salmon is another popular preparation method, and can either be hot or cold smoked. Lox can refer either to cold-smoked salmon or to salmon cured in a brine solution (also called gravlax). Traditional canned salmon includes some skin (which is harmless) and bone (which adds calcium). Skinless and boneless canned salmon is also available.

Raw salmon flesh may contain Anisakis nematodes, marine parasites that cause anisakiasis. Before the availability of refrigeration, the Japanese did not consume raw salmon. Salmon and salmon roe have only recently come into use in making sashimi (raw fish) and sushi.

Orange Glazed Salmon

Ingredients:

• 4 cups water
• 2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 4 boneless, skinless Salmon fillets
• 1/4 cup orange marmalade
• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 3 tablespoons Cajun seasoning

To make brine: Mix together the water, salt and sugar. Place the salmon fillets in a large sealable bag. Pour water mixture over it. Seal bag and refrigerate 2 hours.

Remove salmon from the brine and rinse well under cold water. Place salmon on a plate and pat dry.

In small saucepan, over low heat, whisk together the marmelade, orange juice, brown sugar, lime juice and Cajun seasoning.

Line a baking dish with foil and place salmon in dish.  Pour glaze over salmon and bake at 375 degrees for 12 minutes or until fish is just cooked through.  Garnish with parsley or chives before serving.