"Shish Tawook and Batata Harra" Yogurt Chicken and Spicey Potatoes

I had a bunch of Labne yogurt leftover and was reminded of this chicken recipe. I used to make this chicken in the summertime on the grill all the time. The mild tanginess of the yogurt and the sweetness of the ketchup creates a flavor profile that is hard to resist. Finish it off with some spicy herb potatoes and a perfect dinner awaits you!

"The recipe originally called for chicken breast, however, I found some beautiful boneless, skinless chicken thighs on sale this week and used those instead. They were moist and even more flavorful than the chicken breasts."

Shish Tawook

1.5 pounds Boneless, Skinless, Chicken Thighs
3 cloves minced garlic
1/2 tbs tomato paste
2 tbs ketsup
1/4 cup yogurt
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika


1. Trim fat and excess membranes from chicken thighs.
2. Cut chicken into 1/2 inch cubes and place in a plastic bag.
3. Place all ingredients into the plastic bag and shake to combine, making sure chicken is covered.
4. Let marinate in refrigerator for 2-3 hours.
5. If grilling outdoors, skewer onto metal skewers and grill about 5 minutes on each side, rotating so that they do not burn. Otherwise preheat oven to 450-degrees and cook for 10-15 minutes on a greased pan.



Batata Harra

2.5 Pounds Red Potatoes, Washed, Dried and Cut into Cubes
1 Handful Chopped Parsley
1 Handful Chopped Cilantro
1/2 tsp Cayenne
1 Tsp Salt
8 Cloves Minced Garlic
1/4 Cup Olive Oil


1. Lay potatoes out on foil sheet pan and toss lightly in 2 tbsp olive oil. Place in a 450-degree oven until potatoes are done, 30 minutes.
2. Add the remaining olive oil to a pan along with the remaining ingredients.
3. Cook on medium heat fro 10 minutes, make sure not burn the herbs and garlic.
4. Remove the potatoes from the oven and pour the herb garlic mixture over them.

Serve this dish with a nice Middle Eastern salad.

Golden Potatoes

Everyone loves potatoes in our family! EVERYONE! I can have 15 different potato side dishes and they will all get eaten! Every year I look for something different when it comes to potatoes. Earlier this year, my fiance's mother made these amazing little potatoes. When she initially placed them on the table, they looked like little pastry puffs more than anything else. No one even knew that they were potatoes. That's the beauty about them they are super easy to make but impress all!

Now I will be honest, I don't have a recipe. But this is super easy!
You want to peel the potatoes and make sure they are no smaller than a golf ball and no bigger than a tennis ball. (Obviously they shouldn't be round but at least this can give you an idea of how big they should be). I usually figure about 4-5 potatoes per person, they go FAST. Place the potatoes in a pot full of water and for every gallon of water use 1 tablespoon of Kosher Salt. *The salt is why the potatoes brown so beautifully in the oven , so make sure you put it in*
Take out two of your racks out of the oven and preheat it to 450-degrees. As soon as the potatoes reach a boil, dump them onto a collander and then line them up on the racks. (This was the reason you don't want them too small, because they will fall through the racks.) Stick it into the oven for about 15-20 minutes. You will know that they are done once you see the beautiful golden brown color! Serve immediately to the table.
*Please note, if you are making these ahead of time, just take them out of the oven once they are ready and let them stay on the racks. Right before service, stick them back in the oven and allow them to crisp up again and they will be ready for you!*

I served these up with a very simple butter mixture. I took some melted butter and combined it with freshly grated garlic, salt and pepper. Serve it in a seperate bowl and tell your guests to crack open the potato with a fork and then drizzle the buttery goodness all over the potato!
That's it! Easy and all your guests will think this took you hours to make!

Rosemary Meatloaf and Creamy Dreamy Mashed Potatoes

Meatloaf was always one of those American dishes that I never understood growing up. I always thought that maybe it was just one of those things that unless you were born and raised here, you wouldn't understand. I mean just the name of the dish makes me nauseous. I love meat, but in a loaf? Yuck! It wasn't until very recently that I actually developed a taste for the darn loaf! I have had some nasty meat loafs in my time. Some dry, some mushy, some just looked like mystery meat. Ehhhhhk. It wasn't until a few months ago that I developed a liking to this American classic. I was at a catering event and I tried the meatloaf. (On an ordinary basis I wouldn't, but I respected the chef so I figured that was the least I could do.) I was pleasantly surprised by how beautiful the little mini meat loafs looked. You see they were passed appetizers and they were perfect. The top had a beautiful crust on it and the inside....mmmmmmmmmm...delicious! It was moist and so flavorful! I instantly tasted fresh herbs in there.
I went home that night determined to make a delicious meatloaf.
I have made and remade several recipes. However, my latest one is by far the most flavorful and successful. It has all the components I was looking for.
I paired it up with the perfect and in my opinion the only side dish to go with meatloaf: mashed potatoes.
Now I have tried many, many different recipes for mashed potatoes, but this one is truly the perfect one for meatloaf, or anything else for that matter. It is simple enough that it does not take away the emphasis off of the main star of the plate but it is also so delicious that you will find your self licking the bowl, spoon and plate clean. (I did.)

I made this tonight, on one of the coldest nights we have had yet and while I had only a taste of both, (I am ATTEMPTING to watch my diet) my fiancee consumed every morsel on his plate and asked for more! It is a perfect meal for these cold nights in the winter when all you want to do is eat something yummy and go sip tea or hot chocolate on the couch.

Rosemary Meatloaf

5 pounds ground beef (I used lean chuck)
1 large yellow onion, finely diced
5 ribs of celery, finely diced
3 medium sized carrots, finely diced
3 tablespoons rosemary, chopped finely
1/2 cup ketchup
2/3 cup sour cream
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil to sautee

Preheat your oven to 375-degrees

*It is very important that you chop up these veggies finely. You want them to be seen but you also want them to melt into the meat. The only way to achieve that is to get a very fine dice. I will be posting soon on how to easily dice your most popular veggies.*
1. Combine all veggies in a sautee pan with a bit of salt and pepper and sautee until softened, about 8-10 minutes. You do not want them to brown just soften.
















2 Add ketchup, sour cream, rosemary and seasonings to meat. Combine.
3. Add cooked veggies to the meat mixture and combine. *You can cool the veggie mixture so that it is easier to handle. I used rubber gloves and combine everything by hand while hot.*
4. Oil a pan that has a drip pan on the bottom, you almost want to roast the meatloaf. The perfect crust will only be achieved if there is no moisture surrounding the loaf, otherwise it will steam in its own juices and will not get a crust (trust me, I did this the first time around).
5. Place meat on the pan and shape it into a loaf shape. It does not have to be perfect. Just make sure that there are no cracks on the surface and that it is smooth.
6. Put it in the oven for 1 hour or until an internal thermometer reads 155-degrees.
7. Once it is done cooking, let it rest for at least 15 minutes.
*If your top did not crust up, just put the loaf under the broiler for 10-15 minutes and it will develop a beautiful crust.

The Perfect Gravy

I'll be honest, unless it's a holiday, I don't make gravy. But you have to with this dish, it practically screams for it! It looked naked without it!
Now I did not measure anything because I made it on a whim. But I will tell you what I put in it and you can make this without any measurements, it's not like we're baking anything!
I started out with the juices from the meatloaf. I poured some of those off into a sauce pan and added about 3 tablespoons of flour. Then I whisked vigorously to get rid of all the lumps. Into there I poured in some white wine, some beef base. It started getting kinda thick so I added in some chicken stock and whisked some more until it coated the back of a spoon. At the last minute I added in some freshly chopped rosemary and that was it! I promise it's just a bit of thickening and thinning, nothing else! If it gets too thick just add stock and if it's not thick enough add a bit more flour. That's the magic to a good gravy! Just be careful to add the flour a little at a time and remember it only gets thickened once it boils.


Creamy, Dreamy Mashed Potatoes

5 pounds potatoes, peeled, cut and washed
1 stick of butter
1 cup of half and half
3/4 cup sour cream
salt and pepper to season

1. Boil potatoes until they are fork tender.
2. In a small saucepan, melt the butter with the half and half on a low flame; keep warm.
3. Strain the potatoes so that there is not water left.
4. For the actual mashing process, I have found that using a food mill is by far the most effective way to get the creamiest mashed potatoes, with minimal effort. If you do not have a food mill then use a smasher or a mixer if you have it.












5. Add all the sour cream and half of the butter mixture to the potatoes. Combine and see the consistancy. Add in more butter and half and half if necessary. I like mine super creamy so I added it all in. Just add it in a bit at a time so the potatoes get a chance to absorb the liquids.

6. Taste for seasonings. Place a generous amount on a plate, load up with a few slices of meatloaf and drizzle some gravy on top!
That's it...NOW EAT!

Crispy Potato Pancake

So last week, on a very snowy night in Chicago, my usual channel was in tune on the tv...the Food Network...

From grits, to roasts to potato pancakes to soups...it was everything I could have wanted on a Tuesday night. Since I am hosting a little family get together for Hannakuh, I decided to give Giada's Baked Zucchini, Potato and Rosemary Pancake technique a try.

I love latki's and so does the rest of the family, however making them from scratch is always a little bit of a pain. First I used to grate them, by hand of coarse on a box grater...then you have to make sure all the liquid drains out...and then you make little pancakes and start to fry them...flipping them one at a time...one at a time. Now if you are making 10 it's not a bit deal...but if you are making 20...thats a bit of a nusance.

So after getting my instant inspiration from Giada, I jumped off the couch and grabbed some potatoes, a few shallots (I ran out of onions) some rosemary and a few cloves of garlic.

*This is the point that you want to preheat your oven to 450-degrees. I know this temperature sounds high...but you need it at a high temperature so that your pancake can develop a nice crusty top. *

I personally am not a fan of zucchini so I omitted them from my recipe and just used straight potato. After taking about a half hour to figure out the shredder attachments on my food processor, I was ready to shred! In 10 seconds I had shredded all the potatoes and 2 shallots, no more box shredder for me!

I put the mixture in a kitchen towel and rung out all the liquid...this step is imperative, because if all the liquid is not rung out then your pancake will stay soggy and not get crispy. It was shocking how much liquid actually came out! After that I placed the mixture in a bowl, added in 2 eggs, and sprinkled in enough bread crumbs to soak up the remaining moisture. Then I preheated my 12 inch pan with some olive oil in it.

Once the oil was hot enough (about 2 minutes) I turned the heat down to med-high, and put my potato mixture in the pan. Make sure you pat it down firmly and sqwish it down so that all the potato's surface area is covered. After about 5-10 minutes the edges started getting beautiful and brown. I turned off the heat and went and got my secret ingredient. I sprinkled some Parmesan cheese right on top before putting it in the oven. The cheese gives it an even more beautiful crust and adds a little bit of saltiness! Then I stuck in the oven and 20 minutes later it was done.

I was so shocked at how gorgeous it looked! The beautiful little specs of green rosemary looked so festive in there! And look no flipping necessary and you still get that beautiful crust!

I loosened the bottom of the pancake with my rubber spatulaand eased the pancake out onto a plate
From the plate I put it on the cutting board and sliced it into slices using my pizza slicer...I could have probablly eaten the whole thing all by myself...but I figured that would require another hour on the stair master...and so I opted to save them.

For a dip I just whipped up some sour cream with chives, rosemaryand some citrus and voila! It tasted wonderfully with the potato pancake.

Here is the recipe inspired by Giada de Laurentis

Ingredients:

2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and grated
2 shallots, grated
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan, plus 1 tablespoon
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves

2 egg whites, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil

***the magic ingredient: a sprinkle of parmesan cheese on the top***

Herb Sour Cream
6 sour cream
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons chopped chives

1 teaspoon chopped rosemary
Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and enjoy.