sour cream
Salmon Wellies
Hasselback Potatoes
Hasselbackspotatis. That’s the Swedish name for coolest way ever to cut, serve and eat a baked potato! Originally created at the Restaurant Hasselbacken in Stockholm, this beautifully sliced and fanned out spud is called the Hasselback Potato in America. For the life of me, I can’t quite figure out why they are not the most popular way to eat one of our favorite foods? It’s really pretty to look at, whether served plain with a little salt, pepper and sprinkling of parmesan and parsley, or fully loaded. It’s very easy to eat since the entire potato is cut in thin sliced before it goes into the oven. Plus, it can be enjoyed as a side, or a hearty dinner, depending on what you pour over it! For instance, the Hasselback Potato is perfect with a ladle of hot chili, cheddar cheese, sour cream and green onion slices! Or, with melted cheese and bacon bits. Years ago, the Hasselback Potato was a big trend as an elegant side in steak houses. But these days, many people have never heard of them. What a shame! They take the same amount of time as a baked potato and make a gorgeous presentation on a platter. Be careful when cutting the slices into the potato. You’ll make many slices, but only three quarters of the way down through the potato. It takes a tiny bit of practice, but if you take your time and do it slowly, you should have a perfect Hasselback that will fan out slightly during cooking. If you decided to put cheddar cheese slices in each cut, make sure you bake the potato first, then add the cheese during the last 5 minutes or so just to melt. I hope you love the recipe. Let’s make this potato hot again!
Hasselback Potatoes
Caramelized Ham and Swiss Baked Buns
The Story
The Big Game comes with big appetites. Rooting for your favorite team, yelling at the officials, fist bumping after great play – it all makes a football fan downright hungry. So let me help by sharing a recipe that has always been a crowd pleaser, especially for a day as big as Super Bowl Sunday. Caramelized Ham and Swiss Baked Buns tends to resurface every few years, with new, updated variations on the theme. Basically what you have here is a casserole of hot sandwiches filled with ham and cheese and a sauce poured over the top. No, no. That’s not quite accurate. What you really have here is a slightly sweet billowy bun with a little slather of horseradish sauce, onto which black forest ham and swiss cheese is layered, and then a sweet and savory butter sauce does its magic in the oven. The tops of the sandwiches get caramelized and glazed, the cheese inside melts and melds with the horseradish sauce, and you find yourself in a situation where you just can’t pass one up. Yep, that’s a much better description. Now, as I’ve said, there are many versions of this recipe including potato or dinner rolls, but the classic version is the Hawaiian sweet rolls. The original recipe also calls for ham and swiss cheese for the filling, but substitutions have included turkey or pastrami. Also, horseradish sauce is often substituted for butter or mayonnaise. But I say, why mess with a good thing? Folks love this dish, and when you make it for this weekend’s big game, you’ll see why.
Chicken Enchiladas
The Story
We eat them rolled. We eat them stacked. They’re filled with stuff and that’s a fact.
No, that isn’t Dr. Seuss talking. That’s just me describing one of our very favorite Southwestern treasures, the enchilada. In 1949, a magazine called American Food and Drink described enchiladas as a Mexican dish prepared more for tourists than for locals. Sorry folks, that was then and this is now. Today, enchiladas are enjoyed both north and south of the border, and in many different ways. They’re often filled with pork, chicken, beef, cheese, shrimp, crab, or even vegetables. The traditional sauces are made with either a spicy red chile sauce, a tomatillo sauce, or the Tex-Mex brown gravy chili sauce combination. Then just garnish for greatness! If you want to take your enchilada casserole to the next yummy level, give these homemade corn tortillas a try!
