These mashed potatoes are everything that a mashed potato should be: fluffy, smooth, creamy, and starchy with a slight tang and buttery richness. I started making them several years ago for a Cook's Illustrated Thanksgiving (this is a traditional Thanksgiving where all the food is made from Cook's Illustrated recipes) and now it’s the only way we ever have mashed potatoes. The recipe is easily scalable so you can make a lot or just enough for two. It reheats well, so I always make enough for leftovers. If you’re making a large and complex meal, you can easily make this ahead and keep it warm in a crock-pot.
You will need:
● 1 pound potatoes
● ⅓ cup buttermilk
● 3 T butter
● salt
Specialty cookware:
● standing mixer with paddle attachment
●potato ricer
The best potatoes for this are Yukon Gold. If you can't find those, another medium-starch potato will be fine. Avoid high-starch potatoes like Russets (traditional "baking potato" potatoes).
Begin by placing a large pot of salted water on the stove. Do not boil the water yet. First, peel and dice the potatoes into 1" pieces. Place the potatoes into the cold water and turn the heat to high.
While the potatoes are boiling, melt the butter. When it is melted, slowly whisk in the buttermilk. It's ok if the cold buttermilk causes the butter to harden into little bits. Set this mixture aside.
Boil the potatoes until they are cooked through, about 18 minutes. You will know the potatoes are done when they break apart when a paring knife is inserted. Drain the potatoes in a colander.
Place your potato ricer over the bowl of your stand mixer. Fill the ricer with cooked potato pieces, then press them through. Repeat until all the potato pieces have been riced.
Pour the buttermilk/butter mixture over the riced potatoes. Fit your mixer with the paddle attachment and mix the potatoes and dairy until homogenous and fluffy. Serve piping hot.
Cauliflower is one of my favorite vegetables. It has a subtle, slightly nutty flavor and really does well in the oven. Because it’s fairly neutral, it’s easy to pair with other flavors. Here I’m tossing it with smoked paprika, but you could just as easily use curry powder, garam masala, minced garlic, or really any spice that you want. I buy my smoked paprika from World Spice Merchants. If you can’t find it at your local grocery store, you can buy it online. It tastes quite different from normal (Hungarian) paprika. It has a lovely smoky flavor that has depth and interest. Try using it on deviled eggs or dusted on top of creamy soup!
You will need:
• 1 head of cauliflower
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
Begin by cutting the cauliflower into bite-size pieces. The easiest way to do this is to turn the head upside down and cut each floret off the stem, then cut each floret into smaller pieces.
Place all the pieces of cauliflower in a bowl and drizzle the olive oil over the top. Use your hands to toss the cauliflower so that each piece is coated in oil.
Sprinkle the smoked paprika over the cauliflower. Use your hands and toss so that each floret is coated in paprika.
Spread the cauliflower into a single layer on a sheet pan lined with aluminum foil. Sprinkle with salt. Bake in a 375° oven for 30 minutes or until tender.
I shop at Whole Foods.
There are a number of reasons that I choose to buy my family's groceries there, including but not limited to the customer service, the availability of organics, the quality of the food, the selection, and the price.
That's right, the price.
Perhaps I should back up a bit. Over at Thursday Night Smackdown, Michelle has a feature she calls Cheap-Ass Mondays. In thinking about launching my own site, I wondered if any of the food I cook would be eligible for that feature. Her requirements are that the food feed two people for less than $5.00 or four for less than $10.00.
I figured out the per serving cost for a few of my favorite recipes and wasn't too surprised to find that I was spending more than $2.50/serving. After all, I buy organic produce, meat, and dairy and I shop at Whole Foods.
So I decided to figure out how much it would cost to buy ingredients at Safeway instead. The results surprised me: Safeway was MORE expensive, both in the per-serving cost AND in the total outlay necessary, than Whole Foods! Not only that, but at Safeway I was "buying" factory farmed chicken, and at Whole Foods almost all the ingredients were organic and they were more local!
The recipe I was shopping for is Chicken Almond Soup from The Soup Bible. Here is the ingredient list I used:
● 4 ounces chicken thigh or breast meat
● 4 ounces almond butter
● 1 leek
● 1 T grated fresh ginger
● 1 cup frozen peas
● 2 carrots
● 2 cups chicken broth
● ½ cup half-and-half
● large handful fresh cilantro
I'll post the entire recipe soon, but right now I'm most interested in the varying costs to make it. I calculated four different shopping scenarios - entirely at Whole Foods, entirely at Safeway, the cheapest possible way, and the way I usually do it.
From most to least expensive:
Entirely at Safeway, the ingredients necessary for three servings of the recipe would cost $9.63, or $3.21 per serving. You would have to actually hand over significantly more at the register, though, because to get the cost of the chicken down, you have to buy a four pound "value pack" that costs $3.49/lb. The almond butter is also most expensive here, with a one pound jar ringing up at $7.99!
If you buy all the ingredients at Whole Foods, you'll spend $8.73 for 3 servings, or $2.91 per serving. Chicken is more expensive here, but you do have the advantage of being able to buy only what you need. If a single chicken thigh is too heavy, the butchers will actually cut it in half for you! You'll spend a dollar more for the chicken (thighs are about $5.50/lb) that you consume, but at the register it will only cost you $2.75. I was interested to find out that the produce was less expensive at Whole Foods: leeks are sold for $2.99/lb here, compared to $2.99 EACH at Safeway. When you consider that one leek weighs about 6 ounces, Safeway seems like a ripoff! The almond butter is also less expensive at Whole Foods - $5.99 for a jar.
The way that I typically do the shopping, 3 servings will cost $8.24, or $2.75 per serving. I save a little bit of money by buying my chicken broth in bulk at Costco and picking up almond butter at Trader Joe's for $4.99/jar. My version is still organic, but slightly cheaper.
The cheapest possible way means going to four different stores: Whole Foods for the leeks and ginger, Safeway for the cilantro, peas, carrots, chicken, and half-and-half, Trader Joe's for the almond butter, and Costco for the chicken broth. Total cost? $6.66 for three, $2.22 for one. Of course, there's also the time and fuel cost of shopping at multiple stores to consider.
My verdict: For my family, it makes a lot of sense to shop at Whole Foods. The overall costs for the types of ingredients I buy (think fresh produce, frozen produce, meat, dairy, cheese, etc - not a lot of processed stuff) are not much higher than they would be at Safeway (and probably lower than QFC!). At the same time, I believe that the ingredients are of a higher quality, healthier for my family, and better for the environment.
I've also seen a couple more formal studies about the cost of produce in Seattle. The Neighborhood Farmers Market Alliance has a roundup of several of these, and they show the same results - produce (especially organic) is less expensive at Whole Foods than it is at QFC.
I think the reason that Whole Foods has a reputation for costing your "Whole Paycheck" is not because comparable food there is actually more expensive, but because they carry higher-end items that other stores simply don't carry. It's difficult to resist the attractive displays of artisan cheese, bakery bread, convenient and oh-so-delicious prepared food, etc. I know that every time I go in, even with a list, I ALWAYS walk out with something I wasn't planning to purchase.
However. Whole Paycheck? Hardly.
Last week when we were at Whole Foods, we noticed that organic zucchini and yellow squash had returned. Granted, they were grown in California and Mexico and normally I would prefer to buy local and in-season produce, but it's been a long, cold, grey winter and we were ready for a taste of spring. And also bacon.
I had just watched the squash episode of Jamie at Home and couldn't wait to make his carbonara again. That show is straight-up food porn: close-in shots of him tenderly handling produce, tossing things together, and finally the money shot when he unloads the creamy, steaming mixture into an eagerly waiting serving dish. I made the carbonara last fall when his book first came out with zucchini at the very end of its season and it was incredible, so I thought it would be a good inaugural recipe for this site. It's best with small and tender zucchini, but if all you have are the gigantic ones you can make do by scraping the seeds out and cutting them into smaller pieces.
You will need:
● 1 pound penne (I used whole wheat)
● 4 slices thick-cut bacon
● 4 egg yolks
● 6 small summer squash - about 2 pounds in all
● ½ cup heavy cream or half and half
● A few sprigs fresh thyme
● 1-2 ounces good-quality parmesan cheese
● About a tablespoon of olive oil
● Salt and pepper
Because this recipe comes together pretty quickly toward the end, I think it's best to prep everything at the beginning so that it's all handy and ready to go when you need it. There are three main components to this dish: the pasta, the zucchini/bacon, and the sauce. For the pasta, put a large pot (ideally this pot holds a gallon of water with some room to spare) of heavily salted (like, at least 2 tablespoons) water on to boil. While the water is heating, we'll prep the other two components. Don't put the pasta in to cook until everything is cut up and ready to go. To make the sauce, you should first separate the egg yolks from the whites.
The best way to do this is a point of contention in our house.
The correct way is to tap the egg firmly on a flat surface such that it cracks.
Then, empty the entire egg into a clean hand positioned over a bowl, sink, or compost bucket.
With your fingers slightly separated, jiggle the egg gently so the white slips between your fingers and the yolk remains in your hand. Deposit the yolk into a medium bowl and repeat with the remaining eggs. After you have separated the yolks, grate the parmesan cheese.
I prefer to use a Microplane grater. It creates a puffy mound of finely grated cheese that will melt quickly and uniformly.
Next, mix about half the cheese with the egg yolks and the cream. Set this mixture aside while you prep the zucchini and bacon.
Cut the top and bottom off the squash. Cut each in half longitudinally, then slice each half at a 45° angle about ³⁄₈of an inch thick. Each piece should be about the same size and shape as your penne.
Cut the bacon equatorially into ¼ inch pieces. It’s easiest to do this if the bacon is quite cold – go ahead and stick it in the freezer for 10 or 15 minutes first.
Remove all the leaves from the thyme.
In a large skillet, heat a small amount of olive oil. When the skillet is hot and the oil is shimmering, add the bacon.
At this point your water should be boiling, so go ahead and put your pasta in a cook for the length of time on the package.
When the bacon is cooked through and crispy, add the squash to the pan. Stir it frequently.
Cook it until it is soft with some brown spots. Add the thyme.
While the zucchini is cooking, get your colander ready to drain. I like to put a measuring cup in the colander so that I remember to reserve some of the pasta cooking water.
At this point your pasta should be cooked through. Reserve ½ cup of the cooking water, then drain. Quickly add the pasta to the skillet with the zucchini, bacon, and thyme and remove from the heat. Stir to combine, then add the cooking water and egg mixture. Toss to combine and serve with the remaining parmesan sprinkled on top.
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