Sheet Pan Chicken Tikka

Having an easy sheet pan dinner in the weeknight cooking rotation is always a good call. This one is one of my favorites so far with a great Indian flavor and veggies cooked to a perfect level of doneness. Smitten Kitchen does it again with this recipe! And if you're lucky enough to have leftovers it's even better the next day.

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Potato Skins

I was craving potato skins the other day and decided to tackle making homemade ones. They are delicious, but they are quite time consuming. Definitely not a quick and easy weeknight dinner, but a great option when you're in the mood to cook. The ingredients for this are very simple and can be modified to include or exclude your favorite potato skins toppings. Add more or less of any of the ingredients listed below.

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Grilled Potato Slices

A few years ago I accidentally discovered grilling potatoes. I decided this was a must have on BBQ days. It's so easy to make and falls into the realm of comfort food. Cut your potatoes skinnier to reduced grilling time. I love serving this with a side of chive and garlic sour cream, but any dipping sauce that you love will be great. I've also made a cumin, Greek yogurt and mint dipping sauce in the past. If you think the flavor will taste good with potatoes, then go for it.

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Betty Bossi's Potatoes au Gratin (Kartoffelgratin Spezial)

These potatoes are a great comfort food when the weather is cold. This recipe comes from a Swiss cookbook and is very easy to make. The ingredients are simple and most people I know love potato dishes, so it's also a crowd pleaser. It tastes best out of the oven since the top layer of potatoes will have a slightly crunchy crust on top. Some people like to sprinkle cheese over the final layer of potatoes, but you can do whatever you prefer.

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Kzizot (Israeli Chicken Patties)

When I was a kid, kzizot were our ultimate picnic food. I remember stuffing them into pitas and smothering them with hummus and israeli salad. Not much has changed since I still love kzizot and would gladly eat them like that any day. You can serve this with all kinds of middle eastern dips, or you if don't have access to those, they are great on their own as well. I made a greek yogurt dip with garlic and chives the last time I served these.

What makes these patties so great is the grated potato. It keeps the meat really moist, even on the second day if you have leftovers. The recipe is fairly simple and is really hard to mess up. As with all red bell peppers, you could use yellow or orange bell pepper instead.

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Potato Pancakes

I realize potato pancakes are considered a Hanukkah food, but I absolutely love them and from time to time make them during the rest of the year. They're definitely not something I make often (the cleanup from the frying is a pain), but they're one of my favorites. As always, the sour cream and potato combo has won me over. When I was younger I would only top my potato pancakes with sour cream, lots of sour cream, but now I love the combination of applesauce and sour cream as well.

These are best if eaten straight from the pan. When they're reheated, the initial crispiness is lost. When I make these, I put all dinnertime manners aside serve these the second they're done, which means everyone eats in shifts. If you want to have a more civilized meal, you can keep these warm in your oven while you prepare the rest.

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Twice Baked Potatoes

Potatoes are my ultimate comfort food. When I am just cooking for myself, I find that I often just bake (or microwave when I am lazy) a potato and top with with some cheese, veggies, or whatever I have in the kitchen. Or I make myself a tortilla española (an omeletted made with potatoes onions) and convince myself I am having a balanced meal since the eggs contain protein. Twice baked potatoes are one of my favorite ways to eat a potato while keeping it simple. I love the combo of sour cream and potatoes, so pretty much any recipe that uses those 2 ingredient (potato skins or latkes anyone?) will be an instant hit with me.

Although this recipe is time consuming, it's really easy to make. Baking potatoes always makes me impatient since they seem to take forever, but the flavor and texture is not comprable to that of a microwaved potato. Scooping the flesh out of the potato requires a little bit of patience (which I sometimes lack when I'm hungry), but was actually easier to do than I expected. I also added extra sour cream to my completed twice baked potato because I love it that much. Luckily it was just my mom and I eating these, and she is well aware of my love for sour cream. If you can find Straus sour cream, it is my favorite sour cream out there and well worth the extra dollar.

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Garlic Roasted Potatoes

Earlier this week I had a sack of potatoes sitting in my cupboard and decided it was time to roast some veggies (and yes, it's raining again, which is why I am in roasting mode). I had 3 different baking sheets in the oven, one with broccoli, one with cauliflower, and one with these potatoes. The kept the broccoli simple and just tossed it with salt, pepper, and olive oil. I did the same with the cauliflower, but topped it with some grated Parmesan cheese when it was done. These potatoes were just as simple, but really flavorful. Ina Garten puts some chopped parsley on the roasted potatoes, which adds a nice color splash and taste.

I used small white raclette potatoes (which are sort of like a boiling potato crossed with a fingerling potato), but you could probably used any type of potato with a soft skin that doesn't require peeling. I'm sure Yukon gold potatoes would be delicious in this recipe. If you don't have any parsley at home, these would still state great without it. I served these with some salmon, but really, they could accompany almost any meal.

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French Style Potato Salad

It's still potato salad season, which makes me so happy since I love potato salads. And as much as I enjoy those all-American potato salads, like Rosanne Cash's potato salad or the potato salad from Spinelli's Market in Denver (if you're in Denver and have never been there you are missing out big time), I sometimes need a mayo break. When I was looking around for a non-mayo potato salad recipe, I found this one, and because it was an Ina Garten recipe, I decided I needed to try it.

This potato salad is a lighter version of what usually gets served at a backyard barbecue, but the flavor is delicious and you don't feel as bad having seconds or thirds. Sadly, I did not have as pretty of an assortment of potatoes in my salad as Ina did, but the flavor was still great. If you're going for looks, I'd stick with using a colorful combination of boiling potatoes (I only had white ones). As always with Ina Garten recipes, I reduced the amount of olive oil used and still had a tasty end result.

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Rosanne Cash's Potato Salad

Last summer, my sister mentioned that she found a great potato salad recipe. Somehow, we both forgot about it until I was visiting her last week. We wanted to have the first barbecue of the summer and I asked her if she knew of any good potato salad recipes to make as a side. We both had one of those "haven't we had this conversation before?" moments and she quickly pulled up this recipe. I have to admit that potato salads are one of those dishes where I find mayo acceptable. I try to avoid it for many reasons in my everyday cooking (I once worked in a restaurant with giant tubs of mayo, which is extremely off putting when you see it on a daily basis), but there are a handful or traditional, old school recipes that wouldn't be complete without the addition of mayo.

Roseanne Cash (Johnny Cash's daughter) created the original recipe for this potato salad. Deb from Smitten Kitchen tweaked it by adding more seasoning to it, and I just made one change. I try to avoid using raw onions when I can. I don't mind them, but if I can easily swap red or white onions for scallions in a recipe, I usually do it. Also, go ahead and make half of this recipe if you're cooking for fewer people. This make A LOT of potato salad. If you prefer red onions over scallions, feel free to use them instead. This potato salad is a great, all American type of recipe that make an excellent side to any summer meal.

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Simple Potato Leek Soup

What I love about this Martha Stewart recipe (aside from how easy it is to make), is the creamy texture she creates without using any cream or other heavy dairy product. The flavor of the leeks come though without being overwhelmed by the potatoes. Even when there is a massive pot of this soup in the kitchen for days I don't seem to get sick of it. This soup also tastes great days after you make it and it freezes well too.

If you've never worked with leeks before, makes sure you really wash them thoroughly. After you slice them, push apart the rings before washing. You'll be surprised how much dirt gets stuck between the layers of leeks. Aside from this step, there really isn't anything difficult about this soup. If you're really starving when you make this, you could get away with keeping the heat higher in the final step of simmering and cooking the potatoes until they are tender. I've made this soup when I didn't have a blender available before and still found it to be great. I hand mashed some of the potatoes in the pot to try making the texture a little creamier and that worked alright. You definitely do not need to garnish this soup with anything if you're not too worried about a colorful presentation. I bet a dollop of sour cream would also go well as another garnish option.

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Homemade Potato Chips

 
I don't even know how I originally came across this recipe, but I remember thinking there was no way it would work. Well, I was wrong. These chips, though time consuming considering they are just chips, are as crispy as regular, deep fried potato chips. You can flavor them any way you want and there's hardly any oil involved in making them. I tried a few variations, and all of my favorites had Parmesan cheese grated on top with a sprinkling of salt. The chip itself is pretty flavorless, so it's all about seasoning them with your favorite things. I'm sure garlic powder, Italian herbs, cayenne pepper and even Mrs. Dash/seasoning salt would go great on top.
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