It’s just a fact. If you don’t love these, it’s over between us. The dialogue will stop. Okay, it’s been sort of one-sided up until now anyway, but these potatoes are defining. They are comforting. They are easy. I’ve been cooking them for years. Believe me, they taste fabulous. You will thank me later.
I can eat these potatoes three times a day. But they are meant for dinner. Still, I bring this up because the potato is one of the few vegetables that people feel comfortable with in the early morning hours. Most people hear the word eggplant and see the sunrise and feel the need to go back to bed. Which is to say, you can make these potatoes for dinner and reheat them in the morning in a skillet with your scrambled eggs and we have what is known as a slice of heaven. This is not something most people want to do with eggplant parm.
Which leads me to mustard. An underachiever. In so many ways.
Now we know, from experience, that the potato is simply a vehicle for a sauce, an oil, or a spice.
This recipe takes advantage of all three propositions.
Culinary historians have traced the first cake “brownie” to the 1906 edition of The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, edited by Fannie Merritt Farmer. This recipe is an early, less rich and chocolaty version of the brownie we know today, utilizing two squares of melted Baker’s chocolate. Food historians don’t know if Fanny Farmer obtained the recipe from another source, printed it as is or adapted it, or provided the name.
Biscuiterie familliale depuis 1905.
A grilled cheese sandwich is as American as American gets. But other countries have their favorite form of cheese sandwich. The Swiss have the tradition of eating melted Raclette cheese spread on toasted bread.
The French have the cafe favorite, the Croque-monsieur, a hot ham and
cheese sandwich. The English have Welsh rarebit, which features slices
of toast doused in a savory cheese sauce. And of course, the Americans
have processed cheese product melted between two pieces of cardboard
white bread. It's what most kids grow up on, even me. But I think it's
time for a more mature grilled cheese sandwich.
Tortellini has been a part of our family’s Christmas day repast since our kids were … well, since they were kids. We used to make tortellini in brodo, a Northern Italian Christmas tradition. I would make a chicken, beef-bone and vegetable broth on Christmas Eve and then on the day we’d all pitch in to make sheets of fresh pasta and a meaty, cheesy, herby filling out of which we’d fashion hundreds of little belly-button-shaped beauties to float in the rich steaming broth. At the table we’d grate Parmigiano over the top and count our holiday blessings.