Does anyone have a tried and true recipe for potato bake that isn't runny? It can be creamy or not, I don't mind. Preferably creamy though as that's the way the rest of the family like it.
Does anyone have a tried and true recipe for potato bake that isn't runny? It can be creamy or not, I don't mind. Preferably creamy though as that's the way the rest of the family like it.
6 potatoes
1 big onion
1/2 cup sour cream
2 cups fried and diced bacon
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
You can use more sour cream if you want ... but no more than a cup
You can also add half the cheese into the mix and half on top
- Slice potatoes into 3/4 inch pieces. Slice onion thinly and split into rings.
- Combine potatoes and onions and microwave on high for 10 minutes, stirring once during cooking.
- Remove from microwave, stir through sour cream , bacon, and 1/2 cup cheese.
- Place in greased baking dish and sprinkle remaining cheese over the top.
- Bake at 350°F for 45 minutes.
I won't be wronged. I won't be insulted. I won't be laid a-hand on. I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them ... John Bernard Books
Indian Chief 'Two Eagles' was asked by a white government official; "You have observed the white man for 90 years. You've seen his wars and his technological advances. You've seen his progress, and the damage he's done."
The Chief nodded in agreement.
The official continued; "Considering all these events, in your opinion, where did the white man go wrong?"
The Chief stared at the government official for over a minute and then calmly replied.. "When white man find land, Indians running it, no taxes, no debt, plenty buffalo, plenty beaver, clean water. Women did all the work, Medicine Man free. Indian man spend all day hunting and fishing; all night having sex."
Then the chief leaned back and smiled; "Only white man dumb enough to think he could improve system like that."
Mine is super, super easy, and EVERYONE who eats it loves it. For being so simple, it tastes awesome and is lovely and creamy.
- however many potatoes you want/need, sliced no thicker than 5mm.
- cream
- bacon, diced (enough to cover the top with a nice layer)
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- cheese to top
- Layer your potato slices in your (microwave safe) dish (I just use a glass tart/flan dish, it's about 2cm high I guess) and alternate potato slices with onion. Keep a bit of onion aside to put on the top later. My dish is shallow so I end up with three layers of potato and they bulge out the top.
- Cover with gladwrap and microwave the whole thing for at least 5 minutes. Check that your potato slices are 'par-boiled' and nuke a bit more if not. You want them half-cooked. If you microwave them separately then make sure you transfer all the liquid that will form when you put them in the real dish, as the starch will help with the sauce.
- Put your diced bacon over the top, I like a nice generous layer. Add the left over onion to your liking.
- Pour just enough cream in that you can just see it coming partway up the sides. You don't want so much that it's spilling out the top, but you need to be able to see a bit pooling around the potatoes. I just use Bulla Thickened Cream (or actually Paul's is the brand I use but I think that's a SA brand, so use Bulla or a similar consistency one. I find the Woolies brand is a bit to thin for my liking).
- Top everything with grated cheese - cheese that you grate yourself will give you a better result than pre-grated, even though it's a pain to grate it. (I generally buy whatevers on special between Coon, Bega, Devondale and Mainland and they all work fine)
- Bake at 180 until the cheese on top is all melted and browned up (usually about 30-40minutes).
I always put a tray under it just in case it overflows, but my dish is always bursting at the seams once it's all in there, so overflow happens for me. Sometimes I wonder if this helps keep the runniness down? Either way, mine is almost never runny, and the runniness seems to be more about what cream I use than anything else (and it's always runny if I have to use milk instead of cream). I also ALWAYS nuke the taters first... if you don't par boil them first the cheese burns before they get done and I don't like al dente potato bake.
So, I make something called hashbrown casserole. The recipe is pretty much this: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/hash...-onions-cheese with a few substitutions--no bacon, more garlic instead of onion (or if you are using onion, sautee and carmelize them with the garlic first...also mushrooms are good if you do it this way), and greek yogurt rather than sour cream. Also, sometimes I dice cauliflower to take the place of 1/3 of the potato and/or shred in zucchini too.
“You have never answered but you did not need to. If I stand at the ocean I can hear you with your thousand voices. Sometimes you shout, hilarious laughter that taunts all questions. Other nights you are silent as death, a mirror in which the stars show themselves. Then I think you want to tell me something, but you never do. Of course I know I have written letters to no-one. But what if I find a trident tomorrow?" ~~Letters to Poseidon, Cees Nooteboom
“We still carry this primal relationship to the Earth within our consciousness, even if we have long forgotten it. It is a primal recognition of the wonder, beauty, and divine nature of the Earth. It is a felt reverence for all that exists. Once we bring this foundational quality into our consciousness, we will be able to respond to our present man-made crisis from a place of balance, in which our actions will be grounded in an attitude of respect for all of life. This is the nature of real sustainability.”
~~Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
"We are the offspring of history, and must establish our own paths in this most diverse and interesting of conceivable universes--one indifferent to our suffering, and therefore offering us maximal freedom to thrive, or to fail, in our own chosen way."
~~Stephen Jay Gould, Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History
"Humans are not rational creatures. Now, logic and rationality are very helpful tools, but there’s also a place for embracing our subjectivity and thinking symbolically. Sometimes what our so-called higher thinking can’t or won’t see, our older, more primitive intuition will." John Beckett
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Thanks! I'll try them out.
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