Buttermilk Yeast Rolls and Cheesy Potatoes for Christmas Eve

It's true that it's New Year's Eve, not Christmas Eve, but we are catching up here. Happy New Years y'all!!

I'm still searching for the perfect dinner roll, but the ones I made for Christmas Eve dinner are mighty close. I used a recipe from Baking with Julia and although the original recipe was for a loaf of bread, with the bread made in a dough machine, I didn't actually change the ingredients, something I'm not known for. Being an experienced baker I knew that I could convert the process to make the dough in my trusty stand mixer and that the dough could then be divided into rolls at shaping time instead of being shaped into a loaf. Julia claims that you can also make the dough into bread sticks....maybe next time! These rolls were the perfect accompaniment to baked ham, potato casserole, steamed broccoli and salad. They were delicious without butter and decadent with.

The rolls were light but sturdy enough that they didn't collapse when you bit into them. They had a slight tang from the buttermilk, but were clearly yeast rolls. The bread lovers in the family enjoyed them immensely. I had never used powdered buttermilk before making these rolls, but I will make use of it now instead of fresh buttermilk, even though the reconstituted powder doesn't have the same creamy texture that fresh does. Usually that will not make a difference since my main use of buttermilk is for things like Irish Soda bread, scones, waffles, biscuits and that sort of baked good. I'm looking forward to seeing how the powder does next time I make the soda bread. I'll let you know.

Buttermilk Rolls
from Baking with Julia but made with a mixer and into rolls, not a bread machine and into a loaf. Instructions are my own.

3 cups (approximately) bread flour or unbleached all-purpose flour (I used bread flour)
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons powdered buttermilk
2 1/2 teaspoons (one packet) active dry yeast
1 cup (approximately) room-temperature water
3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, salt and buttermilk powder. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a bread hook, place the water, yeast and maple syrup. Let stand 10 minutes. The yeast will 'bloom'. Add the butter and start the mixer on low. Slowly and gradually add the dry ingredient mixture. The dough will form and 'climb' the dough hook. Knead with the stand mixer for 8 - 10 minutes. Turn the dough out into an oiled bowl or rising container, cover loosely, set in a warm place and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1.5 hours.

When dough has risen, turn out onto a lightly floured work surface, flatten with your hands and divide into 11 or 12 pieces. Shape each piece into a ball and put into a lightly greased 9-inch cake pan, leaving a little space between the balls so they can expand. Cover lightly with oiled plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. toward the end of the rising time.

Bake rolls in the preheated oven, reducing the oven temperature to 375 degrees F when you put the pan in the oven. Bake about 15-20 minutes, or until the rolls are golden to dark brown. Turn the rolls out onto a wire rack, separate and serve at once. Makes 11 - 12 rolls.

The other dish that was new that night was the potato casserole from Julia Child's classic Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Although I've made the Savoyard potatoes from that book, I had not tried her method for the classic gratin of potatoes. I used very thinly sliced Yukon gold potatoes, which lent the dish a nice golden glow, plus the milk and Swiss cheese that Julia recommends.

I made these a day in advance since the ham was going to take up the oven, which meant that I added additional milk when it was time to reheat the casserole. A key step here is to make sure that the baking dish is not too deep. Mine was somewhere between 1.5 and 2 inches deep. This depth allows for plenty of exposed potatoes across the top of the casserole, allowing the excess water in the milk to evaporate and also allowing the cheese and milk to form a nice crust on top. Quite a few guests had seconds, so I know that this was a hit. It probably would be at your house, too, and it's not hard to make. Who can hate cheese and potatoes?

Gratin Dauphinois
(Scalloped Potatoes with Milk and Cheese) from Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck

2 lbs. Yukon Gold potatoes (6-7 cups when sliced), (or other boiling potatoes)
A fireproof baking-serving dish about 10 inches in diameter and 2 inches deep (if recipe is increased, dish must be wider but no deeper) - I used a 9 x 13-inch baking pan, like the kind you use for brownies, and it worked very well
4 tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon salt (I used garlic salt for 1/4 of it instead of the fresh garlic that Julia calls for)
1/8 teaspoon pepper, freshly ground
1 cup (4 oz) grated Swiss cheese (I used diced Swiss)
1 cup boiling milk

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Peel the potatoes and slice them 1/8 inch thick. Place in a basin of cold water. Drain when ready to use.

Smear the inside of your baking dish or pan with 1 tablespoon of the butter. Sprinkle with 1/4 of the salt, and use garlic salt if you can. Drain the potatoes and dry them in a towel. Spread half of them in the bottom of the dish. Divide over them half the remaining salt, and half the pepper, cheese and butter. Arrange the remaining potatoes over the first layer, and season them. Spread on the rest of the cheese and divide the butter over it. Pour on the boiling milk. Set the baking dish over heat and when simmering, set in upper third of preheated oven. Bake for 20 - 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender, milk has been absorbed, and the top in nicely browned. (As the oven is hot, and the dish shallow, the potatoes cook quickly.)

Since I cooked mine in advance (the day before), I brought the cooked potatoes to room temperature, preheated the oven again, poured about 1/2 cup milk over the top of the potatoes, and put the pan in the oven for another 10 minutes. By that time the milk was absorbed, the potatoes sizzling hot and just a little more browned on top.
Serves 6

Best Potato Casserole I've Had

We have heat people! Summer is finally here...and right on time. Should be over 95 today and the tomatoes are loving it. The beans, cukes, and chard are growing rapidly...you can almost see them get bigger as you watch. The morning glories are blooming and sending up long runners and the sweet peas are climbing, too, but I worry that this heat might be more than they like...we'll see. Although I love being in the garden, sometimes its fun to be in the kitchen. For Father's dinner I made a casserole the day before (when it was cooler) to reheat just before dinnertime.

Being Irish...well half Irish anyway...I figure that loving potatoes is a right of heritage. Although I love 'em baked and mashed and oven fried for a casserole of potatoes my favorite recipe is a gratin of potatoes with Gruyere cheesed called Pommes Savoyard.

Thinly sliced peeled potatoes are layered with a butter-onion-garlic mixture, salt and pepper, nutmeg and Gruyere cheese, then bathed in chicken or beef broth and baked until the potatoes are tender and the top is golden brown. Because you are not using a large amount of butter and are using no milk or cream this dish is easier on the waistline than some potato casseroles. Whenever I serve it there are always requests for second helpings and most people also request the recipe. I wish I could sit you down at my table and give you those first and second helpings, but since I can't I can at least give you the recipe so you can impress and please YOUR friends and family!

If you have a food processor with the slicing disc for thin slices, this is the time to use it. You can also use the grating disc to grate the cheese. I used pre-sliced Swiss cheese because that's what I had on hand, so I used a sharp knife to cut it into tiny dice. Even without the food processor this is a pretty easy recipe but you do need to allow plenty of time for it to cook to mellow tenderness.

Pommes Savoyard
3 all-purpose potatoes (about 1 pound), peeled ( I used Idahos)
3 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons finely minced onion (I used about twice this amount...I love onions)
2 garlic cloves, minced
salt and pepper to taste
nutmeg, freshly grated if possible
1/2 cup grated Gruyere or Swiss cheese (about 2 ounces)
1 cup beef broth or chicken broth (I used a bit more -see note below -and used chicken broth)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Peel potatoes and slice them 1/8-inch thick. (Rinse in cold water, then drain and pat dry with paper towels - this part I skipped and it came out fine, but you can do it if you like).

Combine the butter, onion and garlic. Use on third of the mixture to grease a shallow 1 quart baking dish. (A shallow dish is important so that you get plenty of browned topping!)

Spread half of the potatoes in a dish, and season to taste with salt and pepper and nutmeg.

Sprinkle half of the cheese over the potatoes. (I made a single layer of potatoes over the initial butter mixture, seasoned it and sprinkled on about 1/4 of the cheese, then put in a second single layer and treated it as I did the first layer, repeated that process until there were no more potatoes to layer...about 4 layers).

Arrange the remaining potato slices in an even layer over the cheese; season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Top with the remaining cheese.

Pour the broth over all and dot with the remaining butter mixture. Note: I made sure that the broth comes up almost to the top of the layered potatoes so that they will cook evenly throughout...you may need to use more broth than the recipe calls for but it is worth it and the broth cooks into the potatoes and cooks off so the potatoes keep their shape and are not soggy, so it's OK.

Bake for 1 1/4 hours, or until the potatoes are tender throughout and golden brown on top. Serves 4 - 6.

Cheesey Potato Casserole

Have returned from the East coast where I had fun with my Mom and Sweetie, helped Mom with some organization in the sewing room, enjoyed face time with Next Sister Down and lots of family time at our Mothers' Day celebration, the wedding weekend, and the days following it back in Virginia.

Each time I spend time with the family members I'm reminded again how fortunate I am to be one of them even if now and then I find it hard to believe that I'm inside the circle of love and not outside looking in. With a few exceptions, I seem to lean further toward the intuitive and less toward the logical than my relatives. I often don't 'get' the humor but I sure enjoy watching the fun and joining in the laughter, not because I got the joke but because I love the merriment. It is never all sweetness and roses in families...we all know each other too well...but spending time with loved ones is often the most satisfying of times, ones I am grateful for.

By the way, I guess I was so immersed in good feelings that I stopped being careful. I left my camera in Virginia, so subsequent posts will have bad photos for a while. The one at the top was taken with a phone camera. Sorry.

One of the fun things about visiting my Mom is that there is usually at least one recipe made that I want to keep for making later at home.

This casserole is one that Mom says she always gets requests for, especially when it is pot luck time, so bookmark it if you do lots of pot luck events. We had it as part of a ham dinner for a mid-week celebration of Mothers Day...who says you have to celebrate it on Sunday, other than Hallmark?

This is not low-cal food, but it is delicious and a bit decadent, but also easy. Like the recipe that follows, it uses sour cream. You can choose to use full fat or low fat sour cream and it might even work to use Greek yogurt instead of the sour cream. We used light sour cream for both recipes.

The potato casserole uses frozen hash brown potatoes, grated cheddar cheese, chopped onions and some condensed cream of mushroom soup (although you could use cream of celery instead). It serves a crowd and is fairly addictive. People kept going back for 'just one more spoonful' until the dish was pretty much gone.

Potato Casserole

1 bag frozen hash brown potatoes, thawed
1 can cream of mushroom (or cream of celery or cream of chicken) soup, low sodium if possible
1/2 stick butter, melted and cooled
1 -16 oz. container sour cream or light sour cream
1 cup chopped onions
2 cups (8 oz.) grated cheddar (reduced fat is fine as long as it is extra sharp cheddar)
salt and pepper to taste

Set hash browns out to thaw beforehand, if possible. Preheat the oven to 375 degree F.
In a large mixing bowl mix the soup, melted butter and sour cream until thoroughly blended. Add the chopped onions, all the cheese except for 1/2 cup, and the hash browns, plus salt and pepper to taste, and mix thoroughly.
Put mixture into a greased 9-inch x 13-inch baking pan. Sprinkle the 1/2 cup cheese on top. Bake in preheated 375 degree F oven for about 1 hour, until bubbly and nicely browned on top.

Serves 8 - 10 people.

Mmmm Magic Potatoes

It must be the Irish in me...I love potatoes in almost any form. Baked, fried, boiled, mashed, gratin, French fried, chips, in bread...you get the idea.

Today I put the food processor to work and made a variation of potatoes in the savoyarde style. Thinly sliced, unpeeled (but you can also do it with peeled potatoes which is more elegant) potatoes are layered, in a buttered casserole, with a mince of onions and garlic, some cubed ham, some salt and pepper, a dash of nutmeg and a dash of dried sage. Once the layers are done you add chicken broth and milk, cover it with foil and bake to let the potatoes cook and absorb the liquids. After 30 minutes you uncover the casserole, check for tenderness, add some shredded cheese on top, and bake a little more so that the cheese melts and browns and the potatoes finish getting all nice and soft and lovely. There is something magical about how these flavors combine and it's a perfect dish for cooler weather.

This delightful (although not low calorie) casserole is a meal in itself. All you need to add is a green salad or fruit compote. If you have a food processor with a slicer attachment this potato dish goes together and into the oven in about 20 -25 minutes. The baking takes a while but it's worth it. Just the wonderful smell when it is almost done is enough to make me salivate. I'll try to post some photos of servings later, but right now just look at they browned cheese goodness!

If you prefer, you can layer white potato slices, then yam slices, then white, then yam, and so on, with or without the addition of the ham. Hot, hearty, savory and filling...that's the magic of these potatoes.

Ham and Potatoes Savoyarde Style
serves 6

enough butter to grease the casserole (about 1 teaspoon)
about 2 pounds potatoes, thinly sliced
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 cup diced ham
about 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
about 1/8 teaspoon dried sage
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese (or Swiss is nice, too)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Butter a 2 quart casserole. The best kind is more shallow than deep and wider to give you more top surface.

Layer the potatoes, overlapping slightly in a single layer on the bottom of the casserole. Sprinkle with about 1/4 of the onion and garlic. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and a dash of nutmeg and sage. Scatter about 1/4 cup diced ham over the layer. Repeat with remaining potatoes, onion, garlic, and ham, seasoning to taste as you go.

Pour the chicken broth over the potatoes and then pour in the milk. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes.

Remove foil and distribute the cheese evenly over the top of the casserole. Return it to the oven and bake for another 25 - 35 minutes or until the cheese is browned and the potatoes are tender.
Serve warm.