Currently cooking from The Complete Cook’s Country TV Show Cookbook from America’s Test Kitchen.

I have a favorite way to bake potatoes (it’s actually smashed red potatoes that you brush with olive oil and then bake until the edges get crispy), but I was drawn to the picture of these potatoes in the book. Mine didn’t turn out nearly as pretty, but they tasted really good. I don’t know that I’ll give up my smashed potatoes in favor of this one, but it is nice to have a more elegant way to bake potatoes.

You start out by making a topping of bread crumbs, butter, Monterey Jack cheese, Parmesan cheese, paprika and garlic powder by melting the butter and mixing everything together. I made a few changes, mostly to save myself a shopping trip. First, I didn’t have bread, so instead of bread crumbs, I used panko. And I had just bought a chunk of cheddar cheese, so I used that instead of Monterey Jack cheese. The topping turned out fine, even with my changes.

On to the actual potatoes. You take four russets, slice them every quarter of an inch almost all the way through, then carefully wash them out, making sure to wash out the slices. This helps keep the potatoes from sticking together. Then, you precook the potatoes in the microwave; this way, they don’t spend two hours in the oven. Once the potatoes have softened in the microwave, you brush them with oil and bake them in a very hot oven (450 degrees) until they are completely tender and the skin has crisped up. Finally, you press on the topping and broil the potatoes until the topping is crisp.

These were very tasty, and I loved the topping. My only problem was that it was very hard to get the topping to stay on the potatoes. I had to really press the topping down and kind of squish it into the cuts, resulting in a few minor burns.

Of course I ate mine with sour cream, because everything is better with sour cream.

If you are bored with baked potatoes, this is an easy way to spice them up for not too much more work. They are also elegant enough to serve to company, say with a side of roast beef . . .

Currently cooking from The Complete Cook’s Country TV Show Cookbook from America’s Test Kitchen.

What’s this? Why yes, it is ANOTHER cookbook from America’s Test Kitchen. Really, these guys should put me on their payroll. When I came home with this cookbook, Bryan asked me if it was any different that their other ones. It isn’t, really, except maybe it focuses more on regional specialties and “down-home cooking,” whatever that is.

Every Saturday morning, Bryan and I have a ritual. We go to the gym, get coffee and doughnuts on the way home and then spend the next hour (or two) watching the America’s Test Kitchen shows on PBS, including Cook’s Country. There’ve been enough mouth-watering recipes on that show, that while I don’t want to subscribe to their magazine (I already get the Cook’s Illustrated magazine), I did want to make some of the recipes I saw. And this book, just to look at, is delightful. There’s a picture with every recipe, and most of the recipes have little extra tidbits, such as step-by-step pictures or a history of the dish.

The first one I turned to, that I remember very clearly from the TV show, was these potatoes. They are a simple side dish, but with new potatoes, this is sublime. In a nutshell, you take small red or white potatoes, scrub them clean, boil them in very salty water until they are tender and serve them with a melted butter/chive/black pepper dipping sauce. The salty water perfectly seasons the potatoes (no extra salt needed) and keeps the insides creamy and tender. That’s it. Perfectly tender, perfectly seasoned potatoes. And if you don’t want to make the melted butter dipping sauce, sour cream works just as well.

Note: One thing that I’ve come to realize is that taking pictures is my least favorite part of blogging. Even though the blog has been sitting quietly, I haven’t stopped cooking. I just was too lazy to pull out the camera, and I’ve always thought that you really needed pictures of the dishes you are blogging about. And I get even lazier when I’m cooking for our dinner. When the food is done, I want to eat it, not take pictures of it. Usually I end up taking pictures of leftovers, but even then, it is something that I have to force myself to do. I have lots of excuses (it is getting dark earlier and the light is bad and I don’t have a good place to take pictures, etc.).

So what are your thoughts?  Leave me a message and let me know what you think.