Tonight’s dinner is brought to you by – the humble potato. Humble in its simplicity, but so easily transformed into a dish of venturous complexity.
I’ve been trying to come up with a potato dish for Sunday. My original thought was just to oven-roast some baby reds with olive oil, garlic, and rosemary. Quick, easy, and safe. But in looking for something else, I came across a recipe my father’s cousin, Carol, sent me years ago for Potatoes Hashed in Cream. It wasn’t exactly what I was looking for, but it became a starting off point tonight.
I think Carol’s recipe came from a hotel in Omaha and it is definitely a nice dish, but I was looking for something with just a bit more “oomph” for Easter Dinner. And it came together with just a couple of things in the ‘fridge! I started out making a simple white sauce and was looking to add some cheese, when I saw the leftover ranch dressing from a couple of nights ago. A recipe was immediately born!
Rancho Potato
- 2 potatoes, baked or boiled whole
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp flour
- 1 cup milk
- 3/4 or more) cup ranch dressing
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 cup panko bread crumbs
- 1 tbsp butter
Bake or boil potatoes until just barely done. Coarsely mash, leaving big chunks.
Make a white sauce by melting the butter with the flour and adding about a cup of milk. Stir until smooth.
Add ranch dressing and heat through. Check for seasoning and add salt and pepper, if desired.
Mix with potatoes and spoon into a buttered casserole dish. Top with breadcrumbs mixed with melted butter.
Bake at 350° 20-30 minutes or until hot, bubly, and the breadcrumbs are browned.
Here’s Carol’s original recipe:
Potatoes Hashed in Cream
Bake at 350° until tender but firm 4 medium potatoes.
Cool, peel, and chop. Set aside.
Melt 2 tbsp butter. Stir in 1 tbsp flour. Stir until foamy.
Add slowly, 1 cup heavy cream. Cook and stir until cream mixture bubbles.
Add potatoes, mix well, spoon into baking dish.
Dot with 2 tbsp butter, salt and pepper.
Bake at 350° about 30 minutes.
Serves 4.
The rest of the dinner was a pork loin rolled in herbs d’Provence and grilled. Baby broccoli… Really simple. And good.
So… another recipe figured out for Easter.
Can’t wait!