In Praise of the Lovely Potato

  First off, Several readers have told me how they have benefited from using cast iron for their cooking. Almost identical stories about how they were anemic and could never give blood, but after using cast iron for about a year, the counts went up, and they were able to donate. (Besides feeling more frisky!) So, there you go. It's worth a try.
   

     
     Many years ago, I saw this potato bin at a yard sale. I really wanted it, but I didn't have that much money. I shamelessly flirted with the guy, and he sold it to me for $2.00 dollars. I tell you, it works. And I'm glad I did it, too, because I use this everyday, and its charming and its practical and it should last me the rest of the time that I need a potato bin.
     Believe me. I am a potato pro. If I heaped up all the potatos I've dealt with all these years. It would be a pile bigger than my house. The iron horse cowboy is of the opinion that you have to have potatos every day, at least once, in order to survive the vagaries of life. He always says he is not a fussy eater, beacause all he likes is meat and potatos, so what what could be less complicated than that? I leave it to you to make your own judgement. (I sometimes like noodle-ey stuff, too ).
      Potatos are really quite lovely. They look nice. Even the lumpy full of dirt, just from the potato field ones. They are so versatile. You can't even imagine how many different ways you can make them. Any meal of the day.

      You even have a choice of color. Red, white, yellow, even blue and purple. I did try the blue ones, once, but it just looked too, something... they tasted fine, though. I like the tiny little ones. You don't have to cut 'em or peel 'm. Just put 'em in the pot and give 'em a boil. I found out you don't have to peel potatos, ever, if you don't want to. The skins are the healthiest part anyway, so why waste the time and product? When I had seven teenage sons at home, I went through ten pounds of potatos every night. I learned pretty quickly to not worry about peeling. The peels give a great texture to mashed, are a bonus to boiled, fried, or scalloped.
       Once I even tried to grow potatos. I cut all the "eye pieces"  and placed them in my lovely, crumbly soil that I had hoed my trench in.It was pure luck that the property we bought when we came to New England was all loam and sand to make it friable. No rocks. No rocks. It is unheard of around these parts. You know all those stone walls? They picked those rocks to try to make pastures and gardens. But more just come popping up with the frost every winter. It's a losing battle. Mostly the farmers pulled stakes and moved west. They probably went out and ran that prairie soil through their fingers every day, and said a thank you prayer. For no rocks.
       Any way, I soon had four lovely, long rows of the most beautiful potato plants you would ever want to see. And I hoed out the weeds and hilled up the dirt around each plant, just like you are supposed to. Oh, I had a good feeling about those potatos! They blossomed. Sometimes, I'd even sneak a peak underneath. Yup. Little teeny tiny spuds. Can't wait. Then, alas and alack. I go out to do my daily hoeing, and what do I see? Potato bugs. Millions of 'em. On every plant. Just munching away. I ask you.. Where do they come from? I never have seen another potato patch around the neighborhod anywhere. They are called Colorado potato beetles. Did they fly in from Colorado in the night? Or did a couple sneak in and have an orgy?
         So, I bribe my boys to go out and pick the little critters off my plants. They get empy coffee cans and go out to slay the enemy. Its  a losing battle, too. Just like the rocks. You cant squish 'em fast enough. Any how, they don't care about any other plants, thank goodness. I know, I could have bought chemicals. But, you know. That just ain't right. So the beautiful potato plants all fell down. I mean, I dug up what I could. It was a pitiful small bowl of pitiful small potatos. All my hard work. I should of sat down and cried. But I didn't. I cooked 'em all up and ate 'em for supper. (The spuds, not the bugs.)
       "We have potatos for breakfast and potatos for noon. If it weren't for potatos we would soon be undoon." Old colonial saying.  So lets start with potatos for breakfast!
          First you have to cook potatos for supper the night before. Sneak out some before you mash them, or eat then as boiled potatos, just incase everyone is really hungry and they eat them all. Then there wouldn't be any left. Sad, but true. 
                  Breakfast Potatos
        ( We call them home fries, here in New England.)
           And they are NOT hashbrowns. Period.

            Heat up your cast iron skillet. You want it to be smoking hot. Drop in a dab of butter (or margarine). It will melt and turn smokey and brown. Add chopped onions. How much depends on how much you like onions. Of course, if you don't like onions, then leave them out. Add your chopped potatos. You can cut them the size you want. I like them fairly small. Then you sprinkle them liberally with Lawrys Season Salt. This is esential to good home fries. Trust me.

             Be careful when you put them in the skillet so you don't get burned with smoking hot butter. Stir just enough to mix everything evenly, and then let 'em cook. Thats it. You want them to get a nice brown crustiness to them, so when the bottoms get crusty, flip 'em over and brown the other side. Umm Hmm. Fry up some eggs and you just got a real good thing.
       

                 If last nights potatos were mashed, you do pretty much the same thing. Get your cast iron smokey hot. Add your butter (or margarine). Shape the cold mashed potatos into nice thick patties, slide 'm into the smokey butter. Little sprinkle of Lawrys. Let them get nice and crispy, then turn them over and crisp the other side. Add eggs. These are good with a little butter or sour cream, too, if you like all that good stuff.                                        

   

 

 

  

Of course, there's no law saying you can't eat other kinds of potatos for breakfast. It's a free country, here in the good old USA. Another day, we will talk about potatos for the other times of day.

By the way, these CAN be made for lunch or supper, too. No law against that , either!

Cowboy Cake

        YEE HAW! for chocolate cake. Everyone has a recipe or a box mix. This is our most used, most eaten, most bragged about cake. My kids all knew how to make this before they started first grade. It is that easy. At that time, at our house, a 9x13 cake lasted for one night. So , yeah, we made a lot of them. This is another no fuss, no mess recipe. Mix it in the cake pan. Stick it in the oven. Take it out. Eat it.
       I don't know where the original recipe came from. It's in alot of cook books, under many different names. The iron horse cowboy always invites folks over for cowboy cake, so there you have it!

      Find your favorite 9x13 cake pan. You don't even have to grease it. Just start with the dry ingredients.
                                        2 1/2 cups flour
                                         1 1/2 cups sugar
                                        1/2 cup baking cocoa
                                        2 teaspoons baking soda
                                        1/2 teaspoon salt
      Stir these all together with a fork. Wooden fork works great! Now pour into the pan:
                                        2/3 cup cooking oil
                                        2 tablespoons vinegar
                                        1 tablespoon vanilla
                                        2 cups cold coffee  ( you can use water...I'm sketchy on if it will taste quite as good!)
        Carefully blend these wet ingredients with your trusty wooden fork. Or not. Try not to make a floury mess by folding it in slowly. Now mix:
                                         1/4 cup sugar
                                         1/2 teaspooon cinnamon
         Sprinkle this over the cake batter. Of course, you've already preheated your oven to 350. Slip it in! Bake 30 to 40 minutes. Done deal!

          Moist, chocolatey, crunchy sugary cinnamony topping. Scoop out a large piece and dollop on the ice cream or whipped cream. Sigh with satisfaction.
           ** We have made this gluten free by just using GF flour mix and even though some people think they might die or get ill if they eat something gluten free, they never know the difference. Just don't tell those kind of folks.
           ** No. There are no eggs in this cake, so its handy if you run out and you still want to bake.

    

              Put on your hat, and your cowboy shoes! We'll hit the trail and lope on in to the Raggedy Garden for some cake!                
                                                                                                                                

Corn Chowder for a Crowd

                 Here it is, in all its splendor! My cast iron"crock pot". Really a dutch oven. It holds six quarts ( a gallon and a half). The legs are a nice feature, as the pot doesn't sit directly on the heat source. This is nice if you keeping something hot for a longer while. It has the wire bail handle, but I always pick it up with the ears, as it just seems more stable. This pot is quite heavy, especially if you have the cast iron cover on it, too then it weighs eighteen pounds! I thoght I was crazy and couldn't read a scale. So I had the iron horse cowboy weigh it. He was all mystified at WHY, after all this time, I want to know how much it weighs. When not in use, it sits on my wood cook range, which has a fire all winter, by the way. It has squatted there for, well, alot of years.
                  Well, I was feeding a crowd on a cool May day in New Hampshire.  A perfect corn chowdah' day. For corn chowder you need:
                    Bacon (1 lb.)
                    Onion  (1 large)
                    Potatos ( how potato-ey do you want your soup?)
                    Chicken soup base Make your own, or buy. I use gluten free chicken buillion powder)
                     (You can use a vegetable base or broth if you need vegetarian)
                     Creamstyle corn (three cans)
                     Large bag frozen whole kernal corn ( you can use canned or fresh, if its that time of year)
                     Maple syrup (about a quarter cup. If you don't have this around, sugar works just fine. We make our own maple syrup, so thats what I use.)
                     Milk, or half and half
                     A flour roux or cornstarch (because of a gluten free loaded family, I use cornstarch for all my thickening. I have not tried making a roux with GF flour. It might work just fine.)
                    

                 Cook the bacon. Spread the slices on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for about 15 to 18 minutes. Until its nice and crisp. Take it off the pan and let it drain on paper towel. SAVE THE BACON GREASE! Thats what gives chowdah its unique flavor. Of course you skip this part if you don;t eat meat. Just sayin'..it won't be near as good.

                I par cook my potatoes. I just think its quicker and they stay nice and firm. Peel, or not, some spuds are better with skin. Like tiny red ones or new potatoes just from the garden. Dice then up as big as you like to find them in your soup. drain and set aside until you are ready to put the milk in.

                  Dice up a nice fat onion. Vidalias are the best. They are so sweet and they don't make you cry. Sorry, any Walla Walla Sweet fans. We just don't find them around here. In the cast iron skillet they go, with the bacon grease or a nice dab of butter.  Saute them so they turn translucent and soft.Good old wooden spoon works fine for this!

           
                   Dump the onions and all that good bacon flavoring into the big dutch oven. Add one quart soup base, maple syrup and corn. Bring to a boil. Now is the time to add your roux, or your cornstarch. Roux is just butter and flour cooked to a golden colored paste. If you use cornstarch, you need a lot for this much chowder. I used about 3/4  of a one pound box. Mix it with cold water, so its thick and not lumpy. Then add some of your hot broth and mix it into the cornstarch, then add it to the pot. Stir occasionally while the chowder simmers. Let it get quite thick. Then add your potatoes and milk. For this much, I used about six cups of milk. If you thicken with cornstarch, it will get thicker if you are keeping it hot for a longer time. Just thin it down with water, milk or broth.

 

                                                                                          
                                                                                         
                     Do a taste test. Add salt and or pepper if you think it needs any. Usually between the broth and the bacon, its salty enough. I confesss to be addicted to McCormacks Smokehouse pepper, so I give it a generous sprinkle. Recommend you try it! Of course, warm fresh bread, butter, and you have yourself a real deal meal. Have an iron horse cowboy who won't eat your cooking? Make him a hot dog.
                     If you don't need this much chowdah, just shrink the amounts. Its flexible. Its easy. Its delicious. Come on over!
                                                                                          
                                                                                   



                   

Warning! And Salad!

  May I just say: Spring is coming to the Raggedy Garden! Outdoor living is just around the corner. Cast iron pans can be used on the grill. With excellent results. Like if you want to make breakfast outside on warm, sweet mornings. Yup.

               Now, about warnings, and Salads......



           Just a warning. You never grab the handle of a cast iron pan when it is hot. Never. Never. Grab a hot pad, oven mitt, thick towel, anything that will protect your hand from HOT iron. This is even more important than never, never wash cast iron with soap.  (my apologies to the Kullaklan)
           Salad has nothing to do with cast iron what so ever. And, who doesn't know how to make a salad? I didn't. I came from Minnesota. Did you know that they call a bowl of chopped up lettuce a Minneasota Salad? I'm thinking that Minnesotans have gotten more savvy since those days. No offense meant. But I have picked up alot of great salad hints over the years, and the different places I have been. Of course, you could go on for many sentences about all the different kinds of salads. This story is about Chef Salads.
            So far this year I have been the giver, and receiver of many, many meals. Make A Meal is a super deal! When you are sick, sad, ultra busy, grieving or joyful, it's the nicest sight in the world when someone comes through the door with a nice meal. It slides a big load off your shoulders. If you are making a meal for someone, you try to think of something easy to carry around, something that will stay nice and fresh for the car ride, and you hope it won't be what the other five people brought that week already.
             So one day, I was wracking my brains over what to make. There would probably be alot of people, as there was family from all over at the house. Visions of a nice crunchy Chef Salad came dancing through my head, and the more I thought, the better it seemed. Easy to make up, easy to transport, good to eat, and easy clean up. How can you beat that!
             When you bring a meal, of course, you use tossable foil containers, so no one has to try to get all kinds of containers back  and remember what belongs to who. So I used a big roasting pan for the greens. Thats easy, just get some nice dark green Romaine, cuz' thats the letuce thats good for you. I like to add some fancy greens, just for color and form and fun and flavour. Garden lettuce comes in wonderfully here, if its that time of year. If not, then just use a bag mix or search through the produce section for frisee, radicchio, leafy greens, spinach, what ever looks good. Then I just slice up your other veggies, carrots, cucumbers, onions, peppers (use different colors), radishes, sugar peas, tomatoes (little ones are nice), what ever strikes your fancy, and place them along the edges, so folks can take what they like.
              Then use a 9x13 and fill it up with meats and cheeses, sliced hard boiled eggs. Send along a package of dried fruit and some bacon bits. You can bring salad dressing if you want, but people usually have what they like in their Fridge.  Then just add some fresh homemade bread, rolls or muffins, and you're set!

      Its easy to make it look special, too, by using a little imagination.
             Chef Salads are nice to do for a smaller bunch, in individual bowls, too. If they are going to be eaten fairly soon, they are much enhanced by adding chopped apples, pears, or citrus and nuts. Chopped walnuts, sliced almonds, cashews, or the candied nuts are good, too. Also, I like to cut the lettuce in small pieces. It's not so messy. At least I always dislike trying to eat a salad with such big chunks of lettuce that you have to try to get it all in your mouth, or a piece of lettuce will fall on me or the table (awkward), or you try to cut it in your bowl, and stuff flies around (embarrassing).

              I like using a soup bowl for these.It seems to make a perfect portion. With summer coming on, this is always good hot weather food. If I'm doing a big one, for a crowd, I will get a spiral sliced ham (usually the cheapest meat you can find at the grocery), and either cook up some reasonably priced chicken you have in the freezer or a turkey, the day before you make the salad. It always tastes better than deli meats. You can do all the work enough ahead of time so you can sit around and enjoy your company rather than being stuck in the kitchen by your lonesome while others are laughing and talking and having a good time.
              Chef Salads are nice, because you can basically just use what ever you happen to have around. You can use your imagination and pick up some fancy additions if you want to go that direction. Your guests are always impressed. It tastes so good. It's good for you. Even the iron horse cowboy ( who thinks vegetables are what meat eats ) is impressed and praises the meal when he has his stack of meat covering up the greens.
             Don't burn your hand! Eat salad. Have a good day!

Smokin' Rainbows

          Freshly caught rainbow trout, in the spring, cooked up in a smokin' hot cast iron skillet. It melts in your mouth. It tears up your taste buds. It lingers on your tongue.  Maybe you can go a fishing. There must be a rod and a reel around somewhere, just waiting for you. Sneak the kids, or the iron horse cowboys, thats what I do. A rushy litttle brook, some warm sunshine on your back, some rubber boots, and you are off. If not, you might be lucky enough to have a young 'un that likes to fish, or an old retired friend that will gift you with his catch. You can clean it yourself, or sweet talk some one else into doing it. Have 'em cut off the head and tail, then cut down the middle, and you have a nice butterfly fillet to cook.

         A picture can't convey the beauty of the rainbow. In the water, nor when he jumps out, swirling and flashing in the sunlight, spraying you with drops of diamond glitter water. There he is, plump and ready for the pan. You need to heat up that skillet, so it's smokin' hot. When you plop in that dab of butter, you want it to smoke and sizzle in the pan, and turn immediately brown. Drop in your butterfly fillet. Careful, now, don't let it splatter you..it's smokin' hot! About five minutes should be good. The skin will be crisp and crinkly and the flesh pink and flakey. Slide a fork under the back bone, and it will glide right off. Stick the bones off to the side. Turn off your heat. Brush the trout with some heavy cream and sprinkle it with finely crushed Ritz crumbs. Put the trout,( in the pan), under your pre heated broiler and let it brown nicely. Done! Sweet! Eat it up. Sit there staring at your empty plate, almost wishing you had some more.

       Clean up your mess! There's not much , everything was done in that one cast iron skillet! When it cools wipe it down, rinse with hot water, and set it away for the next good thing that happens along.I have a cast iron cooking range, too. I use it when the weathers cold and the fire burns and crackles. You gotta keep that wood box full, though. Said one small boy the other day, as he dropped in an arm load of wood, "I can't believe you are making me do this." Quite under his breath, so the iron horse cowboy would not hear. But he did it, none the less, and beamed at me as he strode back out the door.
      When iron horse and I first started house keeping, we were rather poverty stricken. We would rent a row boat every evening for the large sum of $1.00 and catch our limit of rainbows. Then it was trout and eggs for breakfast. It was good, and good for you, they say. Sometimes I remember back then, how much fun it was and how good trout and eggs tastes, when you are hungry.So maybe, I'll go a fishing in the morning.. Come over for breakfast!

The Cast Iron Yumminess Cookie

               The Raggedy Garden dwellers are cast iron cooks. This is literal truth telling, because I have cooked with the same cast iron pans all the years. It is also innuendo truth telling, because the Raggedy Garden cowboy thinks that I have a cast iron stomach. The reason he thinks this is because he is a meat and potatoes and eggs man. And I have been known to try various other dainties like quiche... quiche is made of eggs, but that "quiche" word is suspicious. I know the Readers Digest had a story called "Real Men Don't Eat Quiche", back in the 70's, but if I was a man I would say, "Just for that I WILL eat quiche". Oysters , they were on the half shell, all smothered with creamy sauce and cheese and stuff...I think there might have been an oyster in there somewhere, but I'm not sure. Escargot....It was soup. It was rather salty. The escargot were chopped up in miniscule pieces. Soup de Escargot sounds much better than snail soup. And you don't envision all those critters you war against in your garden. Or, if you are from the Pacific Northwest, they do not look anything like slugs, which are bigger, slimmier snails with no shells. Brie and Feta. Yes, I've tried both. A chunk of Brie , slathered with maple and wrapped in pastry? Yes! Feta? Not so much. And corn chowder, which I dearly love, thick and bacony and loaded with corn...But he says they tried to make him eat it in school and it looked and tasted like dirty dish water. So, I make a mean corn chowder, but only for some one else, or if the cowboy is off on his iron horse.
          Cast iron is easy to cook with. They have every shape of cast iron pan you can imagine, beside skillets. Muffin tins, cornbread pans that look like ears of corn, dutch ovens, tea kettles, griddles, you name it. I have a 10 inch and an 8 inch skillet and a big dutch oven, with legs. It has a permanent spot on my wood kitchen range. It weighs a ton. You wouldn't want to be huffing it around too much. When you need a large amount of soup or stew, or chili, or a ham or a roast that you want to slow cook, it is just the ticket. The two skillets, I use them for everything. Breakfast turns out beautifully in them. Eggs...perfect over easys. Pancakes, french toast, grilled english muffins or bagels...evenly browned and golden. Unless I wander off with my nose in a good cook book  or something, and forget about them. ( Then they can be the color and shape of charcoal briquets.)  They even have cast iron waffle makers, but you can't plug 'em in!
        Cast iron is easy to care for. Alot of times, you can just wipe them out, after they are cooled off, with a paper towel. Of course you are never, may I add NEVER, supposed to use soap on cast iron. But if you're clean squirmmy,  you will feel like you have to. That's okay. Just do it. Make sure you rinse well with hot, hot water and air dry. I always just leave mine on the stove top, and they have never rusted. If they do get rusty looking, you need to coat them well with cooking oil and put them in a warm oven for a few hours, and they will look like new again.
       My friend, Cindy, has a covetable collection of cast iron, and guess what? Her mother doesn't dare to eat at her house, because she doesn't wash her pans with soap! Sigh. You still gotta love your mother, even if she's difficult sometimes. Remember all the times she stuck up for you, when you were being difficult.
        Makes just right grilled cheeses for lunch. Supper, they fry up steaks and hamburgs and chicken. Wonderful for stir fry. In the oven they go for scalloped potatoes, mac and cheese, any casserole....Baked beans, meatloaf, they all come out like they are supposed to. And , of course, dessert and goodies! Why not? You can bake a fine round loaf of bread, (who decided sandwiches have to be in a loaf shape?) some cinnamon rolls, pie...and of course a cast iron cookie!
         So, why a cookie in a skillet? Well, all you need is the skillet, a wooden spoon, and a measuring cup. No dirty dishes and mixing bowls and cookie sheets. That should be enough right there!

                                     
                                      Cast Iron Yumminess Cookies
                                          Preheat oven to 375
                                            1 cup brown sugar
                                            1/2 cup granulated sugar
                                            1 cup soft margarine
                                            1 teaaaspoon vanilla
                                            2 eggs
                                            2 cups flour
                                            1 1/4 cup old fashioned oats
                                            1 teaspoon baking soda
                                            1 teaspoon salt
                                            2 cups of yumminess, your choice
                                      ( I used chocolate chips, raisins and craisins )
                                            can use any flavor chips, nuts, marshmallows,
                                            whatever seems good to you.
      I didn't take the margarine out to soften soon enough, so I put it in the skillet on low heat to soften it up some. Don't melt it, just soften it. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well. Dump in the flour and oats, baking soda and salt. Mix in. Your wooden spoon works great for this. If you don't have a wooden spoon, you will just have to use something else. A wooden spoon is best, though. ( I will tell you about wooden spoons another day.)   Mix in your goodies. Slide the skillet in the heated oven and bake for about 35 to 40 minutes.

                 Here's where the maple sugar makers come in the house for coffee. They think house smells really good. You cut them big, pie slab sized pieces, all hot and melty, with a scoop of ice cream, and this is all you have left. They think you are magic, or something, and groan contentedly. No muss, no fuss, just a cast iron skillet and a wooden spoon.
        *** If you need gluten free, just whizz up enough oats (in the blender) to make 2 cups of oat flour, instead of the regular flour.                         

              Of course, if you don't have a cast iron pan, you can just drop these by tablespoon-fuls on a cookie sheet. They would, no doubt be good cookies, but just regular, plain old cookies.. no pizzaz! Have fun, and eat cookies, with love from the Raggedy Garden..