All-in-together Dinner

I love to cook.  It's the cleaning up afterward that gets to me.  And when you've got somewhere to go after dinner, the last thing you want when you get home is a pile of dirty pots and pans waiting for your attention.  With a little planning ahead, you can get a dinner together that not only requires little cleanup, but all cooks in the oven at the same temperature.

Last week I made Maple-Mustard Chicken Thighs, Roasted Potatoes, and Colie's Roasted Carrots recipe.  I lined all my pans with foil so I wouldn't have messy dishes to wash later.  Here's the BEFORE:

And AFTER:

Tonight I've got Tandoori Chicken, Roasted Old Bay Potatoes and those delicious Roasted Carrots again!  (I did find that the roasted carrots, if you're using baby carrots, take longer than the 20 minutes listed in the recipe.  I'm putting them in at the same time as everything else tonight.)

Roasted potatoes in general are fairly flexible.  If your main dish cooks anywhere between 400 and 450 degrees, you can do roasted potatoes alongside.  Just adjust baking time accordingly.

The best part?  Dinner is cooking right now, and I'm sitting here in the living room.  All the dishes from dinner prep are done.  When dinner's over, we'll load the dishwasher and walk out of the kitchen with no more work waiting for us!

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Original Recipe: Roasted Potatoes with Old Bay

These roasted potatoes were inspired by Chickie's & Pete's Crab Fries. They're spicy--and really good!

ROASTED POTATOES WITH OLD BAY
Printable version

6 russet or Yukon Gold potatoes, unpeeled, sliced about 1/4 inch thick
2 TBL Old Bay seasoning
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly-ground black pepper
2 TBL olive oil plus 1 TBL for the pan

Preheat oven to 400.  Cover a heavy baking sheet with foil.  Brush with 1 TBL olive oil.  Toss potatoes, seasonings and 2 TBL olive oil in a large bowl.  Pour out onto the prepared pan.  Spread potatoes so that they are in a single layer.  Use a spatula to scrape the rest of the oil and seasonings out of the bowl onto the potatoes.  Bake for 25 minutes at 400, then turn potatoes over and bake another 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown.

Roasted Potatoes, inspired by Cindy

The original recipe for these potatoes is on the MomsMenu with Cindy blog.

I made a few changes to the recipe, partly because of personal tastes (some people in this house are anti-Parmesan; others are anti-onion), partly because of what I had in the house, and partly because I was cooking in a roaster oven.

So here it is, as I made them. They were good! Definitely a keeper!

1 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, unpeeled, cut into wedges or cubes (I didn't weigh the potatoes; I used 3 small ones and 4 big ones to serve 4 people).
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/8 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp tarragon
1 tsp rosemary
1 tsp kosher salt

Heat the 4- to 6-qt. roaster oven to 400 degrees F.

Put the potatoes in a mixing bowl and add remaining ingredients. Toss to coat potatoes.

Spread in preheated roaster oven. Bake, stirring several times, until potatoes are tender and brown, 35 to 40 minutes.

Cheesy Unmashed Potatoes

Like cheese fries, but you have to eat these with a fork. YUM.

6 potatoes (russet, Yukon Gold, red-skin), NOT PEELED
1/4 pound bacon, cooked (my kids said it needed more bacon)
1 TBL butter
1 small-to-medium onion, diced
2 TBL minced garlic
1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar or Cheddar-Jack cheese

Cut the potatoes in eight pieces each and boil for 45 minutes to an hour until they are fully cooked. Meanwhile, cook the bacon. Remove to drain the bacon and cook the onion in the bacon grease. Add garlic when onion is almost cooked. Drain cooked potatoes and return to cooking pot. Add butter, onions and garlic, crumbled bacon and cheese. Stir to coat, set the lid on the pan and let it sit 5 minutes before serving.

SOURCE: The original recipe was shared by a friend of a friend on Facebook, but these are my modifications.

Crab Fries

Last night at a minor-league baseball game, I tried Chickie & Pete's Crab Fries for the first time. We ALL liked them (spicy but addictive!) so I knew I needed to figure out a way to do them at home. I found a few recipes on various websites and cobbled together the best ideas from this one and that one. Here's what we'll be trying on Tuesday.

CRAB FRIES
Fast-Food style fries
1 TBL Light Olive Oil
1 tsp Paprika
1/2 tsp Oregano, ground
1/2 tsp Basil
1 tsp Salt
1 TBL Old Bay Seasoning
1/4 tsp Pepper, black

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450. Cover baking sheet with foil and brush with olive oil.
Mix all dry ingredients.
Drizzle potatoes with olive oil, sprinkle seasoning over potatoes and mix to coat. (This is going to be messy, I can tell!)
Cook as directed on package.

UPDATE: These were great! I changed up the directions a little and omitted an ingredient. What you see above is what I did and we were all happy with the result.

Buttermilk Baked Chicken and Baked Potato Wedges

Two great tastes that go great together! And they bake at the same temperature (for the same time, if you use BIG pieces of chicken) so it makes dinner prep really easy.

Both these recipes came from Alicia's Recipes. I'm copying them below and in the case of the chicken, including the changes I made.

Buttermilk Baked Chicken
vegetable oil for baking sheet
1 1/2 cups seasoned bread crumbs
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
salt and pepper
4 pounds chicken parts, rinsed and patted dry

Instructions
Preheat oven to 400F. Generously rub a baking sheet with oil. In a large bowl, stir together the buttermilk, hot pepper sauce, salt and pepper. Place the chicken in the buttermilk mixture, turning to coat evenly. Working with one piece at a time, remove chicken from liquid, letting excess drip back into bowl; dredge in the bread crumb mixture, turning to coat evenly. Place coated chicken pieces on prepared baking sheet. Bake until chicken is golden brown, about 35 to 50 minutes (depending on the size of the pieces). Leave enough space between the chicken pieces so that they crisp evenly all the way around. Serves 8.

Baked Potato Wedges
3-4 med. potatoes
2-3 tbsp. melted butter
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
4 dashes parsley
Salt and pepper

Instructions
Scrub potatoes. Do not peel. Cut each potato lengthwise in quarters. Stir together melted butter, garlic powder and parsley. Arrange potatoes skin side down on a shallow baking pan. Brush seasoned butter over cut surfaces of potatoes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake, uncovered, at 400 degrees for about 1 hour or until golden brown and tender when pierced.

Mashed Potato Cakes

I cobbled together a few recipes, a little of this and a little of that, and ended up with something pretty good!!

MASHED POTATO CAKES

3 cups leftover mashed potatoes
1 egg
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded (I used a Cheddar-Jack mix)
salt and pepper to taste (about a teaspoon of each)
1 tsp garlic powder
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
oil for the griddle

I used a 2-burner griddle to make this go faster. This recipe made about 15 potato cakes.

Mix potatoes, egg, cheese and seasonings (not bread crumbs) in a large bowl. Form into patties and dredge in the bread crumbs. They don't have to be completely coated. Fry on a heated, oiled griddle until brown on both sides. Keep warm in the oven until all the cakes are done.

Note:  these are even better when you use a good sharp Cheddar. They're not the prettiest side dish in the world, but they're very tasty.

Lidia's Italian Potatoes

I got the idea for these from the Lidia's Chicken and Potatoes posted at Barbara's blog. The potato idea looked so good, it seemed a shame to limit it to serving with chicken.

These were definitely a hit. The only problem was that I didn't make enough! I had no idea they'd be this good. Next time, I'll make a bigger batch. They require a little "babysitting" but they're worth it!

2 or 3 small potatoes per person
2 tbl olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp rosemary

Rinse and dry potatoes. Leave skins on. Cut potatoes in quarters.
Toss potatoes in a bowl with olive oil and salt.
Heat a heavy skillet over medium heat until it is hot. Pour in potatoes and scrape all the extra oil out of the bowl. Don't turn potatoes for the first 5 minutes.
Stir potatoes and cook another 5 minutes.
Add rosemary and turn potatoes.
Cover and cook 7 minutes.
Stir, cover and cook another 7 minutes.
Stir, cover and cook 10 more minutes.
Stir and cook 10 minutes UNCOVERED.

Cracker Barrel Hash Brown Casserole

Get this recipe with nutrition facts and photo at Cook and Count!