Cooking: Swiss Potato Pie

There are enough potato recipes in this book to make a separate, potato-only cookbook. I love that in the 1970’s potatoes were still considered a wholesome vegetable and not the little starch bombs we are supposed to believe about them today. To us modern folks I say stop demonizing the potato! Just maybe don’t make it the only vegetable on your plate.

That said, you are going to want to make this Swiss Potato Pie on a regular basis. It’s a great dish for brunch or as a dinner side dish. It even impresses guests, as we learned when our after-dinner guests showed up while we were still eating. Our leftovers disappeared and we looked like we meant to share (but we really didn’t).

Swiss Potato Pie: peel, dice, boil, and cool potatoes. Cream softened butter, add egg yolks and sour cream. Add cooked potatoes and stir (by hand, do not use your mixer for this step) to coat. Salt generously. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold into potato mixture. Pour into a prepared pie pan.  Top with shredded swiss cheese and breadcrumbs. Bake 30 minutes or until set in the center.

A tip: I have heard that even the tiniest drop of egg yolk in your egg whites can prevent the whites from forming stiff peaks. Be sure to separate your eggs gently and thoroughly wash any shared beaters or bowls before whipping the egg whites.

20 down, 646 to go.
(more about the Cooking the Book project)

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Cooking: Italian Stuffed Peppers

Remember that cookbook project I started a while ago? Yeah, me either. I chose a vegetable cookbook because I often have trouble remembering to incorporate vegetables into my diet, but I guess it’s not magic. I still actually have to remember to plan, cook, and eat them!

Last week I made two recipes from the book (I’ll post about the second one separately). This recipe, Italian Stuffed Peppers, is actually one that I had made way back before Lent started but forgot to post about. So I made it again.

This is a good one. It requires having several ingredients ready before assembling, but the good thing is that you can do those way ahead of time. Use leftover rice if you have some. Boil your peppers when you buy them instead of just before dinner. Leftovers keep and reheat well for lunches, too.

Italian Stuffed Peppers: cut tops off bell peppers (I used red), scoop out seeds, cook in salted boiling water for five minutes, drain and set aside. Cook ground beef and onion, drain and set aside. (If you don’t have prepared tomato sauce on hand, toss some canned or diced fresh tomatoes in with your beef mixture.) Cook rice, set aside. Combine rice and ground beef mixture, some parmesan cheese, and tomato sauce. Season to taste. I added Italian herbs at this point since the recipe didn’t call for them and my mixture was kind of bland. I think the recipe assumes you will be using jarred pasta sauce. Spoon the mixture into your peppers and stand them up in a muffin tin or pie plate. Spoon more sauce over the peppers and top with more parmesan cheese. Bake for 25 minutes or until bubbly.

19 down, 647 to go.
(more about the Cooking the Book project)

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