What should I bring?

[darkemeralds]

Gah! It sneaks up on me every year. I need ideas.

As a single person with no kids living in a very small house, I ignore the damn thing as much as possible. I've never hosted a holiday meal, I have mutual-no-present pacts with all of my friends and family.

So when people around me start mentioning "Christmas" and "next week" in the same sentence, I'm invariably surprised.

But still, I do have friends and family, and they do like to sit down and eat together on festive occasions, and this year (next week...gah!) we're going to my mom's. I was going to volunteer a big pot of my fabulous-if-I-do-say-so-myself boeuf bourguingon, but my older sis was before me and trumped me with an offer of prime rib.

Younger sis then whumped me in the dessert category.

This leaves me holding the bag on some kind of potatoey, starchy side dish offering. Any ideas?

Comments

[executrix.livejournal.com]

Laurie Colwin suggested making scalloped potatoes by lightly cooking the thin-sliced potatoes on the stove in milk and then tipping the whole thing "including the sludgy milk" into a baking dish. I think a big dish of luscious scallopped potatoes, perhaps layered with some cheese, would go over really well, and it is easy to reheat.

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Oooh! That sounds wonderful! Great suggestion, and nobody doesn't like spuds, right?

[ladylakira.livejournal.com]

Yams/sweet potato? Slice into wedges (no more than half an inch thick-ish - I'm guessing as I don't usually measure), brush with olive oil. Squeeze on lime juice and sprinkle paprika. Bake in oven at 350F for... uh... some time until it looks browned (er... oranged?), then flip. Squeeze on a little more juice, sprinkle on a little more paprika, make sure there's some olive oil. Finish baking.

Can you tell I make this by eye, not by recipe? :P

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

That's my kind of cooking! And this sound delicious. Lime and paprika--not a combination I've ever tried, but two of my favorite flavors individually.

Thank you!

[creedcascade.livejournal.com]

Double stuffed baked potatoes with three cheeses.
Or, scalloped potatoes.

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Three cheeses? Can I pick which three? Ooh, let's see: parmesan, cheddar and cream.

Or, no, wait! Gruyere. Gruyere is good with spuds.

Oh man, there are a lot of choices. Thanks for the suggestion. I'm looking at some recipes online now and it's a bonanza.

[kispexi2.livejournal.com]

One of my most favourite potato dishes is:

- slice some cooked, waxy potatoes fairly thinly but not thin-thin.
- slice/dice some fresh tomatoes
- slice some onions thinly
- grate up some Gruyere (must be Gruyere!) cheese
- have some (fresh if possible) thyme, oil oil, salt and pepper on standby.

Heat oven - hottish, if you want it to burn on top.

Grease a casserole dish (or whatever receptacle you have). Layer your ingredient thus;

- potatoes
- onions
- tomatoes
- cheese

addding a slug of oil, a scattering of thyme and seasoning to taste to each layer.

Bake until it looks like you want to eat it. It is WONDERFUL!

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

It's the tomato that makes this one so enticing! Sounds delicious, and yes, I can see where Gruyere would be essential. Ooh, olive oil and thyme and spuds. Yum!

When you say waxy potatoes--like Yukon Gold? Remember, we have three kinds here. Russets are mealy, I know that. I THINK the smooth yellow ones are waxy.

[kispexi2.livejournal.com]

It is an absolutely delicious dish. I could eat a family size portion and still want more. :)

Yeah, Yukon Gold are the sort you need. (I know for sure because I grew some this year. Well, about 5 of them, but still ...)

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Then I'm in! Yukon Golds are readily available just up the street.

[kispexi2.livejournal.com]

I'm sure you'll love it!

And nice icon. :)

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

Bubble and Squeak. Boil some potatoes until they're almost falling apart, drain, part mash them. Add some cooked cabbage, a knob of butter, maybe some cream or cheese, salt and pepper, fry the whole mess in a frying pan until golden brown.

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Oh dear lord, bubble and squeak! I haven't had that since I lived in England, in, you know, the Victorian era. I used to LOVE that stuff, and hadn't thought of it ages.

The cabbage would make it a non-starter for several family members, but THANK YOU FOR THE REMINDER because I'm going to make some for myself! Yay!

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

*g* Bubble and Squeak is a kind of miracle food, in that I hate cabbage normally, but I could live on bubble and squeak forever :)

I can definitely recommend roasted sweet potatoes too. I make that myself, though with chilli, chopped onion and garlic instead of the lime and paprika, and it's really easy to do!

This is a great thread! I'm going to try the layery thing with the tomatoes tomorrow.

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

If you do, please report back! I'd love to hear how it goes.

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

I sort of did it :) I tweaked the recipe to fit what I had in my cupboards. So I did a layer of potatoes, a layer of raw onion sliced in rings, a thin layer of potatoes (just to cover it) on top and then a can of peeled plum tomatoes on top of that and red Leicester cheese on that. I used mixed herbs and stirred a spoonful of chilli pesto into the tomatoes. And then baked it for about an hour.
It was really nice! I was worried the onions might not have cooked, and they were still crunchy, but they tasted sweet, so that was excellent. And there was enough flavour from everything else that the potatoes themselves didn't feel like too much blandness. I will definitely be doing that again :)

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

I don't think I know Leicester cheese, but I've looked it up and I'm guessing that a Cheddar would do...?

I'm thinking I might sauté the onions--maybe even brown/carmelize them a little--before putting them in.

You and kispexi2 have convinced me that a combination of potato, tomato, onion and cheese will win the day. Thank you!

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

Yes, the Red Leicester was a bit too bland for the purpose. That's just what I had on hand because my children don't like cheese which is too strong. A mature Cheddar would be very good instead.

For me the crunchy-but-sweet onions really added a touch of wow factor to the dish, because I'd never had onions like that before. But caramelised would probably be safer :)

[lyr]

Me, I'd do souffled acorn squash, real cornbread from scratch, or a nice, simple garlic and gruyere mashed potatoes.

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Real cornbread from scratch! I hadn't thought along the lines of corn, but yes! That sounds delicious. And such a good color. Thanks! Great suggestion.

[lyr]

I hope it turns out well!