Pub potatoes with horseradish cream sauce

So you may have noticed that I'm a little deficient in the side items category on this blog.  There are lots of reasons (excuses) for that, with the main ones being 1) we're entree kind of people, and don't need a lot of extras, 2) sometimes I don't have the time and energy to devote to a second dish, and 3) if we want a side we do something simple like rice or a salad, nothing worth blogging about.  But occasionally something catches my eye that I have to try, and these pub potatoes from Rachael Ray fit the bill.  I served them with burgers (imagine that!), and they are fantastic!!

PUB POTATOES WITH HORSERADISH CREAM SAUCE
Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

Extra-virgin olive oil

5 slices bacon, sliced crosswise into 1-inch pieces

1 1/2–2 lbs. baking potatoes

Coarse salt and black pepper

1 cup sour cream

Splash of heavy cream or half-and-half

2 tbsp. prepared horseradish

3 tbsp. finely chopped fresh chives (I buy these frozen at Fresh Market)

Instructions:
1. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat with a drizzle of EVOO. Scatter the bacon in the pan and brown, then transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate to drain; leave the drippings in the pan.

2. Peel the potatoes and halve lengthwise. Slice each half lengthwise into 4 wedges, then crosswise into thirds (24 pieces per potato). Scatter the potato pieces in the bacon drippings and season with salt and generously with pepper. Cook to brown, about 5 minutes. Cover the skillet with foil, lower the heat and steam the potatoes, 6 to 7 minutes. Uncover, raise the heat to medium-high, flip and brown on the other side until deep, deep golden and very crisp, 3 to 4 minutes.

3. Stir together the sour cream, heavy cream, horseradish, chives, salt and pepper. Serve the pub browns topped with the horseradish sauce and bacon.

Shepherd's pie stuffed potatoes

We made Rachael Ray's shepherd's pie stuffed potatoes last week. I'm not a fan of traditional shepherd's pie, so I was surprised at how much I liked this version. I omitted the mushrooms, but followed the rest of the recipe as is. These hot potatoes were delicious!

10.02.09 Low-country smothered pork chops and potato bundles

Dinner tonight was hot and hearty - low-country smothered pork chops and potato bundles. The pork recipe was from a guest chef on Paula Deen's show, and the potato recipe was originally from The Pioneer Woman, but I used the adapted version from Krista Kooks. The pork chops were very flavorful and had some spicy heat. Robert and I both thought that the potatoes were fantastic - lots of flavor and very moist. We definitely plan on making these one of our go-to side dishes!

01.31.09 Pepper and garlic-crusted steak and Spicy roasted potatoes

Tonight we feasted on pepper and garlic-crusted steak, spicy roasted potatoes (already an encore performance from earlier this week!), and Cephie's famous salad. There is lots of flavor in this meal! We modified the steak recipe to our preferences tonight - we used NY strip steak and omitted the port sauce. We crusted the steaks with the pepper and garlic rub, and Grillmaster Robert cooked them to perfection!

01.27.09 Spiced pork tenderloin and roasted potatoes

Dinner tonight was spicy! Spiced pork tenderloin with maple-chipotle sauce served with spicy roasted potatoes (both from Cooking Light). No notes except that we didn't have asparagus, so we only used the potato part of the recipe.

12.07.08 Steak and potatoes

We had a meat and potatoes kind of dinner tonight - steak with bacon-chipotle twice baked potatoes. One look at the ingredient list for the potatoes and you know it's going to be delicious - cheese, scallion, chipotle pepper, and bacon!! I mean, seriously.

10.24.08: NY Strip steak and garlic fries

Tonight we're grilling steak, with Cooking Light's garlic fries on the side. Nothing special on the meat, probably just seasoned and grilled.