Piquant Parmesan Potato Pie

Ok, so pie might not be the best name for this, since it doesn’t have a crust, but it doesn’t really qualify as a tart, torte, or lasagna either.  Pie worked with my alliteration, so we’ll go with that.  Basically it’s layers of thinly sliced potato and zucchini layered with lots of parmesan cheese and other yummy stuff. 

Here’s what you’ll need:

Potatoes
Zucchini
Green onions (⅓ cup, diced)
Parmigiano Reggiano (¾ cup and ¼ cup finely grated)
3 Tablespoons butter
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper

Preheat your oven to 350°.  Grate 1 cup of good cheese.  You want imported parmigiano reggiano, not ‘parmesan’, and certainly not the stuff in the green can.  Put ¾ cup of it into a bowl and set the remainder aside.  Into the bowl with the cheese, add the green onion, salt, and pepper. 

Stir those together and set them aside.  Thinly slice your zucchini and potatoes.  Melt your butter.  I like to do it in a small, glass measuring cup so it’s easy to drizzle.  Gather all your components along with a glass pie plate.  (or I’m sure a square pan would be fine)

Drizzle ⅓ of the butter on the bottom of the pan. 

Lay the slices of potato, overlapping slightly, circling in toward the center.

Sprinkle half of the cheese/green onion mixture over the top. 

Put down a layer of zucchini slices just as you did the potato. 

Then basically just repeat.  Drizzle on another tablespoon of butter.

Then comes a layer of potato, sprinkle the other half of the cheese mixture, layer of zucchini, drizzle the last of the butter, and one final layer of potatoes.  On the top, sprinkle the ¼ cup of cheese you set aside. 

Cover with foil and bake at 350° for 45 minutes.  After that time, remove the foil.  You’ll be slightly disappointed. 

But don’t despair, bake it for another 20 minutes, uncovered, and you will have beautiful, golden perfection. 

Now, it’s going to smell amazing, and you’re going to want to just dig in, but if you can control yourself for 10 minutes, it will be worth the wait.  Cut it into wedges and serve on the side of whatever your favorite main course is.  Or, you could just eat a wedge and yogurt and call it lunch.  Either way, it’s amazing. 

It’s a special week for me.  My eldest niece (we’ll just call her Kiddo) graduated from high school.  (omg, when did I get so old??)  Congratulations, Kiddo!!       

Waffling About Strawberries

While walking through Costco the other day, I was suddenly engulfed by the aroma of ripe strawberries.  I probably looked a bit like a scent hound hunting them down by smell, but they were like 20 feet away.  When strawberries, or fruits of almost any kind, are that fragrant, you simply have to buy them.  I did mention I was in Costco, right?  Assuming you’ve been in a warehouse store like that, you’ll know that they don’t sell anything in normal quantities.  Well, strawberries are no exception. But like I said, I had to buy them… even if Otto and I are the only ones who will eat them.  The problem is, even a strawberry nut like me can only eat so many fresh strawberries.  So what’s a girl to do with 4 pounds of strawberries?  I went with a childhood favorite.  Strawberry waffles!  In my house, that wasn’t waffles with strawberries in them, but waffles with strawberries on them, along with whipped cream of course. 

Ordinarily, there’d be an ingredients picture here, but the strawberries have to get started the night before because they have to be macerated.  No, I said macerated.  Fine, chuckle all you want.  It really isn’t as dirty as it sounds, though.  Just slice about a pound of strawberries, and sprinkle them with 1 Tablespoon of sugar.  Then stir so they’re evenly coated, cover them, and pop them into the fridge overnight. 

In the morning, here’s what you’ll need:

2 eggs
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
3 tablespoons oil
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon semolina or fine cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon sugar
Macerated strawberries
Whipped cream

The first thing you need to do is separate your eggs.  Go ahead and drop the yolks into the buttermilk.

Next, whip the egg whites until you get stiff peaks. 

Put all your dry ingredients into a mixing bowl.  Obviously they can’t be used like this, so whisk them together and set them aside. 

Add the vanilla and oil to the buttermilk and whisk thoroughly. 

Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and stir just until combined. 

Now back to the egg whites.  Add half of them to the batter and fold them in. 

Then add the other half.

Now, at this point, I have to be a bit vague.  Basically you just have to cook the waffles however it works for your particular waffle iron.  If you’re making waffles for a group, you can place them between towels in a 200° oven so everyone can eat at the same time.  If you have leftover batter, you can make extra waffles and freeze them.  Then just reheat them in the toaster or oven, or even pop them back into a hot waffle iron.  Anyway, so you have your waffle.  Look at the poor naked thing. 

Well, we can fix that.  First, butter it liberally.  Butter is a requirement for waffles, regardless of what else might be going on top.  Then, remember those strawberries you put in the fridge?  Look how juicy they’ve become. 

Drizzle some of that juice on the waffle, then top with strawberries and a dollop of whipped cream.  I’ll be honest, after I snapped this picture, I added even more strawberries and whipped cream because, well… in this case, more is better. 

So, what’s your favorite thing to do with strawberries?