Why?

Because it’s one of those salads that only nods to being a salad, mostly, it’s a taste-bud-exploding sensation of epic proportions. Smooth cheese, bacony crunch, sweet dressing, acidy onion. It is not good for you…at all (though, broccoli always packs a nutritional punch, especially raw, so I tell myself it’s all balances out and the truth of it is, it does!).

As of entering this recipe on my website, I’m racking my brain as to what loved one shared this amazingness with me and I cannot for the life of me remember. But whoever they were, they’ve given me good times, and good eating, for probably half of my life. So the gift proved precious…

And I hope you feel the same way!

Archie’s Hound-Will-Eat-It Broccoli Salad

• Prep Time

  10/15

• Serves

  4-6

Ingredients

• 1 Medium/Large Head of Broccoli
• 1 Small Red Onion
• 1 C Shredded Cheddar Cheese
• ½ C Bacon (cooked crisp – about 4-6 rashers)
• Dressing:
• ¼ C Sugar
• ½ C Mayonnaise
• 1 T Red Wine Vinegar

How to do it…

1. Chop broccoli into bite-size florets (use the stalks too, if that’s your jam). Finely chop half the onion. Scissor bacon into bits and cook crisp. Throw all of this with cheese together in a bowl.
2. Mix the dressing in another bowl then pour onto salad ingredients. Toss so it covers everything. Note that there is a goodly amount of dressing, so if you want to add more bacon or cheese or onion, feel free.

Notes

It’s good to chill in the fridge for a bit before eating, so you can prepare it in advance. It’s also good the next day, so don’t worry about leftovers!

The post Archie’s Hound-Will-Eat-It Broccoli Salad appeared first on Kristen Ashley.

Except this.

Whenever we have a family dinner, she always apologizes about how the food she cooked went.

Mind you, she does this to a silent table because we’re all gobbling her shizzle up as fast as we possibly can.

She’s just a perfectionist. A perfectionist who is a damn fine cook.

One day, I went over to her house for dinner, not knowing I’d land right in nirvana.

This happened when she made a potato casserole that was being bandied about on Facebook that had sour cream, cream cheese, cheddar cheese…

And BACON!

She made it. We ate it. And it was so good, it defied belief. And yet we’ve made it again and it was proved true. It existed.

As happens, something this good had to be put in a book. So I put it in a book.

Now from my sister’s kitchen to Cassidy’s to yours, I’m giving it to you.

Fully Loaded Potato Casserole

• Prep Time

  30

• Cook Time

  25

• Serves

  6-8

Ingredients

• 8 Medium Potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters
• ½ cup Cream Cheese
• ½ cup Sour Cream
• ¼ cup Butter
• ¼ cup Milk
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• ½ teaspoon Pepper
• 1 ½ cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese, divided (1 cup early, ½ cup later)
• 8 slices Bacon, chopped, cooked, divided (half and half)
• ½ bunch Green Unions, sliced

How to do it…

1. Prepare potatoes and boil in salted water until tender. In the meantime, turn your oven on to preheat at 375ºF/190ºC. You also might wanna get to cooking up the chopped bacon.
2. Once potatoes are done, transfer them to a bowl or standing mixer where you can mash them.
3. Add the cream cheese, sour, cream, stop drooling, then add the butter, milk, salt and pepper.
4. Mash all that goodness until smooth. Then stir in that first cup of cheddar cheese and half the bacon. Spoon mixture evenly into a lightly oiled three-quart casserole dish. If you’re feeling fancy, decorate the top with a spatula or fork in swirls or scores.
5. Bake this awesomeness for twenty minutes. At that time, pull it out of the oven and sprinkle on the rest of the cheese, bacon and the green onions. Bake for another five minutes to melt the toppings.
6. Serve immediately (not like you wouldn’t do that anyway). Aaaaaaaaand…enjoy!

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Yes, you read that right, Gratin Dauphenois con queso, I’m American, I have no trouble mixing languages, capisce?

I think of Gratin Dauphenois con Queso as my mother-in-law, Gwyneth’s recipe, even though it isn’t, I’m saying it is.

See, before we got married, my ex-husband told me (several times) his mother was a terrible cook. Since our courtship happened over thousands of miles, I didn’t have a chance to test this statement, which was good for MM as it would have been highly unlikely I would have moved over an ocean if this sentenced me to forcing down bad food during family holidays and get-togethers. I am not joking about that. No really, I’m not. Therefore, when I went to Gwyneth and Mike’s house after the engagement ring was on my finger and my house was sold in America, needless to say, I was filled with dread. Also, needless to say, my soon-to-be husband (then) was full of it. Gwyneth was a great cook, what’s more, my father-in-law Mike was too and what’s more, Gwyneth used to serve no meal without dessert. No joke. You gotta love that and I did.

Okay, so she didn’t serve dessert after breakfast but who’s going to complain when you’re at her house, you stumble into the kitchen first thing in the morning, crack open a Diet Coke, sit at her kitchen table and she made you breakfast to order. Yes, you read that right, my mother-in-law made me breakfast to order. No matter what I wanted, a bowl of oatmeal or a Full English, she made it just like I liked it.

What’s that you say? Your mother-in-law doesn’t do that? Poor you. Mine did. YAY!

She also made us these potatoes and let’s just say, after I shoved them down my gullet, I fell in love.

[Melancholy note to this: upon editing this page years after I wrote it, both Mike and Gwyneth have sadly passed…but I love it that this memory remains for me, and like so many that involve them, it’s a good one that I can give to you. Anyway…onward…]

Like all my recipes, these potatoes rock! You will adore these potatoes. But unlike many of my recipes, these potatoes are fiddly. They take time to prepare and loads of time to bake. But you won’t care. Trust me, you won’t. You make these once, you’ll carve an extra two hours out of your day to make these again and again (and again).

Gratin Dauphenois con Queso

• Prep Time

  30

• Cook Time

  90

• Serves

  4-6

Ingredients

• 1 pound Potatoes*
• 150 ml Double/Heavy Cream
• 150 ml Milk
• 2-3 Cloves Garlic
• 1 bag Grated Cheddar Cheese, or grate your own and find the real English kind in the specialty cheese section if you can
• Salt and Pepper
• Butter

How to do it…

1. Pre-heat oven to 300F, 150C.
2. Get out a (le Crueset, if you have it) gratin dish or a ceramic dish - rectangular or oval - and butter this well.
3. Okay, now, scrub your potatoes. If you're feeling energetic, you can also peel them. I do not do this. Peeling potatoes is not my favorite activity, therefore I avoid it like the plague. If you have potatoes with thin skins, it won't matter so don't bother. If you hate skins, bother. Your choice.
4. Now, slice them. Do this as thin as you can. Yes, this takes time but I once didn't take that time and the whole dish changed and not in a good way. Thin is good, chunky, bad. Once you have them sliced, rinse them well in cold water. Then take two clean kitchen (tea) towels, spread one out on your counter, shake the water off the potatoes and throw them on the towel. Spread the other towel on top and dry the potatoes. I know, pain in the behind, but do it. Move the potatoes around between the towels to get all the moisture off that you can.
5. Next up, mince your garlic. You can use more or less, make it as garlicky as you like. I like garlic so I often use more than three cloves. But mince it fine.
6. Now, you get to put this puppy together!
7. First, place a layer of potatoes flat on the bottom of the pan, sprinkle with garlic, salt, pepper and a cheese. Do not use a lot of cheese, the operative word in that sentence is "sprinkle." Then more potatoes, garlic, salt, pepper, cheese, then more. You get what I'm saying. Keep going until you run out of potatoes.
8. Now, pour your cream and milk into one measuring jug, mix it together, then pour this over the potatoes.
9. You can get creative and maybe sprinkle Italian Seasoning on top. Or paprika. Or nutmeg. I don't do it...I let the garlic and cheese do the talking with this.
10. Put some flecks/pats of butter around the top of the potatoes then slide this into the oven and bake for one and a half hours. Yes, that's a long time and yes, it needs that time and yes, it's worth it. The potatoes will be all soft and yummy cooked in the seasoning, cheese and cream and the top will be nice and buttery brown and the whole thing will knock your socks off! It's just as good the next day so even if you're making it for two, it's worth the time and fiddle.

Notes

*Potatoes matter...in the UK, I used Desiree. In the US, we don't have the dizzying cornucopia of potato options as they do on the British Isles, so I buy large-ish new potatoes because it cuts down on slicing, but find some with thin skins. Other recipes will suggest russet, me no likey those hefty, dense potatoes in this recipe. So try to go fancy if you can. That said, it doesn't suck if you can't, this dish will always be delicious, it's just that nuance less yummy.

I've had a request to film myself making my recipes whilst floating around my kitchen in a negligee a la Nigella Lawson. Firstly, I don't own a negligee. Secondly, I don't float. Thirdly, I religiously take my makeup off to go to bed and no one needs to see that!

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Anyhoots…

I never ate Gram’s beans because she boiled them so much, they were all globby and they freaked me out.

But Gram’s Baked Beans were the bomb.

If possible for your wallet, get yourself a Le Creuset Dutch oven because you’ll need an easy-clean dish after this one (we’re talking baked-on, burnt-on mess here). And Le Creuset is simply the best.

Gram’s Baked Beans

• Prep Time

  20

• Cook Time

  180

• Serves

  6-8

Ingredients

• 3 Cans Baked Beans
• 4 - 6 tablespoons Brown Sugar (dark, light, doesn’t matter – in the UK, use muscovado sugar)
• 1 Onion (white or yellow)
• 6 slices/rashers of bacon
• All condiments in your fridge (no joke)

How to do it…

1. Okay, again, the day before or, at least HOURS before, get out your casserole dish and preheat your oven to 150°C /300°F.
2. Chop up the onion, just roughly, no mincing or any real effort needed here, you don’t want huge chunks but it doesn’t have to be tiny. If your eyes start stinging, you’re working way too hard.
3. Dump your baked beans in the Dutch oven. Then take scissors to your bacon, again, no huge chunks, but it also doesn’t have to be bacon bits, little strips’ll do. Throw in the chopped onion. Spoon in the brown sugar (as you experiment, you may want more (I use more) or less than 4-6 tablespoons, but that’s good to start).
4. Then, squirt in everything you got in your fridge. I'm talking a big, old SQUIRT (or two, or three, or four). American mustard, English mustard, Dijon mustard. Ketchup, Caesar salad dressing, Italian dressing. HP Sauce (in the UK). BBQ Sauce. A1 and/or Heinz 57 (in the US). Pickle (that’s English pickle, not American pickles). Anything (just not mayonnaise, not that this is bad, just that I’ve never used it so I can’t recommend it). Throw in a couple of pinches of salt and some cracked pepper. Once you’re done dumping, scissoring, pinching and squirting, stir all this up. Then, rule of thumb, go BACK and put in another tablespoon of sugar, and one more squirt of everything, another pinch of salt and more pepper.
5. Then, stir again, put the lid on, set this baby on a cookie (baking) sheet and put it in the oven (don’t forget this part as you don’t want this on the bottom of your oven if it bubbles out of the casserole). Let it bake for a good 3-4 even 5 hours. DO NOT STIR. Do not touch this at all. Just let it bake. When you're ready to serve, pull it out, open it up, and voila! Total gorgeousness! Or, if you cooked it before, just heat it up and again, voila! Gorgeousness!

Notes

There are never any leftovers of these, or, if there are, they are scant as people don’t want to appear gluttonous as they devour this stuff, so they leave, like, twelve beans at the bottom of the casserole. I have never served this when people didn’t love it. I think I’d fear someone was a Martian if they didn’t think this was the bomb.

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