Grandma's Potato Soup

...with Mom's adaptations, plus some extra Jolene lovin. Let's call this "Third Generation Potato Soup."

Ingredients:

•  3 stalks celery, finely chopped
• 1 lg onion, finely chopped
• 4 lbs of potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 can of evaporated milk
• 1 stick of butter
• 2 Tbsp parsley, chopped
• 1/2 cup instant mashed potatoes
• salt and pepper to taste
• (1 can of corn, fried)

1. In a large pot, saute celery and onions with a pad of butter until tender. Then add 4" of water and bring to a boil.
2. Add potatoes, bring back to a boil and cook until potatoes are tender.
3. Add butter, stirring gently until it melts. Add evaporated milk and corn.
4. Remove from heat, stir in instant potatoes and parsley.

Serve with corn bread and hot sauce :)

Indian Samosas

Talk about comfort food. I may be half Indian, but I know which side my stomach pledges allegiance to...

Ingredients:
For the pastry dough-

• 1 1/2 c all purpose flour
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 tsp salt
• ~2/3 c cold water

For the potato filling-

• 2 med gold potatoes
• 1/2 c green peas (frozen are preferred to canned)
• 1 c spanish or sweet onion, chopped
• 1 1/2 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder

Preparing the dough-
  1. Combine flour and salt. Mix in oil by rubbing the flour between your hands. Slowly add water in small portions and mix with your hands until a dough forms, then continue working dough for 2-3 minutes.
2. Cover the dough in plastic wrap and let sit for 30 minutes.
3. Roll a ball of dough (slightly bigger than a golf ball) into a circle to be about 5 inches in diameter. Do this with all of the dough.
4. Cut all dough circles in half, into two semi-circles.

Preparing the filling-
1. Boil, cool then slightly mash potatoes. Set aside.
2. Heat oil in a pan, add cumin seeds, and once seeds start to dance around in the oil, add onion. Cook onion 5-10 minutes until the onion turns almost clear.
3. Add peas and turmeric. Once peas are cooked, add coriander powder.
4. Fold in potatoes. Let cool before stuffing samosas.

Making Samosas-
1. Preheat a deep fryer to 360 degrees.
2. Wet a q-tip or your finger and moisten the straight edge of a dough semi-circle. Make an "O" with your hand (thumb meets 4 fingers) and create a cone in the hole of your hand. Slightly overlap moist edge of dough with dry edge and press together.
3. Add ~2 tsp potato filling to the cone.
4. With the seam you created facing forward, seal the top of the cone using a bit of water to moisten the dough. You should have a triangle with the seam in the front. Repeat until dough/filling are gone.
5. Fry for 5-6 minutes, until a dark golden brown.
6. Serve with a favorite sauce or Indian chutney.

(Julia Child's) Grandmother's Potatos Au Gratin with Ham

Possibly the most thoughtful gift that I received this Christmas was from my dear friend, Alyssa. She gifted me with The Way to Cook by Julia Child, and as soon as I got it home I flipped through every page of it. The book is organized in such an intuitive way, that I almost read it like a text. Core recipes branch out into multiple variations, so once I know how to saute Chicken, I'll have 10 new dishes up my sleeve! Amazing. But, this post is not about sauteed chicken, it's about using Christmas leftovers, which is another topic that Julia frequently references! And now... Having blabbered on like an Amy Adams movie, I'm just going to post the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs "boiling" potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/4" thin
• 1 oz butter (1/4 of a stick)
• 1 1/2 T flour
• 2 c hot milk
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• Small punch of nutmeg and thyme
• 1 clove garlic, mashed
• 1 T dijon mustard
• 1 c Italian blend of cheeses, shredded
• 2 c leftover ham slices

 Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375. In a medium sized pan, cover potatoes with cold water, then cover and bring to a boil. Let boil 3-4 minutes, they will be mostly cooked but not quite. Drain, return to pan and cover again (so that the potatoes will firm up), then let sit open until you are ready to assemble the dish.
2. Make a white sauce by melting the butter in a medium pan on medium heat. Add the flour and whisk quickly until the mixture is smooth. Add the garlic and continue whisking 2 minutes, reduce heat if roux begins to darken.
3. Add 1/2 of the hot milk, and continue stirring until sauce thickens, slowly add the other 1/2 and continue whisking. Continue simmering for 2-3 minutes until sauce is creamy. Add dijon, and seasonings.
4. Dice leftover ham into good sized chunks.
5. In a medium sized casserole dish, layer the first 1/2 of each of these ingredients in casserole in this way, then repeat. Potatoes, ham, sauce, cheese.
6. Bake at 375 for 35 minutes, then let stand 15 minutes before serving.