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(Sloooow) Baked Potatoes ♥ How Long to Bake a Baked Potato

The accepted practice is to bake potatoes for an hour. But here's how long to bake a baked potato if you want it to be nutty and soft: three hours, yes, that's no typo, it really is 'three' hours. The skin and flesh are both completely delicious when slow-baked for a long time. Read on.

The pregnant pause. I've learned to wait expectantly (ahem) when it occurs in a conversation with my friend Anne, who just happens to own Kitchen Conservatory, St. Louis' great kitchen store (bakers, especially, check out the great selection of hard-to-find cake pans and baking ingredients) and cooking school. You see, she's got big ideas about food that are some times contrary to conventional wisdom: I always learn something. Take the latest lesson, how to make the best baked potatoes.

Her father married late in life. [An addendum from Anne: 'The reason that fact is important is because he ate 3 meals out for 20 years so never wanted to eat out again. His restaurant experience meant he was also suspicious of sauces and believed that all food must be indentifiable. Mashed potatoes are not identifiable, they might have come from a box! A baked potato is.'] So one of the great benefits of a family was home-cooked food. In a Father-Knows-Best way, he insisted on a baked potato every single night, not just a wimpy or soggy foil-wrapped baked potato, mind you, but a slow-baked potato, one baked in the oven for three hours.

Yes, three hours. The family kitchen even housed a special oven, just for baking potatoes for Father & Family.

This may be the easiest vegetable you ever make. Just rub Idaho potatoes with olive oil, then pop into a 350F oven for three hours. The hardest thing about these baked potatoes? Not snatching one from the oven about half-way through, when the potato aroma throughout the house will begin to tempt ...

A potato baked for a single hour, just look at the texture difference

But it's worth the wait! Once the full three hours has passed, dig into creamy-smooth and nutty-roasted flesh that can be 'mashed' with a fork right there in the skin. And the skins? Oh my, the skins! They're stiff and crackly and completely delicious.

To contrast, compare the two photos. The top photo is the three-hour baked potato -- doesn't it look good?! The texture of the one-hour potato (below) is entirely blotchy, the skin looks positively raw. What a difference! If the photos don't persuade you, let your own side-by-side potato-baking and potato-tasting!

(SLOOOOW) BAKED POTATOES

Hands-on time: 5 minutes
Time to table: 3 hours
Serves -- well, you decide

1 russet potato, scrubbed well, rubbed with olive oil

Set oven to 350F. Place potatoes directly on the oven rack. There's no need to prick the potatoes, at least in my experience (just twice). If you do prick them, place a baking sheet on the rack below to catch any juices. Bake for 3 hours. Remove from the oven, slice open pole to pole with a knife.

ALANNA's TIPS & KITCHEN NOTES

For baking, choose a russet potato, some times called an 'Idaho potato' (which is actually a brand name for potatoes grown in Idaho along the lines of Parmesan Reggiano). It's a so-called 'mealy' potato' with relatively thick, brown and rough skin. It's high in starch and low in moisture so perfect for creating fluffy potato texture.

With any luck, the skin will be without blemishes but if there are rough spots, slice them off with a knife then proceed the same; I baked one potato that had an open cut and it baked just fine.

NUTRITION ESTIMATE
Idaho potatoes can weigh a half pound (and more) so if that's a 'serving', so be it. I'll do nutrition information by weight.

A 1/4 pound russet potato, with skin, weighed raw: 90 Cal (1% from Fat, 10% from Protein, 89% from Carb); 2 g Protein; 0 g Tot Fat; 0 g Sat Fat; 0 g Mono Fat; 20 g Carb; 1 g Fiber; NetCarb19; 1 g Sugar; 15 mg Calcium; 1 mg Iron; 6 mg Sodium; 0 mg Cholesterol; Weight Watchers 1 point

1/2 pound russet potato, with skin, weighed raw: 179 Cal (1% from Fat, 10% from Protein, 89% from Carb); 5 g Protein; 0 g Tot Fat; 0 g Sat Fat; 0 g Mono Fat; 41 g Carb; 3 g Fiber; NetCarb38; 1 g Sugar; 29 mg Calcium; 2 mg Iron; 11 mg Sodium; 0 mg Cholesterol; Weight Watchers 3 points

3/4 pound russet potato, with skin, weighed raw: 269 Cal (1% from Fat, 10% from Protein, 89% from Carb); 7 g Protein; 0 g Tot Fat; 0 g Sat Fat; 0 g Mono Fat; 61 g Carb; 4 g Fiber; NetCarb57; 2 g Sugar; 44 mg Calcium; 3 mg Iron; 17 mg Sodium; 0 mg Cholesterol; Weight Watchers 5 points

1 pound russet potato, with skin, weighed raw: 358 Cal (1% from Fat, 10% from Protein, 89% from Carb); 10 g Protein; 0 g Tot Fat; 0 g Sat Fat; 0 g Mono Fat; 82 g Carb; 6 g Fiber; NetCarb76; 3 g Sugar; 59 mg Calcium; 4 mg Iron; 23 mg Sodium; 0 mg Cholesterol; Weight Watchers 7 points (yikes)

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MORE FAVORITE POTATO RECIPES
~ How to Roast Potatoes to Perfection ~
~ Rosemary Potatoes ~
~ Best-Ever New Potatoes & Green Beans ~
~ more potato recipes ~
from A Veggie Venture

~ Those Pink Potatoes ~
~ Mashed Potatoes & Carrots ~
~ Smashed Potatoes & Broccoli ~
~ more potato recipes ~
from Kitchen Parade, my food column

Eat more vegetables! A Veggie Venture is the home of Veggie Evangelist Alanna Kellogg and is the award-winning source of free vegetable recipes, quick, easy, and yes, delicious. Start with the Alphabet of Vegetables or dive into all the Weight Watchers vegetable recipes or all the low carb vegetable recipes. © Copyright 2007

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Bitter Melon Sauté ♥

So if we need any more signs of the globalization of our planet, check out the Des Moines Farmers Market smack dab in the middle of the corn and bean fields of central Iowa.

What a fabulous farmers market - the best I've seen, bar none. And mine is no solo act singing the market's praises. At least one of the chefs for the Niman Ranch annual hog producers appreciation dinner weekend before last agrees. "The farmers market is spectacular," he told me just as I was heading there, "way better than anything in Chicago."

The market is huge, as much a street festival with booth after booth of locally raised produce, meat, honey and fresh flowers along with artisan cheese and bread -- plus food stalls (have you had a pupusa, yet? delicious! or what about homemade biscuits and sausage gravy? swoon!) and market-appropriate crafts like bird houses made from gourds and t-shirts that read, "I'm an Iowa Girl". We were especially lucky to get the grand tour from market master Kelly Foss but my goodness - what a spread.

For vegetables, I expected typical farmers market fare for this time of year - corn, peppers, tomatoes, onions, winter squash and all the other fresh Midwestern produce that bridges late summer and early fall - but by serendipity, sat in the shade (with a glass of rosemary-infused lemonade that still has me wishing for more) near a booth selling fresh long beans, lemon grass and bitter melon, all staples of Asian cooking.

And by further serendipity, another shopper told me how to cook the bitter melon! Thank you, Carol Williams! (This is Iowa, folks, it's a friendly place!)

Bitter melon halves, scoop out the centers

ACQUIRED TASTE Bitter melon is an acquired taste. Raw, it is pucker-up bitter and spit-it-out sour. To make it palatable, at least to my taste, you need to remove much of the bitterness -- scrape off the tips of the prickles, leach out some of the liquid, cook with something else (here, onion) and cook til WELL done. After that, it was good -- but I'm not really sure, honestly, it was still bitter melon.

MAKE IT A MEAL Bitter melon seem to be often paired with eggs, to further soften the bitterness so for this I recommend Alex's French Eggs.

MORE VEGETABLE RECIPES See the Recipe Box for nearly 30 months worth of new-to-me vegetables.

TWO YEARS AGO My very first time to unveil that year's obsession, slow-roasted tomatoes.

A YEAR AGO Potato Okra Curry, "Twenty minutes. One skillet. Truly tasty."

BITTER MELON SAUTÉ

Hands-on time: 15 minutes
Time to table: 90 minutes
Serves 4

1 pound bitter melon
turmeric
kosher salt

Bacon grease or other oil
Chopped onion

While the melons are still whole, use a knife to scrape off the points of the skin. Slice in half, lengthwise, then scoop out center material and seeds, leaving just the outside flesh. Chop into small pieces. Toss with plenty of turmeric and salt. Let rest for an hour or more. Rinse well.

In a large skillet, heat the bacon grease on MEDIUM till shimmery. Add the bitter melon and cook til beginning to soften. Add the onion and cook til the onions are done and the bitter melon no longer bitter.

NUTRITION ESTIMATE
I could find no nutrition information on bitter melon but suspect that it's got virtually no calories.

NEVER MISS A RECIPE! For 'home delivery' of new recipes from A Veggie Venture, sign up here. Once you do, new recipes will be delivered, automatically, straight to your e-mail In Box.

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Foodie Fight! A Trivia Game for Food Lovers

Question: What are Chocolate & Zucchini and Gastropoda?

Answer: Food blogs, of course, as many food-blog enthusiasts will recognize!

What's new, however, is the source of the Q&A, the great new trivia game for food lovers called Foodie Fight. (Yes, my fellow food bloggers, we have indeed all arrived when even two of our number are mentioned in a food trivia game!)

The game comes with 168 trivia cards (each with questions in six food-fun categories) plus game boards (for individuals or teams) and playing tokens. Use the boards and tokens or just fly through the question cards.

The questions are a perfect mix of the obscure (Q. How many bubbles in a bottle of champagne, anyone?) and the familiar (Q. What vegetable is some times referred to as "Swiss", after a 16th-century botanist?) -- so you'll be stumped often enough to learn something but not so often as to feel stupid.

And when you know the answers -- and you will, I promise -- you'll feel like a culinary brainiac.

Such fun -- for dinner parties, diversions during long car trips, conversation starters to kick-off meetings, even ice-breakers when strangers make long bus rides, a kick-off to food-related meetings?

FULL DISCLOSURE I met Joyce Lord, Foodie Fight's developer, last week but honestly, had already fallen head-over-heels in laughter for it before knowing she was the mastermind behind the game and she'd given me a complimentary box.

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Steamed Butternut Squash ♥

A lesson: how to cut and steam a butternut squash

So what self-respecting vegetable-recipe website takes 2-1/2 years to figure out how to steam winter squash? Oooops.

No question what held me back: I like ten fingers and was unwilling to sacrifice a single one to a squash, no-siree.

Here's the trick - and it took all of six minutes, definitely a good investment of time for how gorgeous steamed winter squash turns out. Better yet? I checked: yep, all fingers present and accounted for.

IN WORDS Slice off the 'neck', first, of a butternut squash (those are the pale brown ones with a round bulb on one end and a long neck) -- not hard with a sharp knife. Then use a vegetable peeler to take off the skin -- or in my case, a knife since the vegetable peeler wasn't up to the job, taking care to keep the neck's flat end of the neck steady on a cutting board, slicing top to bottom. Then cut the neck into rounds about an inch thick, then stack a couple at a time to cut into cubes.

IN PICTURES See how to cut, peel & cube a butternut squash and keep all ten fingers for step-by-step photo illustrations of this technique.

STEAMED BUTTERNUT SQUASH

Hands-on time: 10 minutes
Time to table: 40 minutes
Serves 4

About 4-pound butternut squash, washed well, neck sliced from main portion (this yields about a pound of squash, you could also cube/cook the rest for later but the cooking time will be longer)

1 tablespoon butter
Salt & pepper

Set water to boil in a steamer. After slicing off the neck, remove the skin of the neck, either by slicing off with a vegetable peeler or a knife. Cut cross-wise into one-inch thick rounds, then two rounds at a time, cut into cubes.

Place in the steamer (if doing more than a pound, may need to do several batches). Cover and let steam until done, about 30 minutes. Drain water, return squash to steamer and toss with butter and seasonings.

NUTRITION ESTIMATE
Per Serving: 76 Cal (32% from Fat, 6% from Protein, 63% from Carb); 1 g Protein; 3 g Tot Fat; 2 g Sat Fat; 1 g Mono Fat; 13 g Carb; 2 g Fiber; NetCarb11; 2 g Sugar; 55 mg Calcium; 1 mg Iron; 25 mg Sodium; 8 mg Cholesterol; Weight Watchers 1 point

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT'S DUE
Adapted from Vegetable Love by Barbara Kafka

MORE FAVORITE WINTER SQUASH RECIPES
~ My Favorite Winter Squash Recipes ~
~ How to Roast a Whole Butternut Squash ~
~ Butternut Mac 'n' Cheese ~
~ Acorn Squash with Mustard & Honey ~
~ Delicata Squash with Hot Pepper Glaze ~
~ more winter squash recipes ~
from A Veggie Venture

~ Squash Puff ~
~ Winter Stew ~
~ Acorn Squash with Quinoa & Dried Cherries ~
~ more winter squash recipes ~
from Kitchen Parade

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Kitchen Parade Extra: Banana Oatmeal Cookies♥

Oatmeal cookies with a banana twist!

Okay, I've got your complete attention now, right? I thought so -- check out this week's Kitchen Parade column for a great home-style cookie recipe Banana Oatmeal Cookies — plus two quick banana desserts, too!

SO WHAT IS KITCHEN PARADE, EXACTLY? Kitchen Parade is the food column that my Mom started writing for our family newspaper when I was a baby. Today it's published in my hometown newspapers in suburban St. Louis and features 'fresh seasonal recipes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences'.

Where A Veggie Venture is 'pure food blog', full of experimentation and exploration, Kitchen Parade features recipes a modern cook can count on. All are thoroughly tested by a home cook in a home kitchen and many are family and reader favorites. All recipes feature easy-to-find ingredients, clear instructions and because I believe so strongly in informed food choices, nutrition analysis and Weight Watchers points. Want to know more? Explore KitchenParade.com, including Kitchen Parade's Recipe Box!

WHY CAN'T I COMMENT ON THIS PAGE? Because I hope that you'll click through to the actual column and comment there!

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Quick Supper: Bolognese Sauce with Slow-Roasted Tomatoes ♥

Yes, it's THAT time of year again. ("What? Time of year? What time of year is it?" I just know you're wondering.) But this is a most pivotal time of year, the few weeks at the cusp of summer and autumn when we must-must-must slow-roast tomatoes so that for the rest of the year, we're able to pull the taste of sweet summer from our freezers on mere whim or sheer inspiration.

(My apologies to regular readers, you know this story. But new readers? Slow-roased tomatoes bear repeating!) In 2005, I became curious about -- okay, obsessed with -- slow-roasted tomatoes. I roasted, well, 15 batches. No wonder I've collected so many recipes for using slow-roasted tomatoes!

And don't let anyone lead you astray thinking that a mere four hours or so will 'slow-roast' tomatoes. Nope. You see, I've tested. From much trial, much error, I know that it takes 10 - 12 hours, yes hours! at 200F to create the real essence of slow-roasting.

So if you're wondering how to roast tomatoes, how to slow-roast tomatoes, how to really truly sloooooooooooow roast tomatoes -- and how to taste 'summer' in the middle of winter -- this, my friends, is how. And the recipe that follows is just one more reason, WHY.

Twenty-five minutes to a one-skillet, simple supper.

Yes, it's one of the best things about slow-roasted tomatoes: so much flavor is already roasted in that all you really need to do is heat them up and serve. This is a bolognese sauce. It's "quick" to make on the spot but it's got the flavor of the "slow" cooked versions.

I tucked some leftover ham into it (and most bolognese sauces are heavy on meat, light on tomato) but honestly, it had so much flavor, so much tomato meatiness, it would have been completely delicious as a vegetarian bolognese.

FOR LOW-CARB EATERS If you're watch the carbs, Dreamfield's low-glycemic / low-carb pasta is now sold through Amazon, including the spaghetti, the penne and the linguine, the much-awaited lasagna, even elbows! Dreamfields is truly a wonder product for low-carb eaters who miss eating pasta. There's always a box or two in my pantry. And I promise, if you're been disappointed by other flavorless, low-carb cardboard pastas, Dreamfields is very good. You won't even know ... except you will!

FROM THE ARCHIVES The Recipe Box has a collection of recipes for slow-roasted tomatoes.

TWO YEARS AGO Hurricane Rice, food blogging in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina

GREAT FOOD BLOGS share BOLOGNESE RECIPES
Champaign Taste ... Marcella Hazan's Bolognese Sauce
Simply Recipes ... Slow and Quick Bolognese Sauce
Seriously Good ... Ragu Bolognese

BOLOGNESE SAUCE with SLOW-ROASTED TOMATOES

Hands-on time: 20 minutes
Time to table: 20 minutes
Serves 4

Salted water for pasta
Fresh or Dried Pasta

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 carrot, diced small
1 onion, diced small
2 stalks celery, diced small
6 garlic cloves, minced small
2 cups slow-roasted tomatoes (from 4 pounds) or 1 - 2 cans diced tomatoes
1/2 pound ham (or other meat)
Freshly grated Parmesan

Start the water for the pasta. (Salt later if you can remember to do that. I always forget, so salt first, though this can damage your pans over the long-term.)

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil til shimmery. Add the carrot, onion, celery and garlic til they're softening. Add the tomatoes and meat and heat through. Serve over pasta topped with freshly grated Parmesan.

NUTRITION ESTIMATE
With Meat & Pasta (assumes 2 oz pasta per serving) Per Serving: 494 Cal (25% from Fat, 21% from Protein, 54% from Carb); 27 g Protein; 14 g Tot Fat; 3 g Sat Fat; 69 g Carb; 8 g Fiber; NetCarb 61; 78 mg Calcium; 4 mg Iron; 842 mg Sodium; 85 mg Cholesterol; Weight Watchers 10 points

With No Meat, With Pasta (2 oz pasta per serving) Per Serving: 405 Cal (23% from Fat, 12% from Protein, 65% from Carb); 13 g Protein; 11 g Tot Fat; 2 g Sat Fat; 69 g Carb; 8 g Fiber; NetCarb61; 74 mg Calcium; 3 mg Iron; 90 mg Sodium; 54 mg Cholesterol; Weight Watchers 8 points

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT'S DUE
Very adapted from Giada's Family Dinners by Giada De Laurentiis

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Smoked Potatoes ♥

When I became the unexpected owner of a Camerons stovetop smoker last spring, naturally, I wondered about the potential of smoked vegetables. What would emerge?

First up, lovely woody nutty smoked potatoes. "Tastes like bacon," remarked one taste tester -- thus proving that bacon tastes like smoke, not bacon, yes?

And just like smoking trout, shrimp and scallops (my favorites on the smoker and the real reason to buy a smoker if considering one), smoked potatoes are easy-easy cooking. Just slice and season, arrange in the smoker, then walk away. In fact, the recipe I followed specified smoking the potatoes for 45 minutes. But I forgot to set the timer and so these cooked for almost twice that: no problem. (I do recommend paying attention to the timer, however.)

NUTRITION NOTES These were smoked with zero fat -- but still were absolutely delicious, especially smeared with good mustard. That said, my chef friend tells me that slathered in duck fat beforehand (since it won't burn like butter would) before smoking, smoked potatoes move to a whole new plane.

LEFTOVER REPORT I used the leftovers to make a mustard-y vinegar-y potato salad with fresh herbs, again, just great.

WHY ARE THOSE POTATOES PINK? The variety has red skins that stains the flesh. It's pretty in raw form but decidedly not when cooked. Don't plan on a pretty pink plate with these!

MAKE IT A MEAL Smoked potatoes would go great with the very fall-ish Buffalo Ragout.

MORE VEGETABLE RECIPES See the Recipe Box for all the potato recipes but if you've got access to just-dug new potatoes, think about our family favorite, mashed potatoes & carrots, the oh-so-lovely lavender potatoes, the classic new potatoes with browned butter, the delicious roasted potatoes and red onion or this quick potato okra curry.

A YEAR AGO Cornmeal Catfish with Warm Potato Salad, one of Kitchen Parade's famous Quick Suppers (yes, September is prime potato season!!)

SMOKED POTATOES

Hands-on time: 5 minutes
Time to table: 50 minutes? 90 minutes?
Serves 8

2 pounds potatoes (the inspiring recipe called for baking potatoes, 2 pounds exactly filled the smoker)
Salt & pepper

Place 1 tablespoon wood chips in the stovetop smoker (I used cherry, the inspiring recipe said oak or apple) and set on the stove over medium flame. Wash potatoes (or if they're already washed, wet again, the moisture is important). Slice 1/2-inch to 3/4-inch thick. (I cut these length-wise so they wouldn't fall through the grill.) Season both sides with salt and pepper. Close the smoker and cook til done (the inspiring recipe said 45 minutes, mine cooked for 1 hour, 40 minutes.

NUTRITION ESTIMATE
Per Serving: Per Serving: 82 Cal (2% from Fat, 10% from Protein, 88% from Carb); 2 g Protein; 0 g Tot Fat; 0 g Sat Fat; 0 g Mono Fat; 18 g Carb; 2 g Fiber; 1 g Sugar; 11 mg Calcium; 1 mg Iron; 7 mg Sodium; 0 mg Cholesterol; Weight Watchers 1 point

HOW MANY CALORIES, CARBS & WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS IN RED POTATOES Nutrition Information Per 1/4 pound of raw red potatoes, the flesh and the skins, 82 Cal (2% from Fat, 10% from Protein, 88% from Carb); 2 g Protein; 0 g Tot Fat; 0 g Sat Fat; 0 g Mono Fat; 18 g Carb; 2 g Fiber; 1 g Sugar; 11 mg Calcium; 1 mg Iron; 7 mg Sodium; 0 mg Cholesterol; Weight Watchers 1 point

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT'S DUE
Adapted from the Camerons Stovetop Smoker 'Cooking Guide' that accompanied the smoker, there's also an occasional newsletter that includes several recipes, when I registered the produce, they sent several back issues which was great

SHORTHAND RECIPE
SMOKED POTATOES Slice ½ - ¾ “ thick, S&P, (duck fat?), 1T chips, 45-90min on med. VV07

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Pages

(SLOOOOW) BAKED POTATOES

BITTER MELON SAUTÉ

STEAMED BUTTERNUT SQUASH

BOLOGNESE SAUCE with SLOW-ROASTED TOMATOES

SMOKED POTATOES