Skordalia is a Greek Dip that is usually potato and or bread based. It always has garlic and olive oil in it. It also has either lemon or vinegar in it……Sometimes it has either almonds or walnuts in it……. I called my version of what I did Skordalia Style because I made the Skordalia like a filling instead of a dip…..If you want it more dip-like then you thin it down with more oil (some people thin it down with water)

Ingredients for around 4 servings

4 russet potatoes

1 head garlic

4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil + extra for cooking the potatoes and extra to drizzle the garlic

3 ounces almonds – ground

1 lemon – just the juice

3 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

sea salt – to taste

black pepper – to taste

optional – finish with a little parsley

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Brush or spray the potatoes with olive oil and give them a sprinkle of sea salt. They go in the oven for 90 minutes.

The head of garlic gets cut in half and gets a generous drizzle of olive oil.

Cover the garlic with foil. This goes in the oven till the garlic is soft and lightly caramelized. (30-45 minutes) When the garlic is cool enough to handle you squeeze the cloves out.

The cloves get mashed with a potato masher. (set to the side)

The potatoes get cut in half longways when cool enough to handle. Scoop out the centers with a spoon.

If you want the skins crispy ……Spray them with olive oil and add sea salt and pepper and put them back in the oven for 35-45 minutes.

Mash the scooped out potatoes with the lemon juice, almonds, roasted mashed garlic, olive oil, and apple cider vinegar. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Fill the shells. Skordalia is traditionally served at room temperature so there is no need to heat the filling but you can if you want. Finish with parsley if desired.

ENJOY!!!!!

I came across Chef Joe Kindred’s recipe for Fluffy Hush Puppies with Yuzu Kosho Honey Butter in my Food & Wine Magazine recently……I’m not the biggest fan of any fried hush puppy but I thought that Yuzu Kosho Honey Butter sounded like something I wanted to try……Soooooooooo I played around with the hush puppy recipe and figured out on how to add potatoes and to bake them instead of frying them. For me this made 27 small potato puppies…..They are meatball sized so depending on your appetite you will want to eat 2, 3, or 4……..I’ll round the servings to about 2 each figure a few extra here or there.

Ingredients for around 10 servings

Yuzu Kosho Honey Butter

4 oz unsalted butter – room temperature

1 Tablespoon yuzu koshu

1 Tablespoon honey

1/2 teaspoon gochugaru (incase you don’t know..this should be kept in your freezer or it goes moldy)

1/4 teaspoon sea salt or to taste

Potato Puppies

1 pound potatoes – peeled and shredded

3 oz unsalted butter – melted

1 medium sized onion – fine chopped (I slice them extra thin on a mandolin and chop)

3/4 cup cornmeal

1/2 cup flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons sugar

2 teaspoons course sea salt

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic

1/4 teaspoon granulated onion

3 eggs – lightly beaten

non stick spray

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and spray baking sheet(s) with non stick spray.

In a large mixing bowl add the potatoes, butter, onion, cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar, sea salt, peppers, garlic, onion, and eggs. Mix well.

This gets scooped out like meatballs (about 1 + 1/2 ounces each) on sprayed baking sheet(s) or pans.

This stays in the oven till lightly browned. (about 60 minutes…but could be slightly less…I say that because I know my last oven baked faster)

While the potato puppies are baking whip up the Yuzu Kosho Honey Butter.

The soft butter,yuzu kosho, honey, gochugaru, and salt go in a small mixing bowl and get mixed together with a fork.

These are tasty and different!

A Special THANKS!!!! To Chef Joe Kindred and Food & Wine Magazine so I could come up with what I got here.

A Sbrisolana is a “crumble cake” It’s crunchy and very rustic. It is traditional to just break pieces off to eat. It is also usually made with almonds or hazelnuts mixed with almonds. I didn’t have almonds or oranges that I needed to do the Food and Wine recipe so I changed mine to lemons and walnuts. I also doubled up on the vanilla flavor instead of adding almond flavor. For me this comes out delicious but more crumbly than I would make for anyone should so you need to be aware of that……….But my husband kept saying that, “THIS IS REALLY GOOD!” He didn’t mind how crumbly it was….Anyways it truly does come out delicious. I called it a crumble top treat because I think a better use can be to top an apple pie with these crumbs….YES!!!!! BIG FAT YES..or on top of ice cream YES or even a topping for Pots De Creme YES YES YES!!!!!! (according to F&W this is 6 servings but if you use it as a topping like I suggest it will be more like 16 portions because I think it’s enough to top two 9 inch pies.

Ingredients for 8 servings

7 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter – grated

1 cup broken walnuts

1 egg – slightly beaten

1 Tablespoon lemon zest

1/2 teaspoon vanilia extract

1 cup flour

6 Tablespoons yellow cornmeal

3/4 teaspoon course sea salt

1/3 cup sugar

3 Tablespoons dark brown sugar

non stick spray

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray a springform pan with non stick spray. (I always put a lined baking sheet under springform pans because sometimes they leak)

In a large bowl mix with a fork the butter, walnuts, egg, zest, vanilla, flour, cornmeal, salt, and sugars till it looks like lumpy moist sand.

pour this evenly into your sprayed springform pan.

This goes on the middle rack till it feels done. 25-35 minutes. Mine took 35.

It is FORKING DELICIOUS but it is crumbly…I recommend to use as an amazing topping.

A special THANKS!!!!!! to Food and Wine Magazine so I could come up with what I got here.

I got a nice two pound bag of broccoli florets on sale today so this is what I did to it. Half the broccoli I blanched and froze and the other half was used for this recipe. I saw someone on TV do a recipe for maple bourbon sweet potato pie so those flavors were on my mind and was the inspiration.

I’ll tell you that this recipe is easier than it sounds because I used Watkins Maple Bourbon Rub. It’s not too sweet and it also is spicy, smoky and salty. Believe me there is not much to it.

Just one tablespoon and only a few other ingredients makes something impressive. My idea of serving size may differ from your idea of serving size. For me this made around 6 side servings.

Ingredients for around 6 servings

1 pound broccoli florets

a palmful of salt to boil water for the broccoli

6 apples peeled, cored, cut into thick slices

1 red onion – peeled, cut in half, sliced very thin on a mandolin

1 Tablespoon Watkins Maple Bourbon Rub (I found mine at Walmart Grocery)

5 Tablespoons of sweet butter cut into thin slices

4 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

sea salt – to taste

black pepper – to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

The apples, onions, Watkins Maple Bourbon Rub, butter slices, and apple cider vinegar go on a covered dish or pan in the preheated oven for an hour.

Put a pot of water on the stove to boil. Add a palmful of either kosher salt or sea salt to the boiling water. Add the broccoli florets. Boil only 2 1/2- 3 minutes. Pull them out with a strainer or slotted spoon. Keep to the side.

After an hour the apples and onions will look like this.

Remove half the apple onion mixture and blend it smooth so it can be the base of your broccoli dish. Mix the other half of the apple onion mixture with the broccoli.

Finish with a little bit of fresh grated sea salt and black pepper. You have something delicious that is not too heavy that will go well with a Holiday meal or a roasted chicken or turkey dish.

ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!