Walnut Grove Potatoes (Scalloped Potatoes and Hard-Boiled Eggs)

Walnut Grove Potatoes

HAPPY EASTER!

If your household is like mine, you have hard-boiled Easter eggs sitting in the refrigerator and are looking for ways to use them. I came across a recipe in a hundred-year-old cookbook for Walnut Grove Potatoes, which is a fancy name for Scalloped Potatoes with Hard-Boiled Eggs. It was delightful, and is a great way to use those hard-boiled eggs.

Here’s the original recipe:

Recipe for Walnut Grove Potatoes — Source: Cook Book (Compiled by Women of the Country Club Christian Church, Kansas City, Missouri)

When I made this recipe, I interpreted “cream dressing” to mean white sauce. It did not work very well to put all of the white sauce on the top of the top layer of breadcrumbs, so I changed the recipe to indicate the white sauce should be one of the layers so that it is more evenly distributed.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Walnut Grove Potatoes

Servings: 3 - 5
Time: 1 hour
Difficulty: moderate
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3 cups sliced, peeled potatoes (1/4-inch slices)

1 teaspoon salt + 1/2 teaspoon salt

3 hard-boiled eggs, sliced

1 cup coarsely-torn breadcrumbs (tear bread into 1-inch pieces) + 1/8 cup finely-torn breadcrumbs

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

1 1/2 cups milk

approximately 1/3 green pepper, thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 400° F. Put the sliced potatoes in a saucepan and cover with water; add 1 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil using high heat; reduce and simmer until the potatoes are just barely tender (about 10-12 minutes). Remove from heat and drain.

In the meantime, in another pan, using medium heat, melt butter, then stir in the flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Gradually, add the milk while stirring constantly. Continue stirring until the white sauce begins to thicken. Remove from heat.

To assemble: Put 1/3 of the white sauce in the bottom of a casserole dish, add 1/2 of the cooked sliced potatoes, then add a layer composed of 1/2 of the hard-boiled egg slices, and a layer of 1/2 of the coarsely-torn breadcrumbs. Pour a third of the white sauce over the layers. Repeat the layers with the remaining sliced potatoes, hard-boiled egg slices, and coarsely-torn breadcrumbs. Pour the remaining white sauce over the top. Garnish with the green pepper slices and finely torn breadcrumbs. Put in oven and bake until hot and bubbly (about 30 minutes).

http://www.ahundredyearsago.com

Alphonso Potatoes Recipe

Alphonso Potatoes

Now that the weather’s getting cold and wintery, potatoes hit the spot. I recently made a hundred-year-old recipe for Alphonso Potatoes which are diced potatoes and green pepper are in a milk sauce, and topped with Parmesan cheese. This dish is very attractive and makes a nice presentation. The green of the pepper and the white of the potatoes made a visually appealing combination. The Parmesan cheese topping added flavor to the dish, and it was very nice.

Here’s the original recipe:

When I made the recipe, I cut the potatoes into 1/4 inch cubes prior to cooking. Perhaps cooks a hundred-years-ago often had left-over boiled potatoes that could be diced and used in this recipe, but since I didn’t have any left-over potatoes it seemed easier to just dice them into small pieces prior to cooking. I boiled the diced potatoes for a few minutes and then added the green pepper pieces to the simmering potatoes. It didn’t seem like a separate pan was needed. After the cubed potatoes were soft, I drained them, and then added the milk. I salted the water when cooking the potatoes, but did not add additional salt when I added the milk. I cooked for a few minutes more minutes, while occasionally gently stirring (but it was substantively less than 15 minutes). Some of the milk evaporated, and it began to thicken. I then removed from the heat and put into the casserole dish.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Alphonso Potatoes Recipe

Servings: 4 - 5
Time: 40 minutes
Difficulty: moderate
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5 medium potatoes, peeled and diced into 1/4 inch cubes

water

1 teaspoon salt + 1/2 teaspoon salt (if desired)

1 medium green pepper, diced into 1/8 inch pieces

3/4 cup milk

1 1/2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 375° F. Put the diced potatoes into a saucepan; cover with water and add 1 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil using high heat, then reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the diced green pepper and simmer for an additional 6 minutes. Remove from the heat, and drain. Pour milk and 1/2 teaspoon salt (if desired) on the drained potatoes and green pepper in the saucepan. Heat using medium heat while stirring gently occasionally (do not cover). Simmer for a few minutes until some of the milk evaporates and the liquid thickens a little. (Use care that the milk and potatoes don’t burn.) Remove from the heat and put into a casserole dish. Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese. Put in the oven and bake for 10 minutes or until the Parmesan cheese is lightly browned.

http://www.ahundredyearsago.com

“A Homely Way to Make Potatoes” Recipe

Potato Mixture in Dish

I love to browse through old community cookbooks. Sometimes the recipes have unusual names that intrigue me. This is one of those times. A 1923 cookbook published by the General Welfare Guild of the Beaver Valley General Hospital in New Brighton, Pennsylvania had a recipe for “A Homely Way to Cook Potatoes.” Can potatoes be “homely?”

The recipe called for putting potatoes, onion, parsley and seasonings in a saucepan with water, and then boiling the mixture. The recipe was easy to make. The potatoes reminded me of old-fashioned parsley potatoes. And, the homely potatoes (dare I say it?) were attractive.

Here’s the original recipe:

Potato Recipe — Source: General Welfare Guild Cook Book (Published by the General Welfare Guild, Beaver Valley General Hospital, New Brighton, PA, 1923)

I’m not exactly sure how much “4 large tablespoon butter” is, so I used four tablespoons of butter. It also did not seem like boiling water needed to be used in this recipe. I just used cold water. I’m sure that it took a little longer to heat, but that was okay with me.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

A Homely Way to Make Potatoes

Servings: 4 - 6
Time: 1 30 minutes
Difficulty: moderate
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6 large potatoes, peeled and sliced

1/4 cup chopped parsley

1 large onion, sliced

1 teaspoon salt

dash pepper

4 tablespoons butter

1 cup water

Put all ingredients in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil using high heat; then reduce heat and simmer until the potatoes are tender (approximately 15-20 minutes). Remove from heat and drain. Serve immediately.

http://www.ahundredyearsago.com

Old-fashioned Quick Creamed Potatoes

Quick Creamed Potatoes

Creamed Potatoes are a delightful comfort food, so I was pleased to find a hundred-year-old recipe for Quick Creamed Potatoes.

Here’s the original recipe:

I am unclear whether this recipe calls for raw potato slices or previously cooked potato slices. When I made this recipe, I used raw potato slices and had issues with the milk scorching on the bottom of the pan. I tried to gently stir the potato mixture while it was cooking, but it took about 15 minutes for the potatoes to soften and it was really difficult to stir well enough to prevent scorching.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Quick Creamed Potatoes

Servings: 3 - 4
Time: 25 minutes
Difficulty: moderate
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2 cups potatoes, sliced

2 tablespoons flour

1 1/2 cups milk

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 teaspoons salt

dash pepper

1 tablespoon parsley, chopped (fresh or dried)

Put potato slices in a bowl; dredge with flour and toss until the potato slices are partially coated with flour. Put in a saucepan and add milk. Gently cook using medium heat until the milk is hot; reduce heat to medium low and continue cook until the potato slices are soft while frequently gently lifting the potato slices and stirring. (Be sure to stir to the very bottom of the pan, since the milk will easily scorch). Remove from heat. Add butter, salt, and pepper; gentry stir to combine. Put in serving dish and sprinkle with parsley.

http://www.ahundredyearsago.com

Potato Tarts a la Gratin

Potato Tarts a la Gratin on plate

Au Gratin potatoes are a nice comfort food, but they can get boring, so I was intrigued by a hundred-year-old recipe for Potato Tarts a la Gratin. A muffin tin is lined with pastry dough, then filled with diced au gratin potatoes. The resulting tarts were tasty, visually appealing, and a nice change of pace. They reminded me a bit of the savory hors d’oeuvres served by hotels at events – though they were tastier than many of those hors d’oeuvres.

Here’s the original recipe:

I substituted butter for the lard when I made this recipe. Rather than using left-over cold potatoes, I made boiled diced potatoes which I immediately used in the recipe.

When I made the sauce, it seemed rather thin for a tart filling, so I coarsely mashed a few of the diced potatoes and stirred them into the sauce to make it thicker before adding the remainder of the diced potatoes. This worked well.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Potato Tarts a la Gratin

Servings: approximately `10 - 12 tarts
Time: 1 hour
Difficulty: moderate
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3 – 4 medium potatoes, diced into 3/4 inch pieces (about 2 cups diced potatoes)

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

1/2 cup shredded cheese + additional cheese to sprinkle on the top (I used cheddar cheese.)

pastry dough (enough for 1 2-crust pie, or use approximately 4 pre-rolled sheets)

Preheat oven to 425° F. Roll pastry dough and cut into circles. Line the space for each muffin in a muffin pan with the circles of pastry dough. Fit each circle, trim, and flute edges.

Put the diced potatoes in a sauce pan and cover with water. Put on the stove and bring to a boil using high heat; then reduce heat and simmer until the potatoes are tender (about 10 minutes). Drain potatoes. Remove about 1/3 cup of the potatoes from the sauce pan; put in a bowl and coarsely mash using a fork. Set aside both the mashed and diced potatoes

Melt the butter in another sauce pan, then stir the flour and salt into the butter. While stirring constantly, slowly pour in the milk and bring to a boil over medium heat. Stir in the mashed potatoes and 1/2 cup shredded cheese, continue heating until the cheese melts. Add the diced potatoes. Stir to combine.

Spoon into the pastry shells, and sprinkle additional shredded cheese on top. Bake until hot and bubbly, and the top begins to brown (about 30 minutes).

Old-fashioned Minced Potatoes

minced potatoes on plate Occasionally I make a hundred-year-old recipe that is lovely – but that seems to be misnamed. This is one of those times. The name of the recipe is Minced Potatoes – yet recipe directions call for either cutting the potatoes into 3/4th inch chunks or slicing them — I sliced them — which resulted in pieces which seemed much larger than what I’d expect for Minced Potatoes.

To make this recipe, potatoes are first boiled, the cut into pieces and put into the oven to brown. Then they are stirred and 1/2 cup of cream is poured over them. They are then returned to the oven to brown a second time. Most of the cream evaporated, but a delicate creaminess remained.

Minced Potatoes reminded me a bit of Scalloped Potatoes – but they were not nearly as creamy. But I’m saying this in a good way. The Minced Potatoes made a tasty side dish.

Recipe for Minced Potatoes — Source: The New Cookery (1921) by Lenna Frances Cooper

The recipe does not say when to add to the salt. It is not clear whether it should be added to the water that is used to boil the potatoes, or to the cream that is poured over the potatoes. I decided to add the salt to the cream – though I only used 1/2 teaspoon of salt instead of the teaspoon called for in the old recipe. A teaspoon seemed like too much. (If I’d instead added the salt to the water used to boil the potatoes, 1 teaspoon would have been an appropriate amount of salt to add.)

The recipe called for “cream.” I was uncertain whether this meant heavy cream or a lighter cream. I decided to use half and half rather than heavy cream.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Minced Potatoes

Servings: 2 - 3
Time: 45 minutes active prep time
Difficulty: moderate
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3 medium potatoes

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup half and half

Peel potatoes and put in a saucepan; cover with water. Bring to a boil using high heat; then reduce heat and cook until the potatoes are tender (25-30 minutes). Remove from heat, drain, and put the potatoes in the refrigerator to cool.

Pre-heat oven to 400° F. Cut the cold boiled potatoes into 3/4th inch cubes or slice the potatoes. (I sliced them.). Put the potatoes in a 1-quart buttered baking dish. Place in oven.

Put the cream and salt in a small bowl. Stir to combine. Set aside.

When the potatoes begin to brown, gently stir the potatoes to turn them. Pour the cream mixture over the potatoes. Return to the oven and allow to lightly brown a second time. Remove from oven and gently stir, then serve. (If desired, put the potatoes in a serving bowl. After I stirred the potatoes, they didn’t look particularly attractive in the casserole dish that I cooked them in – but they looked very nice in a serving dish.)

http://www.ahundredyearsago.com

Old-fashioned Lyonnaise Potatoes

Lyonnaise Potatoes in Bowl I recently made a hundred-year-old recipe for Lyonnaise Potatoes. Diced potatoes are coated with butter, chopped onion, and parsley. This classic comfort food makes a nice side dish.

This recipe also brought back food memories of a similar dish from my childhood that we called Parsley Potatoes. I don’t think that Parsley Potatoes contained any onion, but otherwise it was the same as Lyonnaise Potatoes.

Here’s the original recipe:

Recipe for Lyonnaise Potatoes — Source: Lowney’s Cook Book (Revised Edition, 1921)

Some Lyonnaise Potato recipes call for browning the potatoes, but since this one didn’t; I didn’t brown the potatoes.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Lyonnaise Potatoes

Servings: 2 - 3
Time: 20 minutes
Difficulty: easy
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2 cups boiled potatoes, diced into 1-inch cubes

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon onion, finely chopped

3 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped

salt and pepper

Melt butter in a skillet; stir in the onion. Cook until the onion is transparent while stirring occasionally. Stir in parsley. Add potatoes, and season with salt and pepper; stir gently to coat with butter, onion, and parsley. When hot, remove from heat and serve,

http://www.ahundredyearsago.com