Of course you may! I haven't really touched upon this point on my blog, but today's is the day I reveal that we don't have a kitchen! Me and Mister live in a one bedroom basement unit. There is a bathroom and a "bedroom." I use that loosely as it's a everything-other-than-a-bathroom room. It's a bedroom, but it is also the living room, study/office, gym, and "kitchen." I use the term kitchen loosely as there is not actual kitchen. We just have a lot of appliances.
First off, the stove. We use a Faberware electric double burner. That's sitting on top of the microwave and the microwave is on top of the mini fridge. It's a very simple set up that you would probably easily find in any college dorm room. Up above is our pots and pans rack. It's a simple towel rack that we have attached some hooks on for the pans. On the left is our pantry cart.
The pantry cart was custom made by Mister to fit between that microwave-fridge-stove and the dresser. On top we have cooking oil, salt and pepper. I think I'll save the rest of the pantry cart for another post. Look out for that!
So you would think after living here for nearly three years, that burner would not look as pristine as it does and you would be right. It just broke down this past weekend and we decided to get the same one again! Before it broke, the burner was working pretty well. The only cons I have are that it takes awhile to heat, it never really get super hot, and the black really shows it's wear. We don't get a hard sear from this burner, but that also means food takes quite a long time to burn something. As you can see the rust building up and the plastic covering in the middle is quite burnt. I choose to stay with the die-cast heating plates for the easy clean up and maintenance. (food doesn't drop down in the grates.)
Pros with this model: it was never smelly, easy clean up, easy to maintain, two different sized burners, and the indicator lights.
The burner set up is a little higher than a traditional burner, but it works. Here are am cooking some chicken in a pot.
Here is the burner all shiny and new. It is super unlikely that it will stay that way, so we documented it with way too many pictures. So you've now seen our "stove," fridge, microwave, and pantry, but what about the all important kitchen sink? Well that's because the bathroom sink is also the kitchen sink! I'll also introduce that to you another day, but I hope you enjoy seeing how we have been living without a kitchen for so long and a little introduction about our set up.
Of course you may. For today's Tutorial Tuesday, I would like to share my experiences with making an accordion potato. (or a hasselback potato). Me and Mister were feeling particularly fancy one night and opted to make some steak and potatoes. Well they turned out pretty tasty, but we had way too much potato compared to the steak. I added some other accouterments with the mushrooms and carrots, but we just needed more steak for the dish. Accordion potatoes are supposed to be the best of mashed potatoes and baked potatoes. It combines the crispy skin of the baked potato with the creaminess of mashed potatoes.
Starting with two russet potatoes and a baking dish to fit them in. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but since I decided to use gigantic potatoes I have here our 9x9 inch baking dish.
After the potatoes have been scrubbed clean, starting making thin slices along the potato. Try to keep the slices at equal distances from each other. That way they will cook evenly.
If you aren't as confident with your slicing skills, I would suggest placing the potato between two chopsticks or wooden spoons. I should have done that as I almost made it through the giant potato without slicing it all the way down.
After you've finished your slicing, you'll notice that the slices kind of seal back together. In the recipes I researched, the directions just slathered on some butter/oil periodically throughout the baking process and it will coat the inside of the potato. That way the butter is able in enter into the slices and crisp them up.
I had a different plan. In case you haven't noticed, me and Mister are big fans of garlic. So I thought, why not place garlic slices between the potato? That way the garlic acts like a spacer and flavors the potato.
It will take about an hour for the potato to cook, and by that time, the garlic will also be roasted and sweet tasting!
I used a mandolin to carefully slice the garlic and then I alternated putting the garlic into each slice of the potato. Next just oil/butter, salt and pepper the potato and stick it in the oven!
Look how nicely the potato fanned out! The orange you see is some carrot sticks I added in. The carrot also held up the end piece that I sliced through.
This is a long bake time, so it's nice to make ahead of time. There is also another method that I've read but I haven't tried. You parboil the potatoes first then bake them. (Basically you boil the potatoes for 10-15 minutes and then slice them, slather them and then bake them.) That way your bake time is cut by at least half. I didn't want to deal with another pot to wash and dealing with hot potatoes did not sound like fun. I think my first time making these potatoes turned out pretty successful! (it was also pretty tasty too!) I hope you enjoy this method and I am thinking about starting a how to make it fancy series. Let me know what you think!
Accordion Potato Recipe
You'll need:
russet potatoes, scrubbed clean
garlic, thinly sliced (mandolin)
salt and pepper
melted butter or oil
Directions (more of a method): Preheat oven to 450°F. Thinly slice the potatoes almost all the way through. (Place the potato between chopsticks or wooden spoons to prevent you from slicing all the way down.) Stick garlic slices between the slices. Slather the potato with the butter or oil. (Make sure to get inbetween the slices.) Season liberally with salt and pepper. Put the potatoes in a baking dish and bake for 55-60 minutes, or until the edges are crisp and the center is crisp. (Remember to brush the butter that's drained into the baking pan periodically to ensure those crispy edges!)
*in the first picture I have cheese because I just can't resist a cheesy potato! Sprinkle on the cheese at the last 5 minutes of baking.
