Something I learned in the American-Style Chop Suey Incident is that Italian Seasoning makes things better. Typically I am not a big promoter of spice blends, because personally I like to be able to add what I want to add in the quantities that I want to add them in, rather than have my dish's flavor dictated by Knorr or McKormick. However, I have added Italian Seasoning to my short list of exceptions. It's good for making a dish somehow zippier. Just to be clear, it doesn't make it taste more Italian, at least not in my opinion, but it's still good. I especially recommend it on roasted potatoes, like in the recipe below, and in sautees and sauces that you want to be indefinably meatier without actually adding any meat.
Oven-Roasted Potatoes
3-4 medium potatoes, washed but not peeled
enough Italian Seasoning to generously sprinkle over the potatoes
salt to taste
oil of your choice
Preheat the oven to 425F. Chop your potatoes thusly: cut them in fourths longways (ie hold them up on one long side and slice off each end, then slice the remaining middle in half). You should now have four slabs of potato about the size of a deck of cards each. (The ends will probably be smaller.) Take each slab and slice it into 3-4 strips, then turn the cut slab as a whole shortways and cut the strips into 1 to 1-1/2 inch chunks. Put your chunks in a glass baking dish and drizzle them with the oil. Then sprinkle on your salt and Italian Seasoning. Bake them in the oven with a tinfoil lid for about 45 minutes, or until they are tender in the middle. If you like them crispy on the outside, take the tinfoil off for the last 15 minutes or so. If you like your potatoes softer but not crispy, leave the tinfoil on the whole time.
Additionally: Interesting Things to Do With Ketchup
Mix 1/4 C. ketchup with: 1/2 tsp. curry powder
: 2-3 TB. honey
: 2-3 TB. soy sauce
: 1 tsp. Korean BBQ sauce
_________
An interesting note: oil in the oven can catch on fire. Surprisingly, so can many other things, especially if the oven is on too hot. Do not turn on the oven too hot. "Too hot" is defined as anything besides broiling meat put in on the "broil" setting, or 100 degrees or more higher than the stated cooking temperature. Do not leave things in the oven too long. "Too long" is defined as at least 15 minutes after you first smelled something starting to burn and though "Oh, I should go do something about that," and then promptly forgot about it.
Follow proper procedure for kitchen fires if something in your oven catches fire. "Proper procedure" is NOT defined as opening the oven door, having flames shoot out, saying "OH DEAR!" and slamming the oven door shut. I promise none of these happened to me while preparing the Oven-Roasted Potatoes. But that is as far as I am willing to commit in the promise-making department.
It might also possibly be true that I once told my lab partner that I almost set my last lab partner on fire and then immediately got a beaker vacuum-sealed to my hand. Both of my lab partners developed a fine sense of hyperalertness. But they didn't trade lab partners! Even lab partner number one, who not only almost got set on fire as a general concept, but who almost got his genitals set on fire in specific. Moral of the story: do not try to light your Bunsen burner unless you are absolutely certain which tap is the gas tap.
Oven-Roasted Potatoes
3-4 medium potatoes, washed but not peeled
enough Italian Seasoning to generously sprinkle over the potatoes
salt to taste
oil of your choice
Preheat the oven to 425F. Chop your potatoes thusly: cut them in fourths longways (ie hold them up on one long side and slice off each end, then slice the remaining middle in half). You should now have four slabs of potato about the size of a deck of cards each. (The ends will probably be smaller.) Take each slab and slice it into 3-4 strips, then turn the cut slab as a whole shortways and cut the strips into 1 to 1-1/2 inch chunks. Put your chunks in a glass baking dish and drizzle them with the oil. Then sprinkle on your salt and Italian Seasoning. Bake them in the oven with a tinfoil lid for about 45 minutes, or until they are tender in the middle. If you like them crispy on the outside, take the tinfoil off for the last 15 minutes or so. If you like your potatoes softer but not crispy, leave the tinfoil on the whole time.
Additionally: Interesting Things to Do With Ketchup
Mix 1/4 C. ketchup with: 1/2 tsp. curry powder
: 2-3 TB. honey
: 2-3 TB. soy sauce
: 1 tsp. Korean BBQ sauce
_________
An interesting note: oil in the oven can catch on fire. Surprisingly, so can many other things, especially if the oven is on too hot. Do not turn on the oven too hot. "Too hot" is defined as anything besides broiling meat put in on the "broil" setting, or 100 degrees or more higher than the stated cooking temperature. Do not leave things in the oven too long. "Too long" is defined as at least 15 minutes after you first smelled something starting to burn and though "Oh, I should go do something about that," and then promptly forgot about it.
Follow proper procedure for kitchen fires if something in your oven catches fire. "Proper procedure" is NOT defined as opening the oven door, having flames shoot out, saying "OH DEAR!" and slamming the oven door shut. I promise none of these happened to me while preparing the Oven-Roasted Potatoes. But that is as far as I am willing to commit in the promise-making department.
It might also possibly be true that I once told my lab partner that I almost set my last lab partner on fire and then immediately got a beaker vacuum-sealed to my hand. Both of my lab partners developed a fine sense of hyperalertness. But they didn't trade lab partners! Even lab partner number one, who not only almost got set on fire as a general concept, but who almost got his genitals set on fire in specific. Moral of the story: do not try to light your Bunsen burner unless you are absolutely certain which tap is the gas tap.
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