Red Potatoes with Bacon and Sage

Though I used to cater fancy parties and bringing home fancy leftovers to enjoy, my family really are basic meat and potato people.  Nothing excites them more than good roasted potatoes and grilled meat during summer.   

I used my favorite cast iron skillet from start to finish. From crisping the bacon, sautéing the shallots, and tossing the potatoes; then straight into the oven or the lighted grill.  One pan cooking is what I like.  

Stay tuned for this Wednesday post....I have some awesome pork chop recipe for you.  It may or may not involve coffee.   

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Red Potatoes with Bacon and Sage
Serves 6-8

5 strips of thick-cut bacon slices, cut crosswise into thin strips
3 pounds baby red potatoes, halved (smaller, the better)
1/2 cup of shallots, sliced thinly
7-8 sage leaves, sliced thinly, extra for garnish
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 teaspoon kosher salt, more as needed

Cook sliced bacon in a large cast iron skillet over medium heat until crisp.  Transfer crispy bacon bits to paper towels to drain using a slotted spoon.  Reserve 2 tablespoon of bacon fat in the pan, discarding the rest.

Sauté sliced shallots for about 2-3 minutes until wilted, then add potatoes, sage leaves, softened butter, salt, and pepper and gently toss to coat.

At this point, you can finish cooking by roasting in the oven at 375 degrees F for about 45 minutes until potatoes are done.  If you don't want to heat up the house during summer, simply loosely cover the iron skillet with foil and place the skillet near the hot coal and close the grill cover.  Cook for about 45 minutes or until fully cooked, stirring occasionally to ensure potatoes are not too dark.

Sprinkle more salt and pepper, bacon bits, and extra sage leaves.  Serve immediately.

Creamy Scalloped Potatoes

There are two events I love to cater every December for my church. CERF (Coastal Empire Reformed Fellowship) dinner where South East area Presbyterian pastors, leaders, and their wives gather for their annual Christmas dinner, and IPC staff luncheon. Cooking good tasting meals for God's servants means so much to me, much more than any other shindig I catered as a professional caterer outside the church years ago.

And by request, I made this creamy scalloped potatoes for both events last week, along with fried shrimp, whole New York strip roasted with garlic, fried egg rolls and such.

Fresh thyme infused with heavy cream and rich chicken stock is the key to this tasty dish.


Potatoes were peeled and submerged in water two days prior to cooking. And it took just minutes to slice 8 pounds of potatoes I needed on this Japanese Mandolin Slicer. But a big WARNING first: this is NOT for hurried or novice cooks! I have scars to show you on my fingers so please be CAREFUL when using this. Though this slicer is what we use in our kitchen, there are others which have better safety rating from Amazon consumers.


Once cream and broth mixture is steaming, add sliced potatoes and cook until transparent but not fully cooked.


Put half of the potato mixture into the prepared pan, add cheese, then pour remaining potatoes. Top with more cheese and cover tightly with heavy duty foil and bake. After about 50+ minutes, uncover and bake until cheese browns.

Your family and friends will love this simple and delicious scalloped potatoes. So give this a try for your upcoming gathering.

And Merry Christmas to you all! May God's Peace fill your hearts and your homes this Christmas and New Year!

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Creamy Scalloped Potatoes

1 cup heavy cream
1 cup chicken broth
1 Tablespoon corn starch
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme, more for garnish
2 garlic cloves, grated
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
1 Tablespoon softened butter to grease the pan
2 pounds russet potatoes (about 4 large), peeled and cut into 1/8-inch thick slices
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1 cup of your favorite cheese blend


Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Peel potatoes and submerge them in cold water until ready to slice.

Stir in 1 tablespoon of corn starch in chicken broth, stir to dissolve.

In a large skillet in medium heat, heat up the cream, and fresh chopped thyme, add grated garlic and nutmeg. Add broth and corn starch mixture and stir well. Add salt and pepper to taste. While cream is heating up, butter a 9 x 13 casserole dish and set aside.

Using Janpanese mandolin slicer or a knife, cut peeled potatoes into 1/8-inch thick slices. Put potato slices in the hot cream and broth mixture and cook for a few minutes until potatoes are transparent but not fully cooked (this gives a little head start on the potatoes).

Pour half of the potato mixture into the prepared baking pan, sprinkle 1/2 cup of cheese blend, half of grated Parmesan cheese. Pour remaining potatoes and cream mixture, top with cheeses and tightly cover the pan with heavy duty foil sheet. Bake covered 45 to 50 minutes until potatoes are fully cooked. Uncover and bake until cheese browns, another 5 to 10 minutes.

Let casserole rest for 5 minutes out of the oven, sprinkle with extra chopped fresh thyme and serve immediately.

Make Ahead Tips:

Potatoes can be peeled and submerged in cold water and refrigerated up to 2 days.
For full-size steam pans, multiply recipe x4. Add cooking time.

Savory Oven Fries

This blog post was requested by my dear friend who serves as a missionary in SE Asia. I was happy to oblige her request and searched for a good oven fry recipe. Thank you, Dara @ Cookin' Canuck for this recipe inspiration!

These oven fries proved to be a tastier and more effective method (instead of deep frying) for serving a large crowd at IPC. The results was fantastic, and who can possibly resist crispy, savory fries. And on top of that, they're healthy too!

So here is the recipe you requested, my BFF!

Evenly cut potatoes is the first step to perfect fries. Cut about 1/4" off of long sides of the potato to creating four flat sides for it to firmly sit on the cutting board. Then cut potato into 1/4" or slightly thicker planks. Taking 3 to 4 planks at a time, evenly slice the potatoes into fries, about 18 pieces.

Rinse in cold water. Can be prepared about two hours ahead but soak them in cold water to keep the potatoes from turning gray.


When ready to cook, put cut potatoes in a colander with a large bowl underneath, soak in hot tap water for 10 minutes to remove starch.


Drain potatoes. Spread potatoes out on triple layer of paper towels and thoroughly pat dry with additional paper towels.

Toss with oil, kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. I used peanut oil for flavor but you can use canola, vegetable, or olive oil. Spread evenly on a heavy duty rimmed baking sheet, lined with parchment paper. Dark coated, non-stick pans without parchment can also be used. Bake in oven at 475 degrees.


In the mean time, toss together chopped parsley, freshly grated Parmesan cheese, and finely minced fresh garlic.


After about 20 minutes of baking, using a spatula, carefully turn fries over for even baking. Watch out for escaping steam when opening the oven door!


After about 35-40 minutes, beautifully browned fries emerges. In a large bowl, toss hot fries and parsley-Parmesan cheese mixture. Serve immediately. Sprinkle more kosher salt and pepper as needed.

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Savory Oven Fries
Recipe Inspired by Dara @ Cookin' Canuck

3 russet potatoes (about 8 ounces each), peeled, each potato cut lengthwise into 16 or so evenly sized wedges
4 tablespoons vegetable or peanut oil (other oils can be used as well)
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon of freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
Extra salt & pepper to taste
1. Adjust oven rack to lowest position; heat oven to 475 degrees. Place potatoes in large bowl and cover with hot tap water; soak 10 minutes. Meanwhile, place a sheet of parchment paper to fit 18 by 12-inch heavy-duty rimmed baking sheet

2. Drain potatoes. Spread potatoes out on triple layer of paper towels and thoroughly pat dry with additional paper towels. Rinse and wipe out now-empty bowl; return potatoes to bowl and toss with 4 tablespoon oil and 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

3. Arrange potatoes in single layer on prepared baking sheet and bake until bottoms of potatoes are spotty golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes, rotating baking sheet after 10 minutes. Using metal spatula and tongs, flip fries, keeping potatoes in single layer. Continue baking until fries are golden and crisp, 10 to 15 minutes longer, rotating pan as needed if fries are browning unevenly.

3. Transfer fries to a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle parsley, garlic, and Parmesan cheese mixture until coated. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Serves 3-4

Make-Ahead Tips:
Hours ahead:
Parsley can be cleaned and leaves picked ready for chopping
Grate cheese and set aside

2 hours ahead:
Wash and cut potatoes, soak in cold water up to 2 hours if necessary

1 hour ahead:
Soak cut fries in hot tap water for 10 minutes
Chop parsley and toss with grated Parmesan cheese and grated garlic
Pre-heat oven to 475 degrees F

To yield 35 generous portions to be used as a side for sandwiches, I used 13 pounds of potatoes.