Potatoes Two Ways

I bought some Yukon Gold potatoes that I really wanted to use for tonight's dinner, but was well aware that I had 2 russet potatoes screaming to be used before they started growing....so I decided to see what else I had and ended up making dinner for tonight with the Yukon Golds, and for tomorrow night with the russets! Problem solved.

Other bits and pieces I had to work with were a leek, 2/3 cup of whipping cream, 1 1/2 cups of chicken stock and a small piece of feta cheese.

I decided to use the russets, part of the leek, the cream and 1 1/3 cups of the stock to make scalloped potatoes.



 

I used the remaining chicken stock and leek, together with the feta cheese to make some Greek style potatoes (my way) to serve with the chicken breasts I had marinading in lemon, garlic, oregano and olive oil.






First the scalloped potatoes...

I started by combining the cream, chicken stock, 2 cloves of garlic, fresh thyme and a bayleaf in a small saucepan. When it was heated through I removed it from the heat and allowed it to steep.

Oven on to 375F, ovenproof dish lightly oiled and ready to go.

After peeling the potatoes I sliced them into 1/4" thick slices. The leek was sliced thinly and washed.

 One third of the potato slices went into the dish first, topped 

with a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Then a layer of half the 

sliced leek (I used about 2/3 of the whole leek for this recipe), 

salt and pepper, and I continued to layer this way until the 

last layer of potatoes was placed on top. Then all the liquid 

was poured over the vegetables, and it was ready to bake.

I lightly greased a piece of foil, covered the dish and baked it until the potatoes were tender, about an hour.

Tomorrow night I will top it with cheese and put it into a 350F oven to heat up.  I will post a follow up picture when it is ready to serve tomorrow night...

Now for the Greek style Yukon Gold potatoes.....

The potatoes were cut into approximately 1" chunks and placed into a saucepan. I added the remaining chicken stock and enough water to cover the potatoes. After bringing it to a boil, I turned it to a medium heat and cooked the potatoes until they were just tender. I used a metal skewer to check.
I drained them, reserving the liquid and allowed them to cool while I prepped the rest of the ingredients.

 2 cloves of garlic, minced
1  teaspoon chopped fresh oregano (or more if you wish)
1/4 cup chopped sundried tomatoes
the remaining one third of the sliced leek
salt and pepper

In an ovenproof frying pan I heated some olive oil, added the leek and cooked for a couple of minutes until it was soft. Then I added the garlic and oregano, salt and pepper and cooked for a minute before adding the potatoes. I kept the heat to medium, stirring occasionally so the potatoes wouldn't stick to the pan. After about 5 minutes I added the sundried tomatoes and enough of the reserved potato cooking liquid to cover the pan. I let the potatoes continue to cook, adding more liquid when the first addition of stock had reduced away. When the second addition of liquid was reduced to nothing, I removed the pan from the heat.  At this point, check and adjust the seasoning.

I sprinkled the feta cheese over the top and put the pan under the broiler to melt the cheese and crisp everything up slightly. Ready to serve with the grilled chicken breast and some grilled red pepper, zucchini and onion!