Comment on a recipe: Potato Casserole

[frozenveg]

Hi everyone, I seldom "make recipes" any more, because I've been doing this a while (nearly 14 years) and I just make what I like. But I see something that piques my interest every so often, and I try it. Yesterday, I tried this: https://www.drmcdougall.com/recipes/potato-casserole/

I liked it, but I have comments. You've heard the phrase "your results may vary"? My results varied!

The first comment is the prep time. It says 15 minutes. I could do a whole comedy routine skewering so-called prep times on recipes! I timed myself. Keep in mind, I've been cooking for 55 years, and McDougalling for 14. Mary, I love you, but 15 minutes? Peel & slice two onions, scrub & slice 4 large potatoes, open 2 cans, add 4-5 spices? So: prep time, 55 minutes.

Next, cook time, 60 minutes. In every potato recipe I see, when one starts with raw potato & puts it in the oven to cook, the cook times are always way too short. This recipe, baked covered at 350, takes a minimum of 1 hour, 20 minutes.

Next, the sauce. There was 3 times as much potato volume as there was sauce, so I ended up having to double the tomatoes & tomato sauce at the last minute. So it was probably more bland than I like it since I couldn't incorporate the herbs very well.

So here are my hacks. Cut the onions smaller--whole onion rings in this are intrusive. If your potatoes are bakers (large russets), cut them smaller, too. Make twice as much sauce and double-double the spices (32 oz. tomatoes, 16 oz. tomato sauce, 2 t. of basil & oregano, etc.), add some water, and bake for 80 - 90 minutes, the last 20 or so uncovered.

My husband will only eat one dish of any recipe I make, so the leftovers are mine to have! I intend to have some with a big pile of steamed broccoli today, and I think I'll make a tomato-potato soup with the rest for the rest of the week.

[VeggieSue]

The first comment is the prep time. It says 15 minutes. I could do a whole comedy routine skewering so-called prep times on recipes!

I timed myself. Keep in mind, I've been cooking for 55 years, and McDougalling for 14. Mary, I love you, but 15 minutes? Peel & slice two onions, scrub & slice 4 large potatoes, open 2 cans, add 4-5 spices? So: prep time, 55 minutes.

I always take the easy way out in recipes like this. I would use a bag of frozen chopped onions, maybe sprinkle some onion powder or dried onions for more flavor.

And I *never* chop potatoes for a meal like this. I learned from *other* recipes by Mary McDougall that a bag of frozen cubed hash browns or Potatoes O'Brien work perfectly fine in casseroles and skillet meals. They're already par boiled, I think, and cook up pretty fast.

Next, the sauce. There was 3 times as much potato volume as there was sauce, so I ended up having to double the tomatoes & tomato sauce at the last minute.

Mary's Deviled Green Beans
https://www.drmcdougall.com/recipes/dev ... een-beans/
is the same way. I even did a blog post about that years ago, how there was 3 ounces of sauce for 6 cups of green beans. Now I double, sometimes triple, some of Mary's sauces.