Campfire Potatoes

Scalloped potatoes was one of my favorite side dishes growing up.  My mom would make them to accompany her meatloaf, a meal she only made during the cold months.  This recipe tastes so much like her scalloped potatoes, but because they are cooked on the grill I can have that memorable flavor any time of year!

 

I discovered this recipe in the tear-out section of one of Reiman Publications cooking magazines in 1998.  It is a wonderful side dish for any meat I decide to grill and it gets 8's and 9's on the Melnarik rating scale.

After peeling and slicing my potatoes thinly (I use a mandolin slicer to do the cutting more quickly and evenly) I placed them on a large piece of heavy duty foil.  If I don't have any heavy duty foil, I use a double layer of regular foil.  This packet is fairly heavy once filled, so it needs the extra strength of the heavy duty foil.

Then I added the onions that I halved and sliced.  I do this because my guys don't like to pull what they consider a limp onion ring out of their food.  The onions could be diced, if you prefer.

Next, I sprinkled on the salt and pepper.

I just realized as I was looking at this picture after typing the recipe, that I did things a little backwards this time.  The recipe calls for the butter to be added before the seasonings and cheese, but as you can see here, I added the seasonings and cheese before the butter.  It really doesn't matter the order as long as none of the ingredients are left out!

After adding the cheese, I dotted it with butter and sprinkled on the parsley.

Once I began pulling the foil up around the spuds, I poured in the chicken broth (sorry no photo).  Then I finished folding the foil tightly around the bundle.  I find it easiest to transport the foil packet to the grill on a cookie sheet or cutting board.

After placing the packet on the grill (here I used my small table-top grill as my charcoal grill was being used for the Best Baby Back Ribs!) and cooked them, covered, over medium heat for about 40 minutes.

When done, I removed the packet to a platter and opened the foil carefully to allow steam to escape.  For me, it's comfort food straight from the grill!  Enjoy!

Campfire Potatoes

5 medium potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced

1 medium onion, cut in half and sliced

6 tablespoons butter

1/3 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Salt and pepper to taste

1/3 cup chicken broth

Place the potatoes and onion on a large piece of heavy-duty foil (about 20 in. x 20 in.); dot with butter.  Sprinkle the next 5 ingredients evenly on top.  Fold foil up around potatoes and add the broth.  Seal foil tightly.  Grill, covered, over medium heat for 35 – 40 minutes or until potatoes are tender.  Open foil carefully to allow steam to escape.

Liza's Holiday Meal Helpful Tips

 Every year, just before Thanksgiving, I share these extremely helpful tips with almost everyone I encounter!  These ideas save room in your oven and have other appealing reasons for putting them into practice.  The main key is to have crock pots available.  Yes, I have more than one crock pot (different sizes for different uses), but if you have only one, then either use your favorite tip listed below or borrow a slow cooker from a relative, neighbor, or friend!  You'll be glad you did!

I love my hot foods hot and my cold foods cold when I eat them.  Mashed potatoes cool down very quickly once set on the table in a serving bowl.  To avoid eating cooled spuds, I utilize one of my crock pots.  I use a serving bowl that will serve everyone at the table, then when it's time for seconds (we all know that happens, especially at the holidays), I refill the bowl with steaming mashed potatoes!  The other benefit to this is that I can make the potatoes earlier in the day, wash and put away my pot, etc. and keep the spuds hot in the crock pot, freeing up space on top of the stove.  They will keep nicely on the low setting for at least 1 1/2 hours.  They may get a little crusty around the sides after that amount of time, but it's so worth it.  If I really have my act together, I will prepare the potatoes the day before, put them in the crock pot, cover the crock part with plastic wrap and remove it and store it in the refrigerator over night.  It takes a little longer for the potatoes to get heated through to the middle (I allow about 3 hours) and will still keep for 1 1/2 hours.  I'm an Irish girl and love my spuds, and swear by this method for keeping them ready to serve for a large crowd.  This would also work well when having a mashed potato bar at a party!  This is when guests serve themselves some mashed potatoes in a stemware glass and add assorted toppings such as cheese, chives, crumbled bacon, sour cream, etc.

This next tip I've only been using a few years.  When sharing my other two tips, a listener said she put her dressing (I've learned that stuffing is what you put in the turkey and dressing is the same thing, only cooked in a casserole dish outside of the turkey!) in a crock pot.  Before gaining this knowledge, once putting together the ingredients for the stuffing/dressing, I would stuff the bird with what would fit, then put the rest in a casserole dish, cover it and set it at the back of the stove to get some of the heat from the oven.  Then I would baste this each and every time I basted the turkey and when I took the turkey out of the oven I would place this casserole dish inside to get fully heated through.  Now, I don't have to remember to put it in the oven after the turkey comes out.  I put the extra dressing in my crock pot and turn it on low when I start basting the turkey and add some of the cooking juices to this mix.  Then, when carving the turkey, I remove the stuffing and add it to this dressing to make it even more moist and delicious.  It, too is piping hot when ready to serve.

As much as I love the other two tips, this one just might be my favorite!  One of the beautiful features of a crock pot is that the food inside never dries out (if the lid is placed in position properly) because the moisture is "locked" inside.  This makes it the perfect place to heat rolls!  I keep one crock pot off to the side, out of the way in my kitchen and either place the rolls in it cool and turn it on low for 45 minutes, or preheat it on low and then put the rolls in for the last 30 minutes or so.  The rolls remain moist and are so hot they are hard to handle when transferring them to the bread basket!  I can't tell you how many times prior to using this method that I either forgot to put the rolls in the oven after the turkey came out or I forgot to take them out of the oven before sitting down at the table and once discovering they were missing found they were dry and hard (and that was with wrapping them tightly in foil!).  No more!  Again, I use a smallish bread basket, so when replenished, the rolls are nice and hot!  Enjoy!