Thursday, October 14, 2021

Parmesan Potato Stacks from Mary Jane Maffini



MARY JANE MAFFINI

PARMESAN POTATO STACKS     

Where have you been all my life? That’s how I felt when I first tasted these wonderful little potato stacks the first time!  I thank Noreen Campbell for giving me the recipe which I tweaked a bit as I I am sure she did.  We all loved them so much that I tried them with company the second time.  Of course, I was immediately asked for the recipe, a sure sign that something is heading for a Mystery Lovers Kitchen post.  The slightly crunchy base had a delicious potato chip taste.  They are easy to make and take an hour or so to cook, freeing up time just before dinner.  We have added them to our repertoire for everyday meals but also for company. They are a great side for steak or ham (both are shown) but I think would be flattering to roast chicken too.

I am often on a low-carb program, but, for me, potatoes almost always get a 'hall pass'. Maybe it's my Irish genes. This has been a good week for potato lovers: I'm looking forward to trying Leslie's Karst's easy and delish fries from yesterday.  So how about you - are potatoes essential and are you always looking for new twists? 


 INGREDIENTS:


3 tbsp. butter, melted

3 tbsp. Parmesan cheese, finely grated

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp dried thyme

½ tsp hot Paprika

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

7 medium yellow potatoes sliced thin (about 1/16 inch thick).


It is easy to make smaller or larger quantities of the stacks.  Next time we might mix in a few chopped chives too. If you have more potatoes than muffin tin, you can layer and bake the leftovers in an ovenproof dish too.  They’ll be eaten!

 

 

DIRECTIONS: 


Preheat the oven to 375°F. Butter 12 muffin cups and set aside. Cut the potatoes into thin slices.


Combine melted butter, Parmesan cheese, thyme, garlic salt, paprika, salt and pepper in a large bowl.  Add potato slices and toss to coat evenly.  As you can see,  I was late adding the paprika, but it all got mixed in.





Layer the potato slices into stacks and place in the prepared muffin tin, going a bit past the top of each muffin well as the potatoes shrink a little bit.  If the potato slices are too big, just snap off a bit and make 'em fit. 





Sprinkle with some freshly ground black pepper.


 

Bake until the edges and tops are golden brown and the centers are tender, about an hour.

Remove from the oven, let them rest for 5 minutes before moving to plates. 





You can add extra parmesan cheese and thyme or vary the herbs if you wish but we found them fine as is.  Here are the potato stacks with ham - an excellent combo.




Mary Jane Maffini is the award-winning author of three and a half mystery series: the Camilla Maffini mysteries, the Fiona Silk capers and the Charlotte Adams organizer mysteries – number six coming soon! With her daughter Victoria Maffini, MJ collaborated on The Book Collector Mysteries as Victoria Abbott. Victoria Abbott spent several happy years on Mystery Lovers Kitchen. MJ  is very glad to be back and Victoria is waving at you all!

The first five Charlotte Adams are being reissued by Beyond the Page Publishing. Recipes have been added and of course, the organizing tips continue! The Charlotte Adams books have recently been optioned for television films.

Organize Your Corpses was re-released as an e-book and a trade paper on May 18. There's a great deal for the e-book.   You can order it HERE!

The Cluttered Corpse was reissued on June 15th and Death Loves a Messy Desk arrived on July 13th. 

Closet Confidential was out in August and The Busy Woman's Guide to Murder was released in September. 



THE BOOK COLLECTOR MYSTERIES BY VICTORIA ABBOTT

Jordan Bingham has a tough time: she's the first person in her large family to go straight. She has learned some useful skills from her crooked relatives but she's trying to hang on to a legit job working for a curmudgeonly book collector. But of course, the bodies keep piling up.  There's plenty of fun in the book collector series from Victoria Abbott, but watch out for explosions.

Don't forget to check out MJ's Canadian books:  Camilla MacPhee features a fortyish widowed lawyer who runs an advocacy agency for victims of violent crime, in Ottawa, Canada's capital city. Life would be easier if she didn't have the world's worst office assistant, the world's bossiest sisters and, arguably, the world's greatest stubborn streak. If you like your mysteries a bit edgy with a side order of humor, these could be for you.  


All six of the Camilla MacPhee books are currently bundled on Kindle at 20 % off!

Keep up on the news!  You can sign up for updates about MJ and Victoria plus fun and prizes through our newsletter HERE 



 



12 comments:

  1. I'll eat potatoes any old way, and this recipe is going in my Save file! Yum.

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  2. oooh another tasty recipe - thank you!

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  3. These look delicious and so much fun! Thanks, MJ!

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    Replies
    1. They are fun, Molly! And I know you are all about fun and flavor.

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  4. Just pinned your recipe. My potato-loving family thanks you, MJ!

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  5. Great to hear from you, Lynn. I hope they like the results.

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  6. Potatoes, chocolate & Dr Pepper are my Achilles' Heel so I don't even consider eliminating them even on my low-carb regimens but I DO count those carbs - one square a day of 70% dark chocolate, 1/2 cup of potatoes (true challenge with French fries!) & one small bottle of Dr Pepper a week. This recipe looks really good! Thanks!

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  7. I have a version of this that uses asiago, rather than parmesan.
    It's all wonderful.

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