Tater Time

I live in Idaho and let’s face it; Idaho is primarily known for one particular thing – potatoes. There’s no getting around it. Idaho will never be known as the lobster capital of the United States or home to great Boston Baked Beans, so I guess it’s best to just embrace what this state does best and that’s to grow potatoes. Oh, I know you people in northern Maine will argue that your potatoes are better…but honestly, when someone says “Maine” do they really think of potatoes? No. They think of lobster, which, in my opinion is a far better thing to be known for but that’s just me. I’m not here to debate who produces the best potato, but to give you some interesting recipes on how to use our famous spud for something other than Ore-Ida French fries.

I will be honest, I don’t get too adventurous when it comes to using potatoes and it’s pretty much limited to using them as a side dish to whatever piece of protein I’m fixing for dinner or in the occasional potato salad. I’ll be sharing some different potato salad recipes in another post later this week, by the way.
I ran across this particular recipe for “No Buns About it Idaho® Burger Loaf (please note, Idaho Potato Commission that I used the registered trademark symbol) in one of the restaurant magazines that I receive at work that tend to stack up on the end of my desk. When I do get around to reading them, it’s usually during my lunch break at my desk. There’s nothing more frustrating than looking at beautiful pictures of food while lunching on a Healthy Start frozen dinner but that’s how I tend to spend my lunch times.



So my version looks more like a meatloaf Twinkie than a cupcake, but you get the idea.

 This recipe was on a full page ad from the Idaho Potato Commission and it caught my eye because in the photo, it looks like a yummy frosted cupcake but it’s actually meat loaf ‘frosted’ with cheesy mashed potatoes. I thought this might be a recipe I could sneak into a family dinner, since my husband is a ‘meat and potatoes’ kind of guy but I wasn’t too sure how he’d take to the whole cupcake presentation, so I ended up making them as individual meat loafs in a mini loaf pan. I’m sure you could just as easily make it as one big meat loaf and still frost it with the mashed potatoes but I wanted to try something a little different for a change.
Recipe-wise, this is really just a jazzed up meatloaf recipe but I thought the cheesy mashed potato frosting idea was pretty neat.

My biggest challenge with the recipe was converting it from a recipe that makes 22 servings (remember, this came from a restaurant magazine where every recipe seems to feed about 20) to a smaller, family size version. Plus, recipes in restaurant magazines always seem to be given in ounces, not cups, so between downsizing the recipe and converting ounces to cups and tablespoons, I really wished I had paid more attention in Mrs. Riggs’ math class in high school.
I also did a few substitutions with the ingredients as far as the cheeses. The recipe called for about 5 different types of cheeses, which, given the price of cheese and the fact that I probably wouldn’t be using a couple of them other than for this recipe, I stuck with the more traditional cheddar and Italian cheese blends and I don’t think the recipe suffered at all.


Meatloaf Ingredients


4 slices of bacon, chopped


½ cup chopped yellow onion


1 lb. ground beef


1 cup Italian bread crumbs


2/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese


¼ cup chopped dill pickle


1 egg


¼ cup milk


3 tbsp. ketchup


1 tbsp. yellow mustard


½ tsp. salt


¼ tsp. pepper


Cheesy Taters “Frosting”


3 medium Idaho® Russets, peeled and sliced into 1-inch cubes


¼ cup shredded cheddar cheese


2 tbsp. butter


2 tbsp. sour cream


½ cup milk


¾ cup Italian blend shredded cheese


Salt and pepper to taste


Directions


Meatloaf:


1. Cook bacon in sauté pan until crisp. Drain on a paper towel and then place in a large bowl.


2. Mix the remaining meatloaf ingredients into the bacon until well combined.


3. Portion into greased muffin tins or mini-loaf pan.


4. Bake at 350° degrees until internal temperature reaches 165°. (using the mini loaves pan, my cooking time was about 30 minutes)

Cheesy Tater Frosting


1. Boil potatoes until tender. Drain


2. Add remaining ingredients and whip until mixed.


3. Fill a pastry bag with warm cheese taters (using a wider tip for the pastry bag). Pipe “frosting” onto meat loaf muffins/loaves.


Just to add another comfort food element, I drizzled the plate and the top of the meatloaf with a store bought mushroom gravy.


I thought the meat loaf had a very nice taste and I loved the Cheesy Tater ‘frosting.’ Surprisingly, no one in my family rebelled at the meat loaf in its new form and my husband even gave it a ‘that was pretty good’ review, which, in my little culinary world is comparable to a rave review from an Iron Chef judge.

Recipe modified from the original recipe from the Idaho Potato Commission.
www.idahopotato.com/recipes