Maybe cheese sauce will fix it?
survey says: yes
New here? Hi! Scroll down for the video link and all the way to the bottom for the recipe!
Hello to all my individually wrapped slices,
I am extremely remiss with this post. The video came out weeks ago. The recipe is a mashup of the Potato Insanity from TSSG and a cheese sauce inspired by my almost-daily cheese fries habit when I worked at Shake Shack. My innovation was to adorn my little checkered paper boat serving with sport peppers from the Chicago dog station. I am sorry it took me this long to post, and am making this post public as a token towards forgiveness.
You could take whole situation a glorious step further and lay on more nacho toppings. Some ground beef, diced onion, shreddy leddy, sour cream? Dinner. You could leave the cheese sauce off and serve the potatoes with any protein in rotation. Why would anyone leave off the cheese, forget I said that. You could skip the potato part and just make the cheese sauce, which we discovered is AMAZING straight out of the fridge with kettle chips or crackers dipped into it—yes, even without reheating. (I had a lot of rounds of cheese sauce development lying around, things happen!) You could also toss some hot just-cooked pasta through the cheese sauce as a stovetop mac and cheese (which I always prefer to a baked one, actually). More ideas for cheese sauce? Sound off in the comments!
If you don’t care for American cheese: sorry. The stabilizers in the “cheese,” along with the béchamel base, makes for a very glossy, durable sauce that won’t separate or get greasy. There are some alts for American cheese-like substance in the recipe Spin It section, all of which contain magic ingredients that will give you similarly sturdy results.
Not to get ahead of myself, but these potatoes, with or without the cheese, are feast-worthy. Say, for example, for Thanksgiving? Friendsgiving!?? It’s three weeks away [[screams into void]].
xoxoCLM
The recipe (PDF plus plain text) is posted below for everyone reading this. Thank you for showing up!
Potato Insanity Cheese Royale
4 Servings
NEW!
I swear by this method of steaming potatoes to perfect doneness, then browning them cut side down for maximum color and flavor payoff, originally published just like that in That Sounds So Good. Each step of the cooking process is simple and fast, and pre-steaming gives you the luxury of having cooked potatoes hanging out in the fridge, waiting to be crisped. You can brown them, salt them, and serve them—the perfect crispy roast potato, as far as I’m concerned. Buuuuuutttt … just to be extra, I came up with a velvety cheddar cheese sauce for ladling over the top. Are they spud nachos? Are they the whole potato incarnation of cheese fries? Are they amazing? Yes, yes, and yes.
For the potatoes
1½ pounds small waxy potatoes, such as German Butterballs or fingerlings, scrubbed
For the cheese sauce and serving
¼ cup unsalted butter
¼ cup flour
1 ½ cups milk
6 slices American cheese, preferably yellow (4 to 6 ounces, depending on brand)
4 ounces cheddar cheese, preferably yellow, coarsely grated
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Extra-virgin olive oil
Flaky salt
Sport peppers, for serving
Fill a large stock pot with a few inches of water, then set a steamer basket in the pot. Bring water to a simmer over medium-high heat. Place potatoes in steamer basket. Cover and cook until the potatoes are completely tender when pierced with a cake tester (or cut one of the larger ones in half to check), 15 to 20 minutes. Drain potatoes and let cool completely.
Do ahead: After cooling, refrigerate potatoes in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
While potatoes are steaming, make the cheese sauce: Melt butter in a 1- or 2-quart saucepan over medium heat until foaming. Add the flour and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, until the roux is light golden brown, 2 minutes. Stir in garlic powder, paprika, and cayenne. Gradually stream in the milk, whisking constantly, until the mixture is smooth. Simmer over low heat, whisking frequently, and using a rubber spatula to make sure sauce does not collect in the edges of the pot, until the bechamel is thickened and no longer tastes of raw flour, 5 to 8 minutes longer.
Still over low heat, add the American cheese a slice at a time, stirring to melt completely before adding the next one. Add the cheddar a handful at a time, stirring and making sure it has melted before adding more. Once all the cheese has been added, the sauce should be glossy and luscious. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Get ahead: Cheese sauce can be made up to 3 days ahead. Transfer to a wide, shallow container (preferably not plastic) and let cool. Cover and refrigerate for up to a week. Reheat over a double boiler or in a microwave, stirring frequently, until hot, fluid, and glossy. Thin with water, if needed.
Cut potatoes in half. Heat a large, heavy skillet over medium-high. Add enough oil to generously coat the surface (about 3 tablespoons). Working in batches if necessary, place potatoes in skillet, cut side down, and cook, undisturbed, until the surfaces are crisp and very dark mahogany in color, 7 to 10 minutes. Rotate pan occasionally to help them cook evenly, but keep them cut side down.
Transfer potatoes to a serving platter, cut side up, and season with flaky salt. Drizzle about half of the cheese sauce over, then top with sport peppers. Serve extra cheese sauce on the side.
From the Market
Waxy potatoes
American cheese
Cheddar cheese
Sport peppers
Spin It
Velveeta, Provel, or Philadelphia cream cheese can replace the American cheese
Monterey Jack or gruyère can replace the cheddar cheese
Pippara peppers, pickled banana peppers, or pepperoncini can be used instead of sport peppers
At Home
Butter
Flour
Milk
Garlic powder
Sweet paprika
Cayenne pepper
Olive oil
Flaky salt
Spin It
Onion powder can be used instead of garlic powder
Smoked paprika can replace sweet
Crushed red pepper flakes can replace cayenne
Vegetable oil can be used instead of olive oil
Kosher salt is fine for topping instead of flaky salt
Can you please do a giveaway for subscribers - a lucky winner gets to be there for recipe development/taste testing on your next melted cheese-centric recipe?