Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Potatoes Romanoff on Today Show

A preview on todays "The Today Show" of a potato casserole dish, "Potatoes Romanoff" had me sticking by the TV for over 30 minutes. Turns out it's a dish Sevy's mom makes, but she adds crushed potato chips on top for a little crunch - and it is truly yummy. You had to feel sorry for Chef Schenk (from the Strip House Restaurant in New Jersey), his presentation would have been fine if they hadn't asked him so many questions about potatoes - which took up too much time - which cut into the actual preparation of the casserole. You can see video and recipe, here.

UPDATE: I made these for Sunday dinner, cut the recipe in half and still had twice as much as was needed for a family of four. Of course I decided to nuke the potatoes to cook them and waited too long, so they were still warm when it was time to prepare the dish. Instead of grating, I crumbled them into small chunks - it worked very well. I did not use crushed potato chips like my mother-in-law, sticking with the recipe's cheddar topping. Not only was it delicious that evening, it made the best leftovers the next day.

1 comment:

bbqbrisket said...

Let me start off by saying I have gone to and had the Potatoes Romanoff as well as the NY strip steak at the Strip House and I have to say, despite its outrageous price, the steak and potatoes are truly outstanding. With the portions they give, I took leftovers home and had the best steak and eggs and potatoes I have ever had in my life.
So, I was surprised and excited, after doing a search on the net, to find a couple of youtube type videos on the Strip House chefs doing their famous Potatoes Romanoff; one being on the Today show.
I listened and played the videos over and over until I got all the details to the letter and number. I then proceeded to make these wonderful potatoes only to be incredibly disappointed at my results. And, there were repeated attempts and all failures to capture the wonderful Strip House Potatoes Romanoff.
One video said 15 minuets in the oven, the other said 25. I tried both and even longer and every time the shallots came out crunchy and undercooked. After multiple attempts, I decided to sweat the shallots a little. This was better but not good enough. Baked the potatoes, let them cool and rest for a day, grated and
I got good quality sour cream and white cheddar, and of course the russet potatoes, but none of my efforts seemed to pull it off.
Funny thing is, as they say, it’s easy to make using simple ingredients. My only conclusion is their ingredients are of a different caliber than what I can buy at my supermarket or gourmet market and or, they are doing something that they’re not disclosing.