Ahhhh, Easter is upon us, and surely spring is working on it?
Easter has very much always been the same in my family, but still every year I look forward to two things most: Cadbury Cream Eggs and Cheesy Potatoes. Well.. we call them cheesy potatoes, but technically the recipe is called Herb Potatoes. Cheesy Potatoes only make an appearance twice a year in our house, Christmas and Easter. I used to wonder why if the whole family liked them so much why we didn't just make this recipe more often, but now I'm convinced part of the goodness and sacredness of this recipe is the anticipation and tradition. This recipe has been made at Christmas and Easter for decades, for as long as I can remember really.
So anyhow, this is my family's adaptation of a recipe for herb potatoes from The Best of Postal Recipes. The recipe book came out in the 80's soooo it's a bit dated... and our copy is beat to hell.. it is literally in pieces, the front half falls off to the Watergate Cake recipe, another family favorite. :)
Ingredients
5 (14.5 oz) cans of Del Monte whole new potatoes*
4 slices of white bread
~3/4 lb of Velveeta (yes, a ridiculous amount of cheese)
Green pepper (I use about 3/4 of a pepper, but it's personal preference)
1/2 cup butter
1 cup milk
Salt
Pepper
Parsley flakes
*Del Monte also sells canned diced new potatoes, but I definitely prefer the whole. I find the diced to be smaller than I like and too moist, but it does save some time.
First, you'll want to drain the potatoes and then proceed to dice them. Size is a personal preference, but it's always a good idea to try to stick to a similar size all around. I'm a fan of bigger piece, but still bite size.
As I dice the potatoes, I toss them into a large mixing bowl that will fit all my ingredients.
After cutting up all the potatoes (which is the most time consuming part!) move along to dicing the bread, Velveeta, and green pepper. Side note on the bread, I've found slightly stale bread is much easier to cut, but the bread by no means needs to be pretty!
Once everything is diced and in the bowl, I season with sea salt, pepper, and parsley. Well, I usually mix parsley in that is.. until I realized we were out of it, gasp! However, mom was running out and bought some later in the evening. So, I didn't mix any parsley IN this time, instead it was just sprinkled on top before going in the oven to bake.
Mix everything together, I just get my hands in there and mix things as best I can, which can be a wee tricky and will leave your hands very starchy and potato-y.
Next, carefully pour the goods into a greased casserole dish
Then, in a saucepan, heat a stick of butter (1/2 cup) and a cup of milk. Just until the butter has melted. As soon as butter has melted, pour this mixture over the potato/cheese/bread/green pepper goodness. Wrap with plastic wrap and place this baby in the fridge, preferably overnight! We have definitely made these and baked them the same day before with little time to rest and it was fine, but I can personally always tell a huge difference!
Bake the potatoes at 375° for 45 minutes until bubbly, browned and maybe just a bit crispy on top ;)
Happy Easter!
