Parmesan Bacon Potato Squares

Parmesan Bacon Potato Squares are a tasty appetizer (or side dish) of thinly sliced potatoes layered with bacon, cream and cheese that turn crispy and more-ish when they are baked, cooled then cut into squares and roasted in the oven. 

Fair warning: this dish needs to be started at least one day before you plan to serve it but in a way, that’s the best part because it can be mostly made, if necessary, several days ahead and chilled. Leave the final roasting till just before you are ready to serve. 

Potatoes are sliced thinly and layered with cheese and cooked bacon then pressed and chilled so they can be cut into handy squares. Make sure you don’t skip the step where you secure the squares with toothpicks or you will mightily regret it. 

The original recipe on Taste.com.au skips this step and my first batch out of the oven was a complete disaster. The potatoes were delicious for sure, but they weren’t anything like squares anymore. See the evidence below. Don't let this happen to you. 

This recipe makes enough for an enormous crowd. It’s easily halved but, should you have any leftovers, they are spectacular with scrambled eggs, added to an omelet or reheated and eaten as a side dish. (That is what I did with my disastrous ones.) 

 

Parmesan Bacon Potato Squares

As mentioned, this recipe is adapted from one on Taste.com.au, one of my favorite sites for recipe inspiration. You will need two casserole dishes, one larger for the actual potato dish and one you can fit inside it to compact the potatoes while they are chilling. 

Ingredients

6 lbs or 2.72 kg russet potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly with a mandoline

6 fresh thyme sprigs, leaves picked, plus extra for garnish

5 1/3 oz or 150g Parmesan cheese, grated

1 1/2 cups or 355ml heavy cream

3 lbs or 1.36kg thin-sliced smoked bacon, fried (not too crispy) and drained 

1/2 cup or 113g butter, melted and cooled

Optional: Sriracha sauce for drizzling on to serve

Method

If you don’t have a mandolin with which to cut the potatoes, by all means, use a sharp knife but do cut the slices as thinly as possible. 

Use baking parchment to line the base and up the sides of a 9 x 14 in or 23x35mm pan, allowing the sides to overhang somewhat. Put two layers of your thinly sliced potatoes in evenly in the bottom of the lined pan. Top with a little of the cream and thyme leaves. 

Cover those with a layer of Parmesan and cooked bacon. 

Add another double layer of sliced potatoes. Continue building your casserole until you’ve used all of your potatoes and bacon and thyme, making sure you finish with a couple of layers of potatoes on top, along with the last of the Parmesan and cream. 

Finally, pour the melted butter over the top. Fold the baking parchment in and cover the top with some cling film. 

Place a smaller casserole dish on top of the dish and fill with something heavy. I used eight cans of various vegetables. Leave to rest for about 20 minutes. 

Meanwhile preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

Remove the weights and cling film. Cover the large casserole top in foil and bake for about 1 hour or until the potatoes are tender. Remove the foil (save for later) and bake for another 20 minutes to brown the top. 

Put the foil back on the dish and put the smaller casserole dish back on top. Leave to cool until it can be put in the refrigerator. When cool, put it (casserole dish still on top) in the refrigerator to chill overnight. 

When you are ready to make the squares, start your oven preheating to 400°F or 200°C.

Loosen the sides of the potatoes from the pan and turn the whole rectangle out onto a cutting board so your top is now your bottom. Remove the parchment paper and discard. 

Trim the edges with a sharp knife so you have straight sides. (These scraps are great reheated in a non-stick skillet. Add some eggs for a delicious weekend breakfast.) 

Cut the chilled potato into squares.

 Skewer each one with a toothpick, top to bottom. Put them on their sides on two or three large baking pans (with sides) and roast 10 minutes in your hot oven or until lightly golden. 

Turn the squares over and roast until they are crispy and deep golden, about 10-15 more minutes.

Drain on paper towels. 

Serve warm with sriracha sauce to drizzle, if desired, and some sprigs of thyme for garnish. 

Enjoy! 

It's the first Wednesday of the month so that means it's time for our Foodie Extravaganza celebration of National Potatoes Day which is August 19th this year! Many thanks to our host, Karen of Karen's Kitchen Stories. 

• Baked Potato Ragada Chat from Magical Ingredients
• Chorizo Stuffed Hash Browns from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Lemon & Dill Potato Salad with No Mayonnaise from Faith Hope Love & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Parmesan Bacon Potato Squares from Food Lust People Love
• Potato Lollipops from Sheha's Recipe
• Potato Puffs from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Salt and Vinegar Skillet Potatoes from Palatable Pastime
• Schupfnudeln (German Potato Noodles) from Tara's Multicultural Table
• Tartiflette with Fromage Fort from Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Foodie Extravaganza is where we celebrate obscure food holidays by cooking and baking together with the same ingredient or theme each month. Posting day is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you! If you're a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board.

Pin these Parmesan Bacon Potato Squares!

 .

Homemade Muffuletta

This homemade muffuletta is my take on a popular New Orleans favorite, made with fresh olive salad, mortadella, mozzarella, salami, ham and provolone.

When I was a child, a road trip to New Orleans to visit my relatives was a huge treat. My Aunt Karen was the loveliest of ladies, an excellent cook (she of pecan pie fame) and also a great tour guide. She made sure we enjoyed all the best that New Orleans had to offer each time we visited. 

Of course, that meant a day in the French Quarter, first enjoying the powdered sugar covered beignets for breakfast at the Café Du Monde and occasionally picking up muffuletta from Central Grocery for lunch. That little Italian grocery store/deli is chock full of color and flavor. If you ever get to New Orleans, don’t miss paying it a visit. (If we didn't get muffuletta, fried shrimp po'boys were another fave, but that's a post for another day.)

Since traveling is still out of the question for most of us these days, you could make my homemade muffuletta and pretend you've been to New Orleans. (Make a New Orleans Bloody Mary to enjoy while you assemble the sandwich.) I did wrap these up and take them on a picnic, which is why my bread is cut in half already, to make it easier to transport. When you buy your muffuletta at Central Grocery, it is going to be big and round! 

Of course, an Italian grocery store is going to use an Italian loaf to make this sandwich. I like to switch things up and a pretty decorative loaf like this Khobz Mzaweq.  I also make my own olive salad but you can use store bought. If so, make sure it’s made in New Orleans or it just won’t taste right. 

Homemade Muffuletta

Despite the fact that I love baking bread, I don’t think it’s the best part of a sandwich. I reserve that space for the fillings. In the case of this homemade muffuletta, buy your meats and cheeses in the deli section where you can ask the person behind the counter to slice everything lovely and thin. Then pile them high!

Ingredients

10 in or 25cm round bread loaf

1 cup or 240ml olive salad (store-bought or homemade)

8 oz or 226g Mortadella, thinly sliced 

6 oz or 226g ham, thinly sliced

4 oz or 170g Genoa salami, thinly sliced 

4 oz or 170g sliced mozzarella, thinly sliced 

4 oz or 170g Provolone, thinly sliced 

Method

Cut your loaf in half through the equator. (As mentioned above, I also cut mine in half the other way so it would be easier to wrap and transport.) Spread the olive salad evenly on the inside of the bread.

Top with half of the mortadella. 

Follow that with the mozzarella and salami

 Add the provolone and the ham. 

Finally, add the rest of the mortadella. This sandwich is not for the faint hearted! 

Close the sandwich and wrap snugly in cling film. Refrigerate until ready to cut and serve. 

Cut into wedges to serve with a nice Italian chianti or a cold beer. The olive on the pick isn't necessary to hold the sandwich together but it looks cute. 

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and this week we are sharing sandwiches. Many thanks to our host, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. 

• Bombay Chapatti Sandwich by Sneha's Recipe
• Chicken Bacon Pressed Picnic Sandwiches by Making Miracles
• Club Sandwich by Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Falafel Pita Sandwich by Mayuri's Jikoni
• French Dip Sandwich au Jus (Slow Cooker) by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Grilled Kielbasa Sandwiches by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Homemade Muffuletta by Food Lust People
• Is it, Or Isn't It, a Sandwich? by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Submarine Bites with Sub Sauce by Palatable Pastime
• Zucchini and Carrot Vegetable Sandwich by Cook with Renu

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

Pin this Homemade Muffuletta!

 .

Verry Cherry Plum Mini Muffins #MuffinMonday

These Verry Cherry Plum Mini Muffins are made with hybrid fruit, part cherry-part plum and they are a delicious mixture of both!

A couple of weeks ago, I was at my local grocery store and I came across a display of Verry Cherry Plums and was intrigued. The price was $1.99 a pound and, even better, another sign said if you bought more than one pound, you got a discount of $2.   What? 

I stood there for a few minutes contemplating and calculating when another shopper approached the display. I could see her brain working on the math problem as well so I said, “Are we reading this right and if we buy more than one pound, that first pound is essentially free?” We agreed that we were and went off happily in our separate directions with each a bag of Verry Cherry Plums in our carts.

It’s always exciting to have a new ingredient to try and I am pleased to tell you that that cherry plums are lovely. Crunchier than a plum so more like a cherry in texture but definitely with a plummy flavor mixed in with cherry. And most of the bag were super sweet. Almost too sweet, if that’s even possible in fruit. 

According to the website, the season is now and it’s short so if you see them in your local store, snap them up. A little more research reveals that there are other name brands for these little hybrid fruit and also some naturally occurring cherry plums that are not manipulated hybrids. (These aren't genetically modified, by the way.) How I’ve never come across them before, I do not know! Am I the last to discover them or have you tried cherry plums before?

Verry Cherry Plum Mini Muffins

If you don’t have cherry plums, please substitute normal plums or cherries for these muffins. Or really any soft fruit to be honest. 

Ingredients for 24 mini muffins

1 cup or 125g flour

1/4 cup or 50g sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup or 100g chopped Verry Cherry Plums, plus extra for decoration, if desired 

1 egg

1/4 cup or 75g Greek yogurt

1/4 cup or 60ml milk

2 tablespoons canola or other light oil 

To give you an idea of their size, here are a few cherry plums with a normal cherry. 

Method

Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your mini muffin pan by lining them with little paper muffin cups or greasing the inside with butter or oil. I only had 12 little paper liners so I did half and half. 

In large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add in the chopped cherry plums and stir to coat them with the dry ingredients.

In smaller bowl, whisk together the egg, yogurt, milk and oil.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredient and fold until just combined. 

Divide the batter between your mini muffin cups. Add some chopped cherry plums to each muffin for decoration, if desired. 

Bake in the preheated oven about 13-16 minutes or until the muffins are browned and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Leave them to cool for a few minutes then remove them from the pan and cool on a wire rack. 

Enjoy!

As almost always with Muffin Monday, we don’t have a theme so our bakers make whatever inspires them each month. We hope some of them will inspire you to bake! 

• Easy Spiced Peach Muffins from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Hatch Green Chile Corn Muffins from Palatable Pastime
• Mango Lassi Muffins from Magical Ingredients
• Verry Cherry Plum Mini Muffins from Food Lust People Love

 

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

Pin these Very Cherry Plum Mini Muffins!

 .