Potatoes Romanoff

I hope you had a very Merry Christmas. We had a very nice holiday that centered around faith, friends, family, and, of course, food.

Like many families, we have food traditions. Christmas Day and Easter, we have ham and Potatoes Romanoff. The other sides may change, but the ham and potatoes are biannual favorites.

I am really not sure of the origins of Potatoes Romanoff, nor do I know if these rich, cheesy potatoes have any connection to the Russian Romanoff family, but I do know they are delicious.

Traditionally, my mom makes the potatoes and hosts the family meals at her house, but this year she is fighting some chronic back and leg pain, so I took over the potatoes while she cooked the ham.

The dish doesn’t contain a lot of ingredients, but it is fairly labor intensive, which is why it’s a special occasion treat. You need some good, large baking potatoes, sour cream, cheddar cheese, green onions, salt & pepper and a bit of paprika.

There are other recipes out there for Potatoes Romanoff and they can vary quite a bit. Some use mashed potatoes, we prefer shredded potatoes. Herein lies the labor.

The first step is to boil your potatoes until just fork tender – meaning a fork can pierce the potato easily, but the potatoes are not completely soft. This can vary based on the size and type of potatoes you use, but a good place to start is to boil them for 15 minutes then test.

Once your potatoes are cooked enough, drain the water and allow the potatoes to cool enough to handle. Once you can handle them safely, peel them and then shred the potatoes.

If you are hand-shredding, this can take quite awhile. This time, I used my shred attachment on my food processor. That made the process faster, but admittedly quite messy. It is messy to hand-shred them as well, since potatoes are so starchy. Either way, you are in for a bit of mess, but it is worth it, I promise.

Once all of your potatoes are shredded, place them in a large bowl and add the sour cream, cheddar cheese, green onions and salt & pepper and mix until well blended.

Place the potato mixture into a buttered pan and spread evenly. Top with more cheese and sprinkle lightly with paprika.

Now the key to getting all of the flavors to meld beautifully is to cover the dish and refrigerate overnight.

When you are ready to enjoy it the next day, remove the pan from the fridge for about 30 minutes or so to bring the potatoes to room temperature before baking.

Bake uncovered in the oven at 350º F for 30-40 minutes until heated through and the cheese is nicely melted.

This rich and creamy side dish is a great accompaniment to ham, but would be great with anything.

I am happy to say my mom thought my potatoes were as good as hers. I doubled the recipe for our family gathering, making an extra pan for baking later in the week, but we actually ended up baking the second pan Christmas night. My daughter Allison ate them for breakfast the day after Christmas as well, so you can tell how much we love them.

I realize this is not a healthy recipe, but that is definitely not the point during the holidays. Enjoy every delicious calorie now and diet in the new year, if you must.