As Serious Eats reader Jasmine D. pointed out, it's National Vegetarian Awareness month, and to give a nod to our veg-eating friends, we'll start out this week's Cook the Book with James Beard's Potatoes Byron recipe. In the section of Beard on Food titled "Potatoes Without Meat," Beard says, "It can be both a challenge and fun to seek out things that are substantial and good enough to replace meat. There's pasta, of course, beans, lentils, and split peas—and also potatoes. How often does one think of potatoes without meat? Yet they are a great food in their own right."
The recipe follows after the jump, but before I send you there, I'd like to point out our archive of meatless dishes here on the site. As Jasmine rightly points out, Serious Eats is chocked full of meat, but I'm also surprised at the number of vegetarian recipes on the site.
6 potatoes
1/2 pound butter
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 to 3/4 cup coarsely grated Swiss to Gruyère cheese
1. Bake the potatoes, scoop the pulp from the shells—don't mash it, just break it lip coarsely—and mix in 1/2 pound butter (with all that butter you can see why this is a meat substitute), salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
2. Put in an 8- or 9-inch round glass baking dish or pie dish, pour over the heavy cream, and leave for 30 to 45 minutes so the potatoes absorb the cream, butter, and seasonings.
3. Sprinkle the cheese over the potatoes, and place in a 375-degree oven until the potatoes heat through and the cheese melts, forming a golden crust. Serve these rich, creamy potatoes as a main dish with wilted spinach or mustard greens, an interesting salad, and bread and butter, and you'll never miss the meat.
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