Potato and Cheese Torta. What's not to love?

Its only Wednesday and I am staring into my fridge thinking "blech." What the hell can I make that isn't beans, rice, or pasta??? So I flipped through a cookbook called 1,000 Vegan Recipes and was almost to 999 when I happened upon a recipe for a torta. Torta is Italian for cake. Or pie. Or tart. Whatever it means it ISN'T Italian for vegetable! Anyway, I tweaked a few things ended up with a delicious cheese and potato torta that made everyone happy. (Vegan and GF.)

Las papas con queso y vegetables son delicioso!

(I am aware there is no relation between a 

potato wearing a sombrero and an Italian

savory tart.)

 

Potato and Cheese Torta

Ingredients:

6 red potatoes thinly sliced

2 cups steamed cauliflower, chopped

2 cups steamed broccoli, chopped

1 cup steamed carrots, diced

1 1/4 cups of rice cheddar or regular cheddar

1/4 cup olive oil

salt, pepper, garlic, and oregano to taste

Preheat oven to 400. Spray or oil a  large casserole dish to prevent sticking.

Use a mandolin (if you have one) to slice the taters. Don't peel them if you can help it (but use organic if you can.) Red potatoes work best because they hold their shape better when cooked.

Cover the bottom of the dish with the potato slices by overlapping them. Brush on a light coat of olive oil and seasoning to taste. Spread the chopped broccoli evenly on top of the first potato layer and top with about 1/2 cups of cheese. Repeat the overlapping potato layer and brush with olive oil and seasonings. Spread the chopped cauliflower evenly on top of the potatoes and top with the 1/2 cup of cheese. Top with the final layer of potatoes, cover with tinfoil, and bake for about 50 minutes then remove the tinfoil, top with the rest of cheese, and bake for 10 more minutes. Be careful and don't let it burn.

Reviews

Grown ups: We both loved it. I felt guilty feeding it to the kids as a main dish because basically it was potatoes au gratin with veggies. But it was yummy and nutritious and a keeper. It's also a great way to clean out the fridge or finish of half full bags of frozen veggies. I also served a side dish of amaranth, which I will talk about another time.

Kids: They absolutely loved it. Selah ate almost half the dish. Literally. Dane isn't a big dinner fellow, but he gave it two thumbs up anyway.

On Photobucket this is captioned as "fully belly frog." However, he rather looks like he's been shot. Or gigged.

The Big Cheese

If you use dairy cheese in this recipe you have an additional 33 grams of protein. However, you also have 44 grams of fat, 28 grams of which are saturated (which is 139% of your daily recommended allowance!) Also, you have the added benefits of 139 mg. of cholesterol (46% of the daily allowance), and 820 mg. of sodium (34% of your RDA.) Even divided by four people, these are some scary numbers.


 

Mmmmmm...Krispy Kream bacon cheese burgers.