7 OR LESS
Potato casserole adds tomato, herbs

By Thayer Wine
Nashville Tennessean

An easy potato casserole comes in handy for all sorts of occasions — an informal family dinner or something to take to a potluck.

This dish takes only about 15 minutes to put together. Once it's in the oven, you have plenty of time to get the rest of your supper ready. If you're only serving two, it's easy to cut down the recipe by using only one large or two small potatoes, one small onion and tomato and a sprinkling of herbs, salt and pepper.

With alternating colors of red and white, it might even make a good dish to serve on Valentine's Day. For variety, you can make this dish with potatoes and beets, particularly yellow beets. Common red beets, peeled and sliced, will work, too, but the color will bleed onto the potatoes. To avoid that, choose golden or yellow beets if you can find them.

Add some grilled chicken, fish, steak or even a thick, juicy pork chop and a big tossed salad to complete your dinner.

For dessert, make a quick chocolate sauce by melting semi-sweet chocolate with a little milk or cream in the microwave just until the chocolate is softened, then whisk them together. Drizzle them over small wedges of angel food cake then sprinkle a few berries — strawberries or raspberries.

Herb-roasted Potatoes

• 4 medium Yukon gold potatoes (or 2 potatoes and 2 beets)
• 3 medium tomatoes
• 2 medium onions
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/8 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 13-by-9-by-2-inch glass or ceramic baking dish with olive oil or vegetable spray or very lightly brush with olive oil.

Peel and slice potatoes one-fourth inch thick. Slice onion one-eighth inch thick. Slice tomatoes as thin as possible, about one-fourth to one-eighth inch thick.

Layer potato slices, alternating with onion and tomato slices, down the length of the pan. Continue in rows, fitting in as many slices as possible, using more potato slices than the others.

Sprinkle herbs, salt and pepper to taste, on top of vegetables. Drizzle with olive oil. Cover with aluminum foil or parchment paper and bake about 30 minutes. Remove foil or parchment and continue baking 10 more minutes, or until potatoes are tender when pricked with a sharp knife.

Serves 6.

Nutritional analysis per serving: 126 calories, 2.5 grams protein, 22 grams carbohydrate, 3 grams fiber, 4 grams fat, 0 cholesterol, 61 milligrams sodium.

(The Seven or Less format assume that staples such as oil, cooking spray, salt and pepper are in the pantry.)