Pan Fried Potatoes

There's hardly anything better for a side dish than pan fried potatoes.  I like to cut the potatoes in varying thicknesses. That way there is a variety of textures to the dish, as the thinner cut will cook quickly and almost melt away while the thicker cut will cook slowly and become mealy on the inside and golden brown on the outside.

This is a great dish to cook in a cast iron skillet.  Cast iron distributes the heat more evenly and doesn't cool down as much when food is put into a hot pan.

Pan Fried Potatoes

5 or 6 medium to large sized russet potatoes
1 large or 2 medium onions
2 teaspoons garlic powder
6 pieces of bacon or Canadian bacon
3 TBSP butter
3 TBSP olive oil

Peel potatoes and onions. Slice both into varying thicknesses, keeping in mind the thicker the piece the longer it will take to cook.  A mandolin works great for this, but I use my poor man's mandolin (pictured to the left). Strictly low-tech, but it gets the job done. I have no idea where I got it, but it works quite well. It's adjustable and can slice very thin to very thick. And it may look innocent enough, but the blade on the thing is very sharp.

Heat large skillet. Dice bacon and fry until crispy. If using Canadian bacon, it won't take as long to cook.  Drain all or some of the bacon fat out of pan,put in olive oil and butter. When butter and oil have heated through, put in potatoes and onions. Cover potatoes and onions with the oil and butter by turning the potatoes.  Add garlic powder, salt and pepper, and turn over potatoes some more to mix.  Let potatoes cook over medium high heat, turn every five minutes or so. don't have the heat too high.  Really good fried potatoes can take awhile to cook, depending on the thickness of them. When potatoes start to get brown and are cooked through, serve immediately.