Eric's Last Stand

Or more specifically, Baked Potato and Mushroom Cheese Casserole. But I've used "Eric's Last Stand" for the title of this thing for like maybe 8 years now, ever since my pal Jonas Diego asked me what it was called and back then I absolutely had no idea. "Eric's Last Stand" just popped into my mind.

Full disclosure though, I got inspired to do my own dish based on something I tasted at the old Kenkoy Cafe in Malate. I think the dish was called "Dynamic Duo". I couldn't begin to guess what was in it, except the more obvious mushroom, potato and bacon, so I just winged it and came up with this, whatever was available at the local mall. In our case, that's Ultimart, Puregold and SM San Pablo, and of course our own immortal local market.

My ingredients:

1/2 kilo baby potato, cleaned (but not peeled).
2-200 grams whole button mushrooms
1 tablespoon butter
120 grams bacon
1 bulb garlic, crushed
250 ml Nestle Cream
Perfect Italiano "Pizza Plus" Cheese
Monterey Jack Cheese (optional)
Parmesan Cheese (optional)
kinchay, chopped
salt and pepper

You can of course get a bigger can of whole button mushrooms instead of buying 2-200 gram cans, but the strange thing about buying mushrooms in cans is that the bigger the can is, the bigger the mushroom, I kid you not. The small cans contain really really small mushrooms, and the big cans contain giant mushrooms. So it's better to just get 2 medium sized cans for medium sized mushrooms, which are perfect for this dish.

Perfect Italiano "Pizza Plus" Cheese is readily available at our local SM Grocery and I really like using it. It's a three cheese combination of grated cheddar, mozzarella and parmesan, which just works great. Of course, you can just use one big slab of the regular quick melt cheese, which would also be ok.  The Pizza Plus packet comes in 500 grams, and I use about half of that for this dish.

Montery Jack and other brands of Parmesan are also available locally, and because I'm a cheese freak, I use some of both, but this is optional.

Procedure!

First is cook the bacon in a pan until crispy. Chop, and then set aside. If you're a vegetarian, you can do without the bacon, it's fine.

In a pan, stir fry the baby potatoes in oil on medium heat for around 10-12 minutes. Add the butter, mushrooms, garlic,  salt and pepper (to taste). Stir fry for another 5 minutes. One bulb of garlic is a lot, but I love garlic so it's fine to me. But you can use less garlic if you want to.

In a baking dish, put a thin layer of cheese at the very bottom. Place the mushroom and potatoes on it. Make sure to spread it all evenly. On top of this, evenly place the chopped bacon and some kinchay. Pour on the cream evenly on top, and on top of that, add the cheese.

I grated a bit of Monterey Jack and added it on top, as well as a sprinkle of additional parmesan, but as I mentioned this is optional. Add some more kinchay on top.

Place in an oven at 180 degrees C for around 30 minutes or until the cheese has completely melted and is browning on top.

Let it cool for at least 15-20 minutes before serving.

And there you go!