potato

Potato Jalapeño Poppers

Admit it. You love those fried jalapeño poppers you get at your local sports bar battered, fried and oozing with cheese. I didn’t make those for New Year’s Eve. Instead I created a potato bite spiced with jalapeño peppers. I made a dipping sauce with some yogurt, mayo and a splash of sriracha chili sauce.

How did I make them? Well, it all started with six large potatoes. I used yukon gold potatoes and boiled them just until fork tender. I didn’t want them too soft. I let them cool and then passed them through my ricer. These went into the fridge to be well chilled. When it came time to make the poppers I mixed in some finely diced jalapeño peppers, salt, pepper, a couple of beaten eggs and a couple tablespoons of flour. The mixture was rolled into 1 inch balls, coated with bread crumbs and deep fried in hot oil (375 F) until golden brown.

Potato and Spinach Frittata

February 15, 2009 by greg 2 Comments

I have not really made a frittata before and I sort of followed this recipe I found for my first one last night which called for adding beer to the mix.

The frittata, of course, starts with potatoes. I sliced about 6 good sized potatoes into 1/4 inch slices using my mandolin. These were tossed with one medium onion, some olive oil, salt and pepper.

This is a good 3 handfuls of baby spinach.

I took a large skillet and cooked the potatoes and onions in olive oil for about 5 or 6 minutes until they just started to get some brown color. Once things were getting to be pretty brown on the bottom of the pan I added about 1/2 of a bottle of a dark cream stout. In hindsight I should have used a light beer as the original recipe called for. The dark stout added just a bit too much bitterness to the dish and the dark color made the eggs in the end look dirty brown. Tasted good but certainly could have looked better.

After the beer was added the potatoes and onions were simmered with stirring every now and then until they were cooked through – about 10 minutes. I added a little water along the way to keep the pan from drying out and scorching. Once the potatoes were tender, the spinach was tossed in.

Immediately after the spinach was added, 8 beaten eggs were poured in and distributed evenly through the potatoes and the whole mess was topped with a cup of shredded cheddar cheese. This was simmered on the stove for just a few minutes and then placed in a preheated 450 °F oven with the broiler on.