Once again, the NYE crew had an iron chef contest. This is, in my view, one of the best things we consumed in the evening. And they are definitely some of the best latkes I've ever had. Adding the spices really takes latkes and makes them more than hashbrowns.
Having consumed more latkes than I care to remember during the holiday season, these are the clear winners on flavor and will become my family's multi-cultural Channukah tradition.
Latke Ingredients
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 1 medium onion, peeled
• 3 large russet or Idaho potatoes, peeled
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne
• salt to taste, probably at least 1/4-1/2 teaspoon
• 2 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
• 6 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
Curry-Lime Yogurt
• 2 cups plain yogurt
• 3-4 teaspoons curry powder (to taste)
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh lime juice, plus more to taste
Latke Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 200°F. Place 2 nonstick baking sheets in oven. In small saucepan, bring salted water to boil. Add peas and cook, uncovered, until heated through, about 2 to 3 minutes. Drain, then rinse in colander under cool, running water. Set aside in colander to drain completely.
2. Using box grater or food processor fitted with grating disc, coarsely grate onion and place in colander set in sink. Coarsely grate potatoes, add to colander, and set aside to drain.
3. In large mixing bowl, lightly beat eggs. Whisk in flour, coriander, turmeric, cayenne, salt, and cumin. Mix in ginger, cilantro, and peas.
4. Press potatoes and onion to extract as much liquid as possible, then add to bowl. Using wooden spoon or hands, mix well, but do not overwork.
5. In heavy-bottomed, 12-inch skillet over moderately high heat, heat 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon butter until hot but not smoking. Drop 4 scant 1/4-cup portions of potato mixture into pan and flatten with spatula to form four 3-inch pancakes.
Fry until bottoms are golden-brown, 4 to 5 minutes, then turn over and fry until golden-brown and crisp, an additional 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer to paper towels to drain. Season with additional salt and pepper as desired. Keep warm on baking sheets in oven while making remaining pancakes.
NOTES: (1) If the latkes aren't sticking together (too much liquid) add more flour until they stick together. (2) Try to squeeze out as much of the liquid before putting these into the oil. I've found that forming them using a slotted spoon to get out the excess liquid works well.
Yogurt Sauce Preparation
In medium bowl, whisk together all ingredients. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Taste and add more lime juice if desired.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Indian Spiced Latkes
Vegetarian Lasagna
When I came back to New York from winter break, much to my surprise and joy, I discovered a new subscription to Saveur Magazine. This recipe is delicious and pretty easy. I did include meat because the person for whom I was cooking does not eat mushrooms. That said, I am fully confident that it would be equally, if not more delicious with mushrooms. In particular, the béchamel really makes this recipe.
12 tbsp. unsalted butter
12 sun-dried tomatoes
1 shallot, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1⁄2 cup flour
5 cups milk
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
Salt and pepper
3 tbsp. olive oil
2 lbs. shiitake mushrooms,
stemmed, quartered
1⁄2 lb. spinach, chopped
6 cloves garlic, chopped
3 tbsp. chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 tbsp. chopped oregano
1 tbsp. chopped thyme
1 tbsp. chopped rosemary
1 tbsp. tomato paste
5 cups whole canned tomatoes, crushed
1 lb. lasagna noodles
2 1⁄2 cups grated grana padano
2 1⁄2 cups grated fontina
1. Grease a 9"x 13" baking pan with 1 tbsp. butter. Cover dried tomatoes with 1 cup boiling water; soak for 20 minutes. Drain. Chop; set aside.
2. Make béchamel: Heat 8 tbsp. butter in a 4-qt. saucepan over medium heat. Add shallots and carrots; cook 5 minutes. Add flour; cook 2 minutes. Whisk in milk; boil. Reduce to medium-low; simmer, whisking, until thick, 20–25 minutes. Add nutmeg; season with salt and pepper.
3. Meanwhile, heat olive oil and remaining butter in a 6-qt. pot over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms; cook 10 minutes. Add dried tomatoes, spinach, garlic, parsley, oregano, thyme, rosemary, and tomato paste; cook 3 minutes. Add canned tomatoes. Cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Set sauce aside.
4. Heat oven to 375˚. Spread 2 cups tomato sauce in baking dish. Cover with a layer of noodles. Spread 1 cup béchamel over top; sprinkle with 1⁄2 cup of each cheese and 2 cups tomato sauce. Repeat layering 2 more times. Top with remaining noodles, tomato sauce, béchamel, and cheeses. Bake covered with foil on a baking sheet for 1 hour. Remove foil; raise oven to 500˚. Bake until golden, 15 minutes.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
wheatberry salad
After visiting the Washington Hotel Coffee Room over the holidays (better known, perhaps, to some of you as the coffee shop attached to the amazing yarn store in Madison), I've been itching to try to recreate their wheatberry salad. Luckily, my mother gifted me a bag of wheatberries, as they are relatively hard to track down. Also luckily, I found this recipe online. 
It's a fairly flexible recipe, so I modified it to get closer to the salad I remembered. Here's how: 1 cup of each carrots and celery, diced; used chickpeas; omitted parsley, onions and fennel; topped with feta cheese. Super easy!
And, oh man, is it tasty! It is also incredibly hearty. Even though I was eating dinner after 9 pm having daydreamed about this salad most of the day, I still only made it through about half of what I'd served myself. All in all, this recipe is definitely a winner. (Although the next time I make it, I will use about half as much olive oil, since there was a lot left in the bottom of the bowl after I'd dished out lunches for the week.)
Friday, January 16, 2009
This is not the NYE entry you are looking for
Black and White CookiesI'm sure Aaron first introduced me to the wonder of the Black and White cookie. They're slightly lemony, cakey taste is very satisfying, and the decision making of how to eat the cookie (all black first? half and half?) is a good indicator of overall mood. However, here on the other side of the county, finding a cookie that resembles the real thing is a difficulty. Mostly, you end up with a sugar cookie with black and white icing--totally not the point.
So, when I saw this recipe on smitten kitchen, I was pretty excited, and after finishing finals last semester I went straight to the cookie baking. As the picture reveals, I divided these cookies into groups and brought them to various people or events. The details are a little fuzzy.
One cool detail that Ms. SK shares is that these cookies originated in bakeries who had extra bits of cake batter leftover at the end of the day. Bakers would add a little extra flour, and bake up a set of black and whites. I will admit that I forgot the icing-rule of these cookies, which is to ice the flat (bottom) of the cookies. Whoops. I guess I'll just have to make them again some time...
More recently, I've been trying recipes from the Breakfast, Lunch, Tea book that KZ gifted me. At A&C's we had potato soup with cheese scones one night--super delicious!
After I got home, I decided I wanted to try the Lemon and Chickpea Soup.
I tend to be amused when one cookbook has many recipes that follow a really similar pattern, and the two soups I've made from this book fit that design. Both start with a simmer of onions and celery and carrot, and then the body of the soup is added. I really enjoyed this Chickpea soup though--I'm hoping it's just as good on reheat, but there is something about the combination of red pepper spices (I didn't have the dried red chili called for in the recipe, so I used some dried chili flakes and chili powder) with chickpea and lemon that I love. Ok, maybe it's not a surprise I liked this recipe. Chickpeas+lemon+spice is kind of my favorite food ever.
Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip, Coconut, Current CookiesWhile I was waiting for the soup to complete its simmer, I found a recipe for a quick cookie that would use up some ingredients I had lying around. I call it the Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip, Coconut, Current Cookie. Wheee.
There isn't actually any yogurt in the recipe, but I after finding this container, I couldn't resist taking a picture. These cookies turned out pretty deliciously. The dough is a little dry and crumbly, but shaped up into cookie form when I pressed them into balls without getting my hands ridiculously sticky. The sugar almost caramelizes during baking, and there is tons and tons of texture. I usually don't like raisins in cookies, but I think the currents are small enough that they add a nice flavor without causing me the problems that raisins in cookies do.