Spiced Beet Latkes with Za’tar Labneh Dip

December 1, 2018 · by ·

I can’t believe I haven’t been back to the blog to post in such a long time. I’ve been so busy with instagram, I’ve sadly neglected my trusty blog. But I’m back. I had to blog for Chanukah. I had to get in on all the latke action!

Chanukah always has me thinking about latkes. Somehow I’m all about the latkes – more so than the sufganiyot. Maybe if I did a savory take on donuts, I’d get into it more. But latkes work for me. All the flavors and that crispy bite. Always gets me.

This latke was inspired by recent trip to Israel. At one place I want, I had an amazing dish that was served with a spiced labneh. Labneh is a Middle Eastern yogurt cheese that is a great stand-in for sour cream. It’s also similar to a Greek yogurt, but a bit more sour. When sprinkled with a bit of olive oil and Za’atar from the shuk, it’s amazing.

In addition to the amazing Za’atar, I had some wonderful red beets from my CSA share that I wanted to use. I typically just roast them and toss them in salads, but I knew that I wanted to feature them in my Chanukah latke fest.

I shredded the beets up with onion, garlic and some potatoes. Then, I mixed in some flour, eggs and spices. I fried them up and drained them. Then served them up with some labneh that I sprinkled with Za’atar and drizzled olive oil.

So good. Make it. Have a Happy Chanukah!


Spiced Beet Latkes with Za'tar Labneh Dip
 
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Ingredients
  • For the Latkes
  • 7 small beets
  • 1 onion
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 2 medium potatoes
  • 3 tsp. Whole Spice Turkish Spice Mix (Cumin Toasted, Garlic, Coriander Toasted, Onion, Sea Salt, White Pepper, Parsley, Turmeric, Green Cardamom)
  • 3 large eggs
  • 2 tsp. kosher salt
  • 2 tsp. ground black pepper
  • Oil for frying
  • For the Labneh dip
  • 3 tbsp. Labneh (you can sub Greek Yogurt)
  • 3 tsp, za'tar
  • oil for drizzling - about 2 tsp.
Instructions
  1. Peel all the veggies. It helps to wear gloves
  2. Shred all the veggies in a food processor
  3. Transfer everything to a bowl
  4. Squeeze out as much liquid as possible
  5. Mix in the eggs, flour, salt, pepper and spices
  6. Heat oil in fry fry pan over medium-high heat
  7. Add mixture to pan - a couple tablespoons at a time, forming the latkes
  8. Fry on each side for a couple minutes - until crispy
  9. Drain on a paper towel lined baking sheet with a cooling rack on top
  10. Place labneh in a dish and sprinkle with za'tar. Drizzle with olive oil
  11. Serve and enjoy!

 

 

 

Filed Under: Appetizers, Chanukah, Side Dish, Vegetarian · Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

Corned Beef & Cabbage Latkes

December 2, 2015 · by ·

corned beef 'latkes main

 

One minute it’s back-to-school season and the next minute it’s Thanksgiving. And before you know it, Chanukah somehow manages to peek its’ face around the corner. Thankfully, winter hasn’t shown its’ chilly face. I’d like to keep it that way.

As soon as I came to my senses and realized that Chanukah is just a few days away, aside from the quick and dirty job of scouring Amazon for presents, I started my latke brainstorming. My husband suggested I do a basic potato latke. After I gave him the stink eye for that zany suggestion, I got to work. I’ve got a few new latke flavors for you to feast on this season and I hope you enjoy them.

The first latke of this Chanukah season is kind of a marriage of St. Patrick’s Day and Chanukah. I’m bringing you some Cabbage and Corned Beef Latkes. I know that St. Patty’s Day is a few months away and in no way connected with the history of Chanukah, but I had the flavors stuck in my head. It occurred to me that it just might work. And it did!

I quickly ran out to my local kosher deli to pick up the best and fattiest corned beef they had on hand.

I shredded up some onions, cabbage and potato in the  food processor, making sure to squeeze out all of the extra starchy liquid when done.

shredded

 

squeeze

I then shredded up the corned beef with a knife and then mixed it into the cabbage and onion mixture.  I stirred in some eggs and flour.

corned beef

 

mixing
I then formed the mixture into latke patties and fried until crispy and browned all over.

latkes frying

I drained the finished latkes on a cooling rack.

latkes draining

Of course I snuck a latke or two before serving them. I had to!

I recommend serving the latkes with a creamy horseradish sauce – also known as horsey sauce.

You need to make these though. They are amazing. Especially when the corned beef gets a bit charred and crispy. Brings out the flavor. Anyways – just make them!

If corned beef isn’t your thing, maybe you’d enjoy some wild mushroom and roasted garlic latkes or maybe carrot ginger latkes are more your speed. Whatever floats your boat, get into the holiday spirit and enjoy it with latkes!




Cabbage & Corned Beef Latkes
 
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Ingredients
  • 1 large yellow onion, peeled
  • 1 small cabbage, cored
  • 1 large russet potato, peeled
  • ¾ lb sliced corned beef (deli style)
  • 3 large eggs
  • 4 tbsp. flour
  • 3 tsp. salt
  • 3 tsp. fresh grated black pepper
  • Additional salt and pepper to taste
  • oil for frying
Instructions
  1. With the shredding disc of a food processor, shred the onion, cabbage and potato together
  2. Place the shredded mixture in a towel and carefully squeeze out as much of the starchy liquid as possible. Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl.
  3. Shred up the corned beef with a knife. Add it to the mixing bowl.
  4. Stir in eggs, flour, salt and pepper.
  5. Heat up a large fry pan on medium-high heat.
  6. Add in the vegetable oil and let the oil heat up.
  7. Form the latke mixture in to patties and fry on medium-high heat until brown around the edges. Flip and continue to fry until browned on both sides.
  8. Drain a paper towel lined cooling rack.
  9. Serve with horseradish sauce.
  10. Enjoy!

Cabbage & Corned Beef Latkes

Filed Under: Appetizers, Chanukah, fried, hanukkah, latke, meat · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Rosemary, Fig & Goat Cheese Latkes

December 15, 2014 · by ·

latkes-main

Chanukah starts tomorrow night. It only hit me when I glanced at my calendar on Outlook and it told me that I had to light the first candle on Tuesday.  I stifled a gasp. I’m totally not caught up with holiday preparations. I need to buy Chanukah and Christmas presents. Need to buy presents for my kid’s teachers and therapists. I need to sort out a chanukah party menu. The list goes on. I will breathe after December 23. That’s when I start my staycation.

Chanukah is already in the air though. Even if it hasn’t begun. The Chanukah spirit arrived last week when I made those delicious golden beet latkes. Today, I have another fun Chanukah treat and I’m sure I’ll have some more goodies for you through the holiday.

I’m so excited to share these latkes with you. The idea for these latkes came about one evening when I had some people over for a wine and cheese night. I served an appetizer that had some roasted figs with rosemary and goat cheese on them. As I worked through the flavors, and loved them, I knew these flavors had to become a latke! So here we are today!

I soaked some dried figs in some port wine and brought some goat cheese to room temperature. You can let the figs soak for about 20 minutes, or you can get distracted like I did and keep them soaking for an hour. You want them to soften and plump up. I chopped up the figs along with some shallots and mixed them with the goat cheese. I set that bowl aside.

goat-cheese-and-figs

filling

The potato process needs to happen fast as you want them to keep their light color. I washed and peeled the potatoes. I shredded the potatoes, along with some onion, garlic and more shallots in the food processor using the shredding disc. Next, I rinsed the grated potato mixture and squeezed out all of the liquid.

I placed the mixture in to a large mixing bowl and stirred in some eggs, almond flour, salt, pepper and fresh chopped rosemary.

potato-mixture

Next, I heated up some oil in a large fry pan.

I placed a thin layer of potato mixture in my hand and then placed some fig and goat cheese layer on top of it. You want a decent amount of goat cheese, but make sure that there’s an edge of potato around it. I topped the goat cheese with another thin layer of potatoes. You want the latke to be thin so that it gets crispy and cooked through, but you also want the cheese to shine through. The cheese should be completely covered by the potato mixture.

stuffed-latkes

I fried the latkes until crisp on both sides. The trick with latkes is to place them in the pan and leave them alone until you see the shredded potatoes begin to brown at the edges. The browning will poke through. But don’t peek and don’t flip until you can see that it’s very crisp.

frying-latkes

Drain the finished latkes on a cooling rack over a paper towel lined cookie sheet.

drain-latkes

It’s best to serve fresh. But if you have to make these ahead of time, you can keep them warm in a 250-degree oven.

These latkes are out of this world. Because of the creamy goat cheese with figs inside, you don’t need any sauce or sour cream on top. There’s a huge amount of flavor all packed in to the latke! It’s amazing! My first thought as I sunk my teeth in to the latke was that it was “off the hook!” And I never say that! It was that good though. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!




Rosemary, Fig & Goat Cheese Latkes
 
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Ingredients
Fig & Goat Cheese Filling
  • 7 dried figs
  • 1 cup of port wine or other semi dry red wine
  • 1 shallot, chopped
  • 4 oz. goat cheese (chevre)
Latke Blend
  • 4 large red potatoes, washed and peeled nand quartered
  • 1 medium onion
  • 1 shallot
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 3 tablespoons fresh rosemary, chopped
  • 1 tbsp. salt
  • 4 tsp. fresh ground pepper
  • additional salt and pepper to taste
  • 8 tbsp. almond flour or all-purpose flour
  • 2 eggs
  • Oil for frying
Instructions
  1. Soak the figs in the wine for at least 20 minutes.
  2. Drain the figs and chop them finely. In a small bowl, mix the figs with the chopped shallot and goat cheese. Set the bowl aside.
  3. In a food processor fitted with a shredding disc, grate the potatoes, onions, garlic and shallot.
  4. Rinse and drain the grated potato mixture. Squeeze out all of the liquid.
  5. Transfer to a large mixing bowl.
  6. Mix the rosemary, salt, pepper, egg and flour into the potato mixture.
  7. Heat about a ½ an inch of oil in a large frying pan.
  8. Form the potato mixture in to a small thin patty in your hand and place a tablespoon or so of goat cheese filling in the middle. Cover it with a small thin layer of potato mixture and seal along the edges.
  9. Fry in the oil until browned and crisp on both sides.
  10. Drain on a cooling rack or paper towels.
  11. Enjoy!

latkes-tower


Filed Under: Appetizers, Chanukah, Gluten Free, hanukkah, Kosher Connection Challenge, latke, Vegetarian · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Nacho Stuffed Tater Tots

January 20, 2014 · by ·

tatertots

This month’s Kosher Connection challenge is all about the Superbowl. What kinds of snacks do you like to eat while watching the big game? On Superbowl Sunday, we typically dine on a variety of appetizers. Last year, I vaguely recall a mix of onion rings, french fries, chicken wings and beer. I’m sure there was more to it though. This year, I’m all about finding good vegetarian snacks for the big game day.

I asked my husband what he was in the mood for this year. The first thing that he came up with was some loaded nachos. I told him that nachos were too basic and we had to do better than that!

I’ve been wanting to make some homemade tater tots for a while now. A while back, there was an article by Mark Bittman in The New York Times where he showed how to make some homemade tots. I’ve been wanting to make that recipe ever since it came out. I decided that I could stuff the tater tots with some of the typical nacho toppings.

Would it work? Would it taste good? I had to find out!

I parboiled some Idaho Russet Potatoes and then grated them along with some onions. I added some salt, pepper and corn starch to the mix, as Mark Bittman suggests.

tater-tot-potato-mixture

I processed some black beans along with some fire roasted green chiles in the food processor. I mixed up that mixture with some cheese, corn and chili powder.

I placed some of the potato mixture in the palm of my hand and then a dab of the bean mixture at the center and formed it in to a traditional tater tot shape, making sure to cover the entire center with potato.

shaped-tater-tots

I fried each tot lightly and then drained it and finished cooking it in the oven. It’s best to finish the baking process on a rack over a baking sheet.

tater-tots-in-pan

I dipped the tater tots in a salsa-yogurt mixture.

The verdict? Definitely a fun recipe!

tatertots


Nacho Stuffed Tater Tots
 
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Ingredients
  • 5 Idaho Russet Potatoes
  • 2 tsp. salt
  • 2 tsp. ground pepper
  • 1 tbsp. corn starch
  • ¼ cup corn
  • ¼ cup black beans, cooked and drained or canned
  • ¼ cup fire roasted green chiles
  • 1 tbsp. chili powder
  • 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
  • oil for frying
  • additional salt and pepper as needed
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 400
  2. Parboil the potatoes until tender
  3. Grate the potatoes in a large mixing bowl
  4. Stir salt, pepper and corn starch in to the potatoes
  5. In the food processor, process together the black beans, chili powder, cheese and chiles. Stir in the corn. Transfer to a small mixing bowl.
  6. Take a tablespoon of the potato mixture and place in the palm of your hand. Dab a teaspoon of the bean/cheese mixture and place in the center of the potatoes. Shape the potatoes around the bean mixture and form in to a traditional tater tot mixture. Repeat until you have used up your potatoes.
  7. Heat up the oil, about a 1-inch deep, in a fry pan.
  8. Pan fry the tots until browned.
  9. Transfer the tots to a baking sheet lined with a cooling rack.
  10. Bake the tots until desired crispness.

nacho-stuffed-tater-tots

Filed Under: Appetizers, Gluten Free, Kosher Connection Challenge, munchies, Snacks, Vegetarian · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Carrot Ginger Latkes

December 3, 2013 · by ·

carrot-ginger-latkes

Another night of Chanukah, another latke recipe. Or so it goes.

These latkes were inspired by one of me and my daughter’s favorite soup recipes. We both love carrot ginger soup in the fall.

I made a carrot latke years ago, and I vaguely recall it being tasty, so I thought I would give this a try.

I shredded some carrots,  an onion,  a small potato,  some ginger and some cilantro in the Cuisinart food processor.

I transferred the mixture to a bowl and drained whatever liquid I could out of the veggie mixture.

Next, I added some flour, eggs, garlic powder, salt and pepper to the mix.

I heated up the oil in my fry pan and fried the patties until done. You have to keep your eyes on the latkes because they can go from perfect to burnt very quickly. I drained the latkes on a cooling rack set over paper towels.

I served these latkes with cilantro and an option of sour cream or horseradish sauce.

These latkes will definitely be made again!

Carrot Ginger Latkes
 
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Ingredients
  • 6 carrots, peeled
  • 1 small Idaho Russet potato, peeled
  • 1 small onion, peeled
  • 2 tbsp. fresh ginger
  • 2 tbsp. cilantro
  • 2 tsp. salt
  • 2 tsp. ground pepper
  • 2 tsp. garlic powder
  • ½ cup flour
  • 2 eggs
  • oil for frying
  • additional salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Wash and peel the veggies.
  2. With the shredding blade on a food processor, shred the carrots, potato, onion, ginger and cilantro.
  3. Transfer everything to a large mixing bowl.
  4. Drain as much liquid as possible from the shredded vegetables.
  5. Mix in the salt, pepper, flour, garlic powder, flour and eggs.
  6. Heat up about an inch of oil in a large fry pan.
  7. Fry the latkes, carefully flipping as they began to crisp up.
  8. Drain the cooked latkes on a paper towel lined cooling rack.
  9. Sample the latke and adjust seasoning as needed.
  10. Serve with a latke topping of your choice.
  11. Enjoy!

carrot-ginger-latkestext

 

Filed Under: Appetizers, Chanukah, fried, recipes, Side Dish, Vegetarian · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,

Wild Mushroom & Roasted Garlic Latkes

November 27, 2013 · by ·

mushroom-and-potato-latkes

We light the first candle on our menorah for Chanukah tonight. My kids are so excited. Dreidels and chocolate gelt have already begun to make an appearance in our house. The kids are curious what we have in store for the holiday. Chanukah is always a fun time in our home. As a kid, I patiently waited for Chanukah to start so we could light candles and open some presents. The light of the menorah against the dark night is always beautiful.

Chanukah is also one of my favorite foodie holidays. To commemorate the miracle of the oil in the ancient temple, there’s the tradition to eat fried foods during the holiday. Who doesn’t love fried foods? That Chanukah happens to fall at the same time as Thanksgiving in the US – extra foodie fun!

I try to come up with new latke ideas each year. Some years I’ve focused on a different root veggies, other years I’ve added some herbs. This latke idea came to me just the other day as I was making dinner. Mushrooms are one of my favorite veggies. Why not try and add them to latkes? I had a bag of dried wild mushrooms that I thought would complement the latkes very well. I paired the wild mushrooms with some sage and roasted garlic. Latke perfection! I’m so glad I made these right away!

I roasted a head of garlic and then I soaked the mushrooms in boiling water.

soak-mushrooms

I shredded the potatoes, mushrooms and onions in my Cuisinart food processor. I then mixed everything together and added some eggs, potatoes and sage.

I fried up the latkes and then drained them on a wire rack lined with paper towels.

fry-in-oil

drain-on-towels

These latkes were a huge hit! I highly recommend serving them with sour cream. Enjoy and Have a Happy Chanukah!


Wild Mushroom & Roasted Garlic Latkes
 
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Ingredients
  • 1 head of garlic, roasted
  • 5 Idaho Russet Potatoes
  • 1 large yellow onion
  • 2 cups of dried wild mushrooms
  • 5 oz. cremini mushooms
  • 2 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. pepper
  • ½ cup flour
  • 3 large eggs
  • oil for frying
  • additional salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 400. Cut off the top quarter-inch of the head of garlic to expose the cloves. Drizzle some olive oil over the garlic and wrap in foil. Place in oven for 30 minutes and roast. Then allow to cool.
  2. Rinse the dried mushrooms and soak them in boiling water for about 15 minutes. Drain and set aside.
  3. Peel and quarter the onions and potatoes.
  4. Rinse and quarter the Cremini mushrooms.
  5. With a shredding disc, process the potatoes, onion and mushrooms in the food processor.
  6. Transfer to a colander and squeeze as much liquid out of the potatoes as possible. I sometimes like to place them in a tea towel and squeeze more water from there like I did with this latke recipe.
  7. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl.
  8. Squeeze out the roasted garlic cloves in to the bowl.
  9. Add in the chopped sage leaves.
  10. Stir in the eggs, flour, salt and pepper.
  11. Heat up the oil in a deep fry pan.
  12. From potato mixture in to patties and fry. Flip the latke over when you see the edges begin to brown.
  13. Transfer the finished latke to a rack positioned over paper towels to drain and cool.
  14. These latkes are great with sour cream.
  15. Enjoy!

latkeswithtext

Filed Under: Appetizers, Chanukah, fried, mushrooms, Side Dish, Thanksgiving, tradition, Vegetarian · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Corn & Cheese Fritters with Pear Salsa

October 21, 2013 · by ·

fritters-and-sauce

I love being a part of this fantastic group of food bloggers, the Kosher Connection. Each month, we are challenged to cook up some wonderful and unique foods. Each link-up is fun and new. I love seeing the assortment of goodies that the group comes up with. This month was especially difficult. We were tasked with a Chopped style challenge. Like the popular Food Network show, we were given three ingredients to build our dish around. For the most part, we had free reign, but the dish had to include canned corn, pears and Mike & Ike candies.

I had a very hard time coming up with something for the dish. Creating something that involved all three ingredients was super tough. I had initially planned a tofu dish that included a Korean pear based sauce. My husband nixed the idea in favor of something fried. He urged me to make a fritter. I don’t really like frying things, but with Chanukah coming up next month, I decided that if this worked out, it would be perfect for Chanukah. It’s traditional to have fried foods to recognize the miracle of the oil in the ancient temple.

He suggested some sort of latke, but as I brainstormed a bit, I settled on a fritter. I know, not that far off. But there is a difference. I scribbled a slew of ideas on paper. Once I had the house to myself though, I got to work. I settled on a corn and cheese fritter when I saw a brick of pepper jack cheese sitting in the fridge. I  quickly picked up a carton of buttermilk at Trader Joe’s and worked out a quick fritter recipe.  The fritters did not disappoint!

I mixed up the canned corn with the cheese, some chopped onion, spices, buttermilk, eggs, flour and baking powder.

fritter-batter

I scooped them up and fried them in a couple of inches of hot oil.

fritters-frying

I then drained the fritters on a cooling rack with paper towels underneath.

fritters-draining

Incorporating the Asian pears and the Mike & Ike candies proved more challenging. I wanted a pear chutney to dip the fritters in to. I peeled and chopped up the asian pears and began cooking them down with some ginger and water. I also added the Mike & Ike candies to let them get infused with the candy flavor. When tasting the sauce, it was definitely too sweet. I knew that it needed something savory along with some heat.

asian-pears

I added some chopped jalapeño, onion and vinegar and cooked it a bit more. Once everything was softened, I pureed the mixture with my immersion blender.

While the pear and Mike & Ike salsa isn’t perfect, it’s getting there. I call it a work a progress. To be honest, I will leave the candies out the next time I set out to make this dish. It was definitely fun to try my hand at this though.

The fritters have gone on the short list though and will definitely be made next month for Chanukah. The crunch and light outside and the creamy cheese filling. One word. Amazing! Make them now!

fritters-and-sauce

 

 

Disclaimer: The pear salsa was made as part of the chopped style challenge. I highly recommend you make the fritters. The fritters are amazing.  I’m not quite sold on pear salsa with mike & ike candies. I do recommend a pear salsa without the candy!

 

Corn & Cheese Fritters with Pear Salsa
 
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Author:
Recipe type: appetizer, snack, starter
Ingredients
Corn & Cheese Fritters
  • 1 can whole kernel white corn, drained
  • ½ red onion, chopped
  • 1.5 cups pepper jack cheese, shredded
  • 1.5 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tsp. pepper
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • oil for frying


Mike & Ike infused Pear Salsa
  • 2 asian pears, peeled and cubed
  • ½ red onion, chopped
  • 1 inch ginger, chopped
  • ½ jalapeno, minced
  • 2 tbsp. water
  • 2 tsp. salt
  • 3 tsp. red wine vinegar
  • 2 tsp. ground pepper
  • ½ cup Mike & Ike candies (I used two of the fun size boxes) - optional
Instructions
Corn and Cheese Fritters
  1. Mix all of the fritter ingredients, except for the vegetable oil, in a mixing bowl.
  2. Heat up about 2 inches of oil to 350 in a heavy bottomed pan or pot.
  3. Scoop a couple of tablespoons of fritter batter. I used an ice cream scoop. Drop in the hot oil and fry about a minute or two per side. Flip the fritter when browned.
  4. Transfer fritter to a cooling rack placed over paper towels to drain and cool
For the pear salsa
  1. Peel and chop up the pears
  2. Place in a saucepan with the water, ginger and the mike and candies.
  3. Add in the onion, jalapeno, vinegar and spices.
  4. Allow mixture to soften.
  5. Once softened, blend with an immersion blender.
  6. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.

fritters-and-sauce

Filed Under: Appetizers, Chanukah, fried, hanukkah, Kosher Connection Challenge, Vegetarian · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Corned Beef Hash Egg Rolls

August 8, 2012 · by ·

My mom came to town for the weekend. A shabbat with family is always wonderful.

In my family, a visit = food. When I go back to the midwest, I bring smoked fish and bagels. When they come to me, I also get special care packages. In this case, my mom graciously brought some packages of smoked meat from Chicago’s famed Romanian Kosher butcher. That place has some of the most amazing meats. I don’t eat that stuff anymore, but the husband is thrilled to pieces when there is meat in the house. Especially really good smoked meats. What a treat!
The husband and my mom grazed over various deli sandwiches over the weekend, but we still had some leftover corned beef.
I thought back to my days as a waitress. One of the most popular dishes in the morning, was corned beef hash with eggs. There was this amazing meaty/salty smell that came off of the platters. I was thinking of just making that for dinner with some eggs for the husband, but I wanted to change it up a bit.
I had some egg roll wrappers sitting in the fridge. We’ve had pastrami egg rolls before, and those were a hit. I wondered how corned beef hash would work in an egg roll. It turns out that it tastes awesome. Not just because they are fried. They are even good when baked. The combination of the flavors along with the crunch of the egg rolls are perfect.



Corned Beef Hash Egg Rolls
Ingredients:

1/2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
3 medium potatoes parboiled, cooled and cubed
1/2 red pepper, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
6 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 pound of fatty corned beef (the deli kind), cubed/chopped
2 tsp. red pepper flakes
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. fresh ground pepper
2 tsp. paprika
egg roll wrappers
vegetable oil for frying

Directions:

Heat up the 1/2 tablespoon of oil in a large pan. Add in your chopped onion and cook for a few minutes.

Add in the chopped potatoes and cook for another five minutes until you start to see some browning on the onions and potatoes.

Confident Cook, Hesitant Baker

Add in the peppers and the garlic and cook another minute.

Now it’s time to add the meat and the spices. Let everything cook for a few minutes. Set aside to cool a little.

Corned Beef Hash Egg Rolls

Set up your assembly station: your bowl of filling, a board to roll up the egg rolls and a brush with some water to seal the egg rolls.

Place an egg roll wrapper on a flat surface. Have it facing you in a diamond shape.

Lay some filling across the middle and fold the bottom in.

IMG_1773

Next, fold the sides in and finish rolling up.

Seal the egg rolls with some water brushed on lightly.

Fry the egg rolls in about a 1/4 inch of vegetable oil. Fry a few minutes on each side until crisp.

IMG_1775

Serve the egg rolls with a dipping sauce. Some Thousand Island dressing or a spicy mayo work well.

Enjoy!

Corned Beef Hash Egg Rolls
Filed Under: Appetizers, meat, Side Dish · Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,

Amazing Onion Rings and Dipping Sauce

January 1, 2012 · by ·

Some of you who know me, may know that I am obsessed with onion rings. Whenever I go out to eat, I often judge a place by two things; if they have onion rings, and if they are any good. Often times when you go out to eat they will toss you a plate of those dreadful Kineret freezer bag onion rings. Or, in the case of a place like Dougie’s, they will throw some onions in whatever batter everything else is getting tossed in. That’s just not how it’s supposed to be done! I wish there was a good kosher restaurant that would step up to the plate and do it right. If you know of some place, please, pretty please – fill me in on the details.

I have eaten onion rings at both kosher and non kosher places. I have sampled onion blossoms, strings, wedges, and whatever shape they come in. I just want them to give me that greasy, but not too greasy and crunchy feel that I need. I am a fan of both the breaded style and the battered style – again it just has to come out right. Both can achieve greatness. 

The recipe I will share with you today is for a battered recipe. This onion ring came out perfectly crunchy with the right balance of coating to onion. It was especially good with the great horseradish dipping sauce I made. Highly recommend this recipe when you are in the mood for some greasy goodness!

Dipping Sauce
Ingredients:

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon ketchup
2 tablespoons horseradish sauce
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon oregano
dash of salt
2 grinds of black pepper
splash of some sriracha or cayenne (optional)

Mix up the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set to the side while you make the onion rings. It’s that easy!

Onion Rings – slightly adapted this Martha Stewart Recipe
Ingredients:

1 large Vidalia onion, sliced in to thin rings
Vegetable oil for frying
3/4 cup flour
1/8 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoons baking powder
1.5 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon italian seasoning
1 teaspoon paprika
1 cup ice cold water

Soak the sliced onions in cold water for about 5 minutes and then dry them well on a towel.  Let them dry while you make the batter.

Start to eat up your oil. You will want at least an inch of oil to cover the onions.

In a small mixing bowl, whisk the dry ingredients together. Slowly whisk in the ice water. Whisk until you get a nice, smooth consistency.  Sit the bowl over a bowl of ice. Keep the batter cold.

Dip the onions in to the batter. It needs a thin even coating. The batter will puff up, so it doesn’t need to be too heavy. Place the onions in a single layer in to the hot oil. Fry onions in batches for a few minutes each. The onion rings should be light brown.

Drain onion rings on a paper towel.

Serve hot with the dipping sauce on the side. Enjoy!

Filed Under: Appetizers · Tagged: , , ,

Mock Crab Rangoon

December 30, 2011 · by ·

This recipe came about on Sukkot, but I finally made it when I could photograph and write about it.

At least one of our sukkot meals during yom tov tends to be something pretty casual. Sometimes it’s omelettes, sometimes an easy salad. It always includes something warm. It’s usually comfort food that works well for when it’s just us. Except this year, we didn’t have any “just us” meals. We had to play up the casual meal a bit.
J suggested we do a fried bar food fest. It got a bunch of us talking and reminiscing about all that good bad-for-you food that we love, that we don’t eat anymore now that we are kosher. Some of it just is never available as good at kosher restaurants. It’s hard to find the right onions rings, and hot poppers. Don’t tell me that Dougies is a good stand-in. That place stinks. Anyhow, I wanted this meal to be dairy.

The conversation came around to crab rangoon and cream cheese wontons. The wontons are totally a Midwestern thing. I have never seen them on an east coast menu  – treife or otherwise. Whenever we used to eat out at LeeAnn Chinn’s in the Twin Cities, these wontons were always ordered. My yom tov guests also brought up crab rangoon – which I have never had due to the whole crab thing.  We kept kosher in the house growing up, and my mom has a seafood allergy. Crab was verboten. Anyhow, crab rangoon is basically a cream cheese wonton with crab added to it.

I decided to make it. I always have surimi (mock crab) and cream cheese around. I happened to have some wonton wrappers in the freezer. So this worked out. Was easy to make and was a big hit with everyone.
Mock Crab Rangoon
Ingredients:
1 8 oz. brick of cream cheese – softened at room temperature
5 sticks of surimi, chopped up (approximately – use more or less depending on how crabby you like it)
2 tsp. lemon pepper grinded
3 scallions, chopped finely
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 package of wonton wrappers

vegetable oil for frying

In a small bowl, mix up the cream cheese, crab, scallions, and spices.
Take a wonton wrapper and plop a teaspoon of the mixture in to the center of the wrapper.
Fold up the wonton. Here are some good wonton folding instructions. You will get the hang of folding after you screw up a few.

Heat up a pan with some vegetable oil. I don’t like to deep fry, but you could if you like. I use about a 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch of oil in the pan.
Once the oil is hot, add the wontons carefully to the pan. Fry until lightly brown on one side and then flip. It’s about 2 minutes a side.
Drain on paper towels. 
Dig in! It’s especially good when dipped into a hot and sweet chili sauce.
Filed Under: dairy, munchies, Snacks · Tagged: , , , , , , ,
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