Big Breakfast Latkes

Big Breakfast Latkes, originally uploaded by riptideredsf.

Within two hours of my finally getting my mitts on the smitten kitchen cookbook, exactly one week ago, I had bookmarked well over half of if its recipes. We've been attached at the hip since. Literally. It's always in my bag. I show it off to my co-workers. I read it on the bus. It sits atop my table at my local cafe provoking comments from hovering patrons whilst standing in line. I take it to bed with a cup of tea, flipping it open to a random page to read or re-read the recipe introductions, re-arranging the color coded neon post-its in an attempt to figure out what to make next. 

I can't believe it's taken me a week to make something from it, but I've finally gotten around to picking number one. This jumped the line-up for several reasons:

~I love potatoes!

~All of the ingredients were on hand.

~I'm always on the lookout for time efficient meal ideas (I can get my butt out of bed a lot quicker for this than for toast-'cuz, you know, I love potatoes) 

~The do ahead note promises the cooked latkes keep well in the fridge and freezer, so the other night I made a double batch 'cuz I knew they'd be gobbled up just as easily for breakfast and dinner.

~I had made my first  Rosti (from Jamie Oliver) a few weeks ago, so Smitten pushed my OCD button and got me thinking about all of the differences and possibilities amongst rosti's, latke's, potato cakes and hash browns.

I've christened my new gem with it's first stain...bacon fat!
Hmnnn...can this still be called a latke if I cooked it in bacon fat? Have I just created a culinary faux-pas?

Big Breakfast Latkes
from the smitten kitchen cookbook

1 large baking potato (1 pound or 455 grams) peeled
1 small onion (1/4 pound or 115 grams) peeled
1/4 cup (30 grams) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon table salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Vegetable or olive oil, for frying (I used bacon fat-Is that bad?)
fried or poached eggs, to serve (optional)

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil, and keep it in the oven until needed.

In a food processor or on a large box grater, coarsely grate the potato and onion. Line a colander with a lint free towel, dump the shredded mixture into the towel-lined colander, gather the ends and wring out as much water as possible. Let it stand for 2 minutes, then squeeze it out again.

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt, pepper, and egg together. Stir in the potato-onion mixture until all the pieces are evenly coated.

In a small, heavy skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of oil until shimmery or melt some bacon grease.  Divide the mixture into 4 portions and spoon the first one into the skillet and flatten with a spatula into a 5-inch round. Cook the latke over moderate heat until the edges are golden, about 4 to 5 minutes; flip, and cook until golden on the bottom, about 3 to 4 minutes more.

Transfer the latke either to a warmed baking sheet in the oven, or onto a sheet to cool if your planning to keep them around. Repeat process with remaining latke batter in three batches, creating a total of four large latkes

You can either serve the latke whole with a fried egg on top or cut it into 4 wedges, stacked  with a poached egg on top, taking a moment to delight in the yolk running down the slices.

Potato Fennel Gratin

Potato Fennel Gratin, originally uploaded by riptideredsf.

This dish of dreamy, creamy, cheese slathered potatoes is as off-the-hook good as this picture is bad. This is the fate of night-time cookery in the little kitchen. The first bite is taken, then another and before I know it, the chances of anything sticking around until the next morning for the optimal photo-op is veryveryvery slim. I've found this to be a very good thing.
The Barefoot Contessa gets the credit for this little kitchen keeper.

<insert rant> I don't have much to do with her because more often than not, I'm put off by some elusive ingredient. She makes my pantry seem inadequate. She's a big tease, luring me in with a Simple Tomato Soup  only to be turned away by my lack of saffron threads. Don't get me started on that truffle butter. I love/hate The Barefoot Contessa. A while back I went all ADD in the cookbook aisle at the library and came home with a big stack including Back to Basics. I flipped through the book and found myself, as expected, going all bi-polar, engaged then enraged (too strong of a word but it sounds good).  That ginormous showcase barn kitchen? Jeez...I shudder to think of the damage I could do to that, unless I had a team of assistants cleaning up after me. Shoot, I don't even have a Kitchen Aid, much less a dishwasher. There's that gorgeous patio where she (some hidden catering staff) serves her fabulous friends at a table that's bigger than my kitchen?  There she is trotting around those charming little shops in East Hampton arms loaded with tulips, vanilla beans and truffle oil...yes I'm green with envy<end rant>
But every now and again I stumble across one of her recipes that gets me all churned me up and I can think of doing nothing else.

This wasn't one of those times.

I found myself with a couple of sprouting potatoes and a sadly drying fennel bulb, crying out to become something wonderful STAT! I plugged "fennel" into my Google search and ultimately landed on this: Potato Fennel Gratin. It's from my other guilty pleasure, The Food Network.

But back to Back to Basics: It inspires. I easily and immediately bookmarked more than 10 recipes (that's my cookbook quota)...recipes that might actually have a place in my un-Hampton-y, tulip-less world. 

 

pesto potato salad or little kitchen 911

Pesto potato salad, originally uploaded by riptideredsf.

HOW do you screw up potato salad for cryin' out loud? This had such high hopes and aspirations when it started the day as a newly printed Smitten Kitchen recipe, all snug in its shiny new sheet protector, but at the end of the day, even though I dressed it up all nice and pretty, you can see it looks nothing like its inspiration.
It was refrigerator rescue time, starting with the last of a ginormous plastic jar of Costco pesto (this was my first mistake as SK strongly advises to make the fresh pesto or "you'll really be missing out"...), too many potatoes, the addition of greek yogurt (thought it needed a little creaminess) and ending with my accidental dump of waaaay too much white wine vinegar (I forgot that I'd just  taken off the little plastic sprinkle top). I'm hoping that my uncharacteristic purchase awhile back, of an $8.00 bottle of artisanal Napa Valley Organic White Wine Vinegar, saved it from what could have been a total loss. I paid more for that vinegar than I do for a bottle of wine. <insert sniffle > In a moment of panic and denial I'm at a loss to remember exactly what I did to try to save it. A little more salt? a drizzle of agave nectar? I even cooked up the last of my bacon to feed to this monster. Avocado? Why not?

It didn't suck. It wasn't a brilliant blunder by any means, but made it's way into my lunch box 3 days in a row.

The reason why I even bring this up at all is this: I attempted to save it. That's monumental. If I'd done something this misguided and clumsy even a year ago (or during that brief time I'd run out all-natural mood enhancers), it would have ended with me curled up on  the floor in a weeping puddle...only after I'd heaved the whole rotten mess into the trash can. I would have marched it, bowl and all, down the rickety back stairwell disposing all evidence and then a thorough clean-up the crime scene. Potato Salad ? I don't know anything about it.
End of story.