Savory Potato Pancakes

The other day I thought making some cheddar biscuits (you know, the fluffy ones at Red Lobster) would be pretty fun with some leftover chili.  Upon looking at the list of ingredients I quickly realized that was not going to happen...seeing as I was missing half of them.

Time for a new plan.  It had to also be yummy and kinda fun.

Oh yeah! I had some potatoes I needed to use!  Savory potato pancakes fit the bill.

I haven't made these babies in years.  I have a very simple recipe for Potato Latkes from a cookbook I had to use as part of 4th or 5th grade.

Simple is a great way to start.  The only thing I did differently was add 2 cloves of crushed garlic.

Fry 'em up for a few minutes on each side to make a nice crispy exterior, top with a little bit of spinach and some seasoned yogurt.  Voila, you have a fun side!

For a little info about potato pancakes go to Wikipidia.  They were a pretty common food around parts of Europe in days past.  I also found a PBS feature from a lady blogger who wrote a guest post about the history of Latkes for them.  Apparently Latkes come from Italy and were made with Ricotta, not potatoes.

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Potato Latkas
3 medium potatoes (4 if they are little)
3 eggs
2 Tbs flour
1 small onion
2 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp salt

Grate potatoes (squeeze out excess liquid) and onions, and crush garlic.  Beat eggs and mix all ingredients together.  Pour a thin layer of oil into the skillet, just a small puddle.  Plop small dollops of mixture into the skillet on medium-high heat.  Cook a few minutes on each side, until golden brown and crisp.  Carefully add oil as needed.  When potato cakes are done toss a few hand fulls of fresh spinach into the skillet stirring almost constantly until almost all the leaves are wilted.  Top with seasoned yogurt  or sour cream.

Seasoned Yogurt
Some plain yogurt
a sprinkle of paprika and oregano
bigger spinkles of garlic powder and dill
salt and pepper to taste
Stir.
Simple.
Yum.

Cabbage and the New Year

It is a new year.  Don't worry, I won't get all philosophical and sentimental, well, maybe a tiny bit sentimental.  I like traditions and honoring the past.  It frustrates me how commercial the holidays have become.  It seems like much of the history and tradition have been lost in time.  New Year's Eve has an interesting history.  You can read a brief explanation here.  I actually went on an internet search to find out about traditional New Year's day food and found that corned beef and cabbage is more of a St. Patrick's day meal.

In one of my families, corned beef and cabbage (with carrots and potatoes) was the New Year's day meal.  In my other (vegetarian) family, black eyed peas and cabbage (and sometimes cornbread) was our New Year's day meal.  Black eyed peas are a Southern tradition to symbolize a hand full of coins, or financial prosperity.

I did not plan ahead this time, oops.  So I asked my husband to bring home a small cabbage to go with last night's dinner.  Growing up, I was told that we ate the cabbage to promote good fortune and financial prosperity in the new year, I guess because it is green.  Who couldn't use some of that right now?

I sliced half of it and sauteed it up in butter with salt and pepper, and 4 coriander seeds.

I got the seeds specifically so I could enjoy the mortar and pastel.  It is a great kitchen tool.  Unimproved for centuries!

Mashed potatoes are just tasty.  I don't need gravy, and neither does my husband, so mashed potatoes are a pretty easy addition to dinner.  I wonder why I don't make them more often?  Maybe I should start.  

I changed things up a bit this time.  I boiled the potatoes in beef bullion.  

I like Yukon Golds because they have a smoother texture and an almost buttery flavor.  My normal mashed potatoes include crushed garlic, salt and pepper, milk, and sometimes chives or green onion if I have any (but that is rare).  This time, I just boiled in bullion, drained most of the liquid off, added butter, salt, pepper and only a splash of milk.  In the end, these mashed potatoes were loaded with flavor and had a nice gold color...not from butter.  

I threw some baby spinach on the plate and topped it with raspberry dressing and walnuts for a rounded meal.  

Ok, fine, there was no meat to be seen.  You can tease me about not making a main dish, but honestly Americans actually eat way more meat than our bodies are really capable of processing efficiently.  Besides, the walnuts on the salad have plenty of protein.  What you see on this plate is approximately 1/3 of a man's daily protein recamendation and nearly 1/2 for women.  Hard to believe isn't it?  Nuts are good for ya.  (find out more here or at www.choosemyplate.gov)

I hope you had a restful New Year's day and ate something really yummy.  If not, that's ok, just make sure you do on your next day off!

Happy New Year!