Saltine Cracker Toffee Bark

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The Perfect Latke

I was looking for an easy breakfast to make en masse and then reheat throughout the week.  I found a simple recipe that ended up being surprisingly good.  Or perhaps not so surprisingly, because when has smittenkitchen steered anyone wrong?

Potatoes are really easy to shred.  I say that because I bought a molcajete in Mexico and for the past week I've been grinding away, turning dry beans and rice into powder, trying to season it.  Beans are not easy to powder.  Potatoes, on the other hand, are really easy to shred. 

After the shredding, they need to be wrapped in a paper towel and squeezed dry.

Dough photos are never pretty.  This is the best I can do - the mixture pre-egg, pre-potato/onion.  The shiny glint of freshly ground sea salt and the smattering of ground pepper.

Mix it, scoop it, fry it, flip it.  These were just so...easy.  Maybe it was the cast iron, keeping the pan temperature even.  Maybe it's just that this is a fool-proof recipe.  Who knows.

After an easy round (confidence boost) I even felt comfortable making five at once!

And they just crisped up so well!  I haven't tried another latke recipe, but I don't think I need to look any further.

Regarding the reheating:  obviously they're best on the day they're made.  But the reheating wasn't so bad either.  Deb says you can re-crisp them in a 400 degree oven.

Potato Latke (as seen on smittenkitchen)

Makes roughly 12 to 14 latkes

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs potatoes
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/2 c flour
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
•  Oil (I used bacon grease, but it's not kosher)

Instructions:
1.  Shred the potatoes (they are easy to shred by hand, food processors also work).  Wrap the potato in a paper towel and squeeze the moisture out. 
2.  Mix the flour, eggs, salt and pepper together.  Add the potato and onion to the mixture, stirring until well-coated.
3.  Heat oil over med-high heat.  When hot, drop roughly a third of a cup of the potato mixture into the pan and flatten with a spatula.  Fry until golden (1 to 2 minutes) then flip (letting cook 1 more minute).
4.  Repeat until potato mixture is gone, adding more oil to the pan as necessary.   

These latkes are great - but they need a little something extra.  Some salsa or hot sauce is perfect.  That's just my preference though, and I really enjoy spicy foods.  Speaking of spicy foods, I forgot to post a photo last week.  We spent a week in Mexico, enjoying temps in the upper 80s and sun every day, and we returned to a frozen over lake and single digit temps.  Yeah.

Mexico: A Summary

I'm back!  Mexico was so great - it was a week of delicious food, dramatic sunsets, and all the toes-in-the-sand drinks we could drink.  Not to mention sunshine.

Before I get too carried away, here's a quick recap of my goals for November:

• Bottle cider and wine.  Cider yes, wine no. 
• Taste my first homemade beer!  So great!  Not exactly what I was expecting, but very good.
• Work my way up to using the 25-lb weights for my SuperSet Saturdays.  Hum.  I can do it for the first set or two, then things get a little dicey.
• Thanksgiving tacos - spend a week in Mexico.  See photos...
• Pretend like I might have time to deep clean the apartment.  lol

And some December goals:

• Roast a turkey!  I got one from work so I'm hoping to share a turkey with some of my favorite people.
• NOT have a crazy Christmas schedule.  The last couple years have involved a four hour drive, usually ON Christmas day, just to make sure we make it to two Christmas parties.

Yeah.  Two goals.  I'm feeling pretty worn out right now so I'm not as dedicated.  So here's some more photos instead!

We rented a car and drove several hundred miles to the coast.  And by "we," I mean Kyle.  He was a total champ about foreign driving, even when we were facing rush hour in Mexico's second biggest city.

Of course, rush hour is nothing compared to cattle!  At first we both thought this scene was funny, but then we realized we had no idea what to do.  I mean, it's a bull.  It's got sharp pointy things, and we had a rental car.  Luckily the guy behind us wasn't messing around and showed us the trick to making the cows moooove (come on, that's funny, right?).

And mountains!  Almost all of our driving was beautifully scenic.

We spent most of our days by the water with a drink in our hand, and hotels/restaurants were really good about using filtered water / ice.

Several tacos were involved with this vacation.

As well as a couple massive carnitas burritos.

Here's Kyle, for scale.

The sunsets were epic every night.  There is no better sunset than a sunset on the water.

And last but not least, street tacos for 10 pesos apiece (86 cents).

TEN PESOS!  We bought four to eat right away, and then ordered four more para llevar.

And thus ends Mexico: A Summary

Beer Braised Carnita Tostadas

Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope you survived.  I don't support American consumerism, so instead of going out shopping today, I'm...supporting the Mexican margarita economy.  You can bet I've had some carnitas this week.  If you're missing out on leftover turkey because someone else was in charge of roasting this year, let me share with you a perfect lazy day meal.  Set it and forget it, then when you come back to it, something magical has transpired.  Kyle calls carnitas "the bacon of Mexico."

I've learned how to tell just how good a recipe is by my reaction to it.  Oh, this is good, I don't mind eating this for days - pretty great, but room for improvement (Curried Lentil Soup).  These are so delicious, we need to have people over so everyone can taste how great they are - if I want to show it off then it must be pretty awesome (Blackcap Cheesecake Pie).  Oh my gosh this is so good I'm so glad we waited until AFTER people left to make these - so amazing that I'm hoarding food.  This is top-shelf-delight (Buffalo Chicken Dip).  I hoarded these carnitas.  I raved about them, and then refused to share.  Don't call me selfish until you've tried them.

I'm still not a huge fan of pork.  I've started cooking an occasional tenderloin.  I had serious reservations when I saw the pork shoulder in the grocery store, but I powered through it.  The shoulder is cut into two inch chunks, fried, and then braised in a crockpot full of beer and spices.

Ten hours later, what had once been pork is now transformed into the tenderest, juiciest, tastiest meat to ever grace a tostada.

There were barely any chunks left to shred.  The only thing better than the flavor of these carnitas is realizing that there's enough meat there to last for a week of meals.

And since I'm in Mexico this week, here's my little south-of-the-border tribute:  tostadas.  It's a little bit like an open-faced quesadilla.  You can either fry up a tortilla, or bake it up per instructions in this post.

My favorite tostada is topped with carnitas, black beans, peppers, cilantro and cheese.  Feel free to mix it up and use whatever you want. 

Carnitas (barely adapted from here)
Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp paprika
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• pork shoulder, around 4 lbs
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 4 oz mushrooms, chopped (about 2 cups) - optional
• 12 oz beer

Instructions:
1.  Mix up the spices (salt through pepper).  Set aside.
2.  Cut the pork into roughly 2-in. by 2-in. cubes.  Heat up a frying pan with a little oil in it.  When hot, add the pork cubes.  Turn the pork until it is seared on all sides.
3.  While the pork is cooking, put the onions and mushrooms in a  crockpot.  Move the pork to the crockpot, then evenly sprinkle the spice mixture over the pork.  Pour the beer over everything.
4.  Cook on low for 10 to 12 hours.  When you're ready, separate the pork from the juices, then shred the carnitas with two forks.  Carnitas can be stored in the juices, or separate.  Some juice will be necessary for reheating.

Serve carnitas any way that sounds good - over rice, in tacos, in tostadas, over nachos, etc.  It's okay if you're already planning on making carnitas instead of a turkey next year.  I'm sure your family will thank you.

Chocolate Cake Mix Biscotti with Pistachios

Cake mix:  it's not just for cakes.  Do something unexpected!  Let's make cake for breakfast, but rename it so that we can eat it guilt-free.  Bake it twice to crisp it up.  Throw some pistachios in there.  Host a fancy brunch.  French press some coffee.  Make this biscotti.

Mix up the dough.  It should be fairly firm, as shown in the photo below.

Form it into two loaves on a baking sheet.  I used a stone so that I wouldn't have to worry about sticking.

First bake.  Slice up the loaves diagonally.  The bigger the angle, the bigger each slice of biscotti will be.

Carefully turn each slice onto its side.

Second bake.  It starts to feel like biscotti.  You might want to turn them over and do a third bake for just a few minutes more so that each cut side gets crispy.

A crunchy biscotti means one thing:  coffee is required.  Dip it in coffee, let it soften, and enjoy a delicious breakfast cookie.  Especially if it's a lazy Saturday morning.

Chocolate Cake Mix Biscotti (based on this)
Ingredients:

• 1 (18 oz) package chocolate cake mix
• 1 c. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 c. melted butter
• 1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp hazelnut extract
• 3/4 c. pistachios

Instructions:
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease a 9x13 pan (unless you are using a baking stone).
2.  Combine all ingredients except pistachios.  Mix well (a mixer would be appropriate here).  Add in pistachios and mix until evenly distributed.
3.  Form the dough into two loaves on the baking sheet, roughly 12x2 in. each.
4.  Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, then remove from oven and let cool for 10 to 15 minutes.
5.  Slice loaves diagonally, about 1-in thick.  Turn cut-side down onto baking sheet.
6.  Bake for 10 to 15 minutes.  If needed, turn them over onto the other cut side and bake for 5 more minutes.  They should be crisp all over.

The original recipe calls for almonds and almond extract.  I'm sure that would be good...but this was better.  It's a little like Nutella in a cookie, with the addition of pistachios.

Spiced Apple Muffins

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Cheesy Bacon Jalapeno Poppers

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