Potatoes & Parsley

Or storage shares and the end of the fresh herbs.

My freezer and other storage areas for food have gotten awfully full at the end of the bumper crop fall – all that sunny weather at the end.  And now I need to get out the row-boat and boots because boy-o-boy is it raining.

So I’m on a kick to use what I have in and around the house – and I currently have a thing for savory sour.  Spanish food is a fun place to look – and somewhere I haven’t looked much.  The storage shares of potatoes and onions from my CSA work in the Spanish milieu, as does the determined, but rapidly drowning parsley in my herb pots.

It might be a little weedy... and mossy,
but I can tell which is the parsley.

Now if you look up this sort of recipe on the internet (and elsewhere) it will be “Papas something.”  One of the most famous versions of this sort of roasted (and sautéed) potato dish is Papas Bravos, potatoes served with a spicy garlicky mayonnaise type sauce (an aioli technically).

Lots of others have tomato based sauces – spicy or mild , and most of the rest have an herby element.   And that is what I’m really after here.  Warm and cozy roasted potatoes with deep flavors, and a little kick at the end – today sour, maybe later spicy.

Since I am working in my kitchen, I have lots of the wrong ingredients.  In this case – Ponzu Sauce.  I used it at the end because my potatoes needed a little more seasoning, a little more of a savory flavor, and a last kick of sour.  Don’t have Ponzu sauce, don’t know what it is?  Don’t let the fancy names intimidate you.  It is basically soy sauce and lime juice, and you can easily sub that in – or any tart citrus.

Now lets get cooking!

Spanish Style Potatoes

(Use up the parsley version - and if you have cilantro, basil, spinach or arugula cluttering up your fridge use them instead)

Equipment:

large pan for the oven

sauté pan for the sauce

spatula for stirring

knife

cutting board

fork – for testing potatoes and eating it all up.

Ingredients:

3 medium – large potatoes

1 medium onion (or ½ a big huge one)

salt & pepper

oil

cider vinegar

a whole bunch of parsley (a big handful?)

Ponzu Sauce (the secret ingredient!)

Prep:

Turn on the oven to 425˚F.

Wash your potatoes vigorously if they need it.

Chop them into chunks about the size of the top joint of your thumb.  (I made some of my pieces too big, and they had tasty outsides but bland insides).  Place them on the large pan, drizzle with 1-2 tsp of oil, sprinkle with salt, and toss with clean hands until they are all coated.

Toss them in the oven – set the timer to 20 minutes.

Turn to the onion.  Cut it in half through the root end.  Peel off the outer dry layers. Make 2 or 3 cuts from near the root end to the tip.  Cut the onion into slices about the width of your pinky.

Rinse the parsley and pull the leaves off the big central stem.  Chop the parsley roughly.

Cook!

Place your sauté pan over medium high heat for about 3 minutes with 1-2 tsp of oil in it.  When a small piece of onion sizzles merrily, the pan is hot.  Add in all the onion and a pinch of salt to help the onions sweat.  (Just a little, you’ll adjust for salt and pepper at the end.)

Stir the onions over the heat.  They should be getting translucent and soft, not really brown (if the edges are blackening, turn down the heat a little!) 

Somewhere in here – the potato timer is going to go off.   When it does, stab one with a fork, and bring it out of the oven.  Cut it in half with a fork, and blow on it until it is cool.  Try a bite.  If it is still a bit crunchy and raw, the potatoes may need up to 15 more minutes (but start with 10).  If the potato is almost done – but not quite – try 5 more.  And if the edges are brown, one surface crispy and puffed, and the inside is soft and fluffy – your potatoes are done.  So cook your potatoes ‘til they get there. 

When they do.  Take them out of the oven and put them to the side.

Back to the onions.  When they get soft and translucent, open a window or turn on a fan.  Then pour in about 1/4C of the cider vinegar.  Cook it down until most of the liquid is gone. 

(Did you add the vinegar without turning on a fan?  Bet you wish you had.)

When the onions are shiny and damp (rather than swimming in a pool of liquid), toss in the parsley, and stir it into the onions.  Then turn the heat to low, and stir in the hot potatoes. 

Taste one.  Add pepper and maybe a little salt if it really bland.

Then break out the Ponzu Sauce, and add about a teaspoon.  Stir it in.  Taste.  Repeat until you have savory, sour potatoes.

Serve with something else yummy.

(A Spanish tortilla, which is a sort of omelet, is nice.  Or spicy sausage and lentils – maybe with a little shrimp?     It makes for a great base to a hash – and the leftovers are great too.)

Zucchini Pancakes - 2 Ways

The end of summer is approaching, and in gardens and farmer's markets everywhere, the attack of the giant zucchini is commencing!

 To be frank, these giant zucchini have lost the tenderness and sweet appeal of the manageable zucchini the require only one hand to pick up. When they start to out weigh small pets and babies it is tempting to pass them by, or send them straight to compost (where they will faithfully grow your first zucchini plants of the year).

Five Acre Farm from Whidbey Island
is starting to see the monsters!

What if there were a recipe that actually took advantage of the drier, starchier, large zucchini, and possibly some other late summer veggies?

 Well, it turns out there is! Zucchini pancakes - and the versatility is impressive.

 One mixture gives you two pancake options - a flat, griddle/sauté pan pancake, or something more along the lines of a pan fried latke/potato pancake option.
 And there are do ahead/make ahead and customization options as well.




 1. You can make this recipe start to finish and consume everything in one go.
 2. You can grate the vegetable matter in the summer, freeze it... Only to bring it out in the fall or winter, thaw it, drain it, and mix up the pancakes from there.
 3. You can make lots of pancakes, freeze the extras and reheat them as you need them.
 4. You can flavor these pancakes to better suit their use, with your own add-ins, dill, basil, oregano, parsley and jalepeno peppers have all particularly successful.
 5. These are a great side dish, and make the best base for huevos rancheros - ever.

Zucchini Pancakes with bacon and (greek) yogurt for breakfast.
A great start to a day spent replacing faucets.

The Recipe: Zucchini Pancakes - 2 Ways 

This is a proportional recipe - all around 2 Cups of grated zucchini.
I'm going to guess you will have a different amount. Double or triple or halve as you need.
The best news is the recipe is very forgiving, and a little more or a little less is not going to mess things up. And I have yet to figure out how to add half an egg.


Equipment:
Large knife
Cutting board
Mixing bowl - medium or large depending on how much zucchini you are taking on
Grating Device - I highy recommend a food processor for this one
Salad spinner or collander
Non-fuzzy cotton kitchen towels
Measuring cup
Mixing spoon/spatula
Flipping spatula

 Griddle/sauté pan
 -OR- Dutch oven/deep sided skillet/fryer

Ingredients:
2 C grated zucchini
1 C grated potato
1/2 an onion - also grated
1/2 C flour - gluten free flours/flour mixes work well here, you need the starch, not the stretch
1 egg Pinch of salt and pepper
Handful of your favorite herbs, roughly chopped (start with dill if undecided, that's the classic.)

Oil for cooking - amount varies by method (Canola & vegetable oils are fine.  Definitely no place for fancy oils)

Prep:

With the large knife, chop the large zucchini into manageable size pieces.
If the seeds look particularly spongy and dry, scoop them out.
Grate the zucchini, and place the result in your salad spinner/collander for the first round of draining. Go ahead grate it all, you can freeze the extra.

When it is all grated, spread out a thin layer over you kitchen towel,

roll it up and squeeze mercilessly to get out extra water.

You may need to do this in several batches depending on how much zucchini you have.

Measure out your 2 cups, and put the rest in a zip top bag, squeeze out the air and stash in the freezer. Grate the potato and onion.  Use clean hands to stir these together*, add in the herbs, flour, egg, salt and pepper as well.

Combine until just mixed.  (My hands were too goopy to take the photo... and I was getting hungry.)


Cook!

1. Flat Pancake way - heat a griddle/sauté pan over med-high heat. Give it a light coating of oil.
When a bit of the pancake batter sizzles raucously on the surface, it is hot enough. (about 3-4 minutes) Spoon heaping tablespoons of batter onto the griddle. 
Press down with your spatula to flatten then out.
After a minute or two, peek and see if the bottom is browning nicely. If yes, flip! If no, wait until it has, then flip.
Set aside on a cooling rack or paper towels. Eat the first one as hot as you can with some pepper. 

2. Fried Pancake way - heat 1/4 to 1/2 inch of oil in a Dutch oven or other high-sided, heavy pot to 350˚F, or until a dot of batter sizzles merrily, and cooks by the time you count to ten.
(You should be well below the smoke point of you oil, turn it off if you start to see smoke.**)
Fry zucchini pancake patties that are about 2 heaping tablespoons in size. Only cook 2 or 3 at a time so you don't cool the oil down too much.
Each pancake will take about 3 - 4 minutes on each side to get golden brown on the outside, and soft and wonderful on the inside.
Eating of several test pancakes may be required.
 Drain on a cooling rack over paper towels.

For Both Ways -

When you get the timing down,  cook all the rest.
You can keep these warm in an oven that has been preheated to 250˚F and turned off.
Don't cover them, or they will get soggy.
Extras can be refrigerated/frozen, and reheated in a toaster.

*you can also stop and freeze the ingredients here.
** Always have a large lid on hand and a kitchen fire extinguisher when frying.  And NEVER use water to put out a grease fire.

Some quick suggestions: Pan fried zucchini pancakes with lots of dill and a little mint are a classic middle eastern food.  Enjoy with hummus, or yogurt with cucumbers and mint (tzaziki).

Add a north African flair by adding smoked paprika and turmeric to the flour. And serve with the North African version of crockpot food, a Tagine

Add a little sugar, cumin and cardamom for a sweet/ breakfast version, and use a sweet onion instead of a regular one.

Make tiny pancakes, and serve with smoked salmon and a little dilled sour cream for zucchini based party food.

Break for Beets!

(and I mean Take a Break!)

Back from the cruise, I at last get my next bag from Tiny's CSA.

Cherries!  Well that's easy.  Cherries go with everything & nothing.

Deeper down in the bag I have fennel, baby onions, lettuces, cabbage, peaches, potatoes...
And I have the beets left from before we left.  That is one of the best features of beets - they'll be there for you.

So-o-o-o-o....
 Beet salad with Wilted Onions and Fennel,  Orange-Fennel Dressing & Toast

Ingredients:

3-4 baby beets
1 small fennel bulb sliced thin
1 baby (small, early) onion sliced thin
3 Tbs goat cheese

1 Tbs fennel fronds - the feathery parts only, chopped
Juice from 1/2 of an orange + 1 Tbs white wine (or similar) vinegar
- or - 2 Tbs balsamic vinegar
1 tsp goat cheese
1 clove green garlic minced
salt & pepper - to taste
1 Tbs + a little more olive oil (break out the good stuff)

Prep:

Preheat the oven to 450˚
Trim the leaves and the scraggly root end off the beets.  Give them a good scrub, and rub some oil on them.  Put them in the smallest pan they'll fit it in a single layer.  Pop them in the oven for 40 - 50 minutes.  They are done when a knife slides in easily.  (This can be done a day or two before...)
Let cool, and scrub/peel the skins off.  Wash your hands immediately to avoid the dreaded "pink finger"!
Chop roughly into bite size pieces.

Slice the onions and fennel thin.  Place in saute pan over medium heat, with a little oil and a sprinkle of salt.  Start a sweat of these ingredients - warm them to soften and release some liquid.  Take them off the heat when they are still crisp.

Make the dressing by stirring the juice/vinegar with the teaspoon of your goat cheese.  Stir in the minced fennel and garlic.  Add salt and pepper to taste.
slowly add the oil while stirring the dressing with a fork.

Combine all the vegetables with the dressing.  Only stir a few times to avoid turning everything pink.
Scatter the crumbled goat cheese over the salad.

I added a couple of pieces of toast, brushed with olive oil.

Enjoy yourself, and leave behind a bright pink puddle.