It’s so very cold these days. Yes, it’s January, yes, it’s supposed to be cold and generally, I like the cold, so I am not really complaining. Arctic cold snaps are tolerable, but they do make me feel like turning on the oven more. My flat is so small that turning on the oven actually heats up the entire place somewhat. So I decided to make this Meyer Lemon + Blue Poppy Seed Bundt Cake before work this morning. The meyer lemons make it all sunshiney too, which is good for the winter-blahs.
These are Hasseltots…. teeny tiny potatoes, cut hasselback style. Contrary to the autocorrect on my phone, these are NOT Hasselhofs. As far as I know, The Hof is not involved with my lunchtime kitchen activities (shudder), but I’ve had to correct the autocorrect more than a few times.
Autocorrect is annoying. These Hasseltots are delicious. Hands down yummy.
Also, might be kid friendly (minus the greenery?) because they are “snackable” and taste a lot like french fries.
More spuds! And what’s not to like about putting carbs in carbs! Yea, a potato pie with carbs nestled in more carbs and nope, I don’t regret a thing. This is delicious. A little sweet from the caramelized onions, salty from the machego cheese, hearty from the potatoes. Can be served on it’s own as a brunch dish or an appetizer, or as your carbohydrate along with meat and a salad.
(PS: don’t have manchego cheese? Asiago or Parmesan will serve you just fine too!)
Kicking off “Potato Week” in my little attempt to create some January enthusiasm, here we have crispy and fluffy Sea Salt + Vinegar Smashed Potatoes. Yeah, sure — first you have to boil the mini-potatoes and then bake them and THEN finally, spritz them with a bit of malt vinegar, but OMG are these good. If you aren’t a malt vinegar type of person, you can skip that part, but don’t skimp on the sea salt. I didn’t make any dipping sauces (ketchup worked just fine), but I could see a sour-cream and chive, a curry ketchup or ranch-mayo deal. Find the smallest potatoes possible — these were a little smaller than a ping pong ball. Little red or yellows both work. Yum Yum!
So as we start the new year, here is one more “symbolic food” that I thought that I would make something with. The Pomegranate. This one is a bit controversial, to be honest. The oldest known symbolism of pomegranate is of fertility and abundance (all those little seeds!). Some cultures see it as a symbol for immortality and eternal life. And then there is the other extreme — some cultures see the fruit as a symbol of death. A lot of these are tied to religion, and as I am not the religious sort, I am going to just leave it as a spherical symbol (full circle) and abundance (all those seeds)! And it makes a really delicious, really easy to make jelly (I cheated and just used POM juice). Breakfast is served on a freshly baked piece of anadama bread.