Kung Pao Potatoes

Kung pao what? In the last few years, I’ve realized the kung pao game has gone way beyond takeout chicken. There were kung pao brussels sprouts in Boston, kung pao pastrami in San Francisco, and of course, chickpeas on probably every vegan blog under the sun. Claire told me she even tried it with cauliflower.

I’ve found these new takes to be mixed results. The brussels sprouts were perfection, but the pastrami was probably the least successful. It was gloriously decadent, but felt like it took two days to recover from the salt overload. If it isn’t going to be chicken, I think I want it to be either center stage as a vegetable main or as a way to dress up an otherwise plain side dish. 

Like…potatoes! 

I wouldn’t normally think of potatoes as a stir fry ingredient, and I don’t think I’ve ever encountered them on a Chinese menu. But I’m not at pretending at authenticity here and so I think they should be! If you treat them right, the potatoes can soak up a ton of the flavors of the sauce and still be fried to golden, crispy perfection. Add in some bell peppers and it feels like a kung pao take on home fries. Not a bad thing at all.

It took me a few tries to get a recipe I was happy with. I wanted the spiciest, most tongue-numbing version, calling for too many sichuan peppercorns and a generous amount of heat. I wanted crispy potatoes and crunchy veggies all together. Thanks to all that experimenting done for me over at Serious Eats, I think I nailed it. 

This recipe has a lot going on, but if you prep everything in advance and cook in batches as needed, you should be good! Turn on your stove fan and open the windows, and in 10 minutes you can have piping hot, crispy potatoes crowned in tingly, sichuan pepper glory. These go perfectly as a side paired with some sautéed bok choy or other green stuff and white rice underneath because of course.

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Kung Pao Potatoes

Adapted from Serious Eats

For the sauce:

• 2 tbs soy sauce, divided
• 2 tbs dry sherry, divided
• 1 tbs chinkiang vinegar
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp cornstarch, divided
• 1 tbs chili garlic sauce

For the potatoes:

• 1 1/2 lbs small marble potatoes
• 1/3 cup neutral oil, like grapeseed
• 12 small dried red chiles (arbol)
• 2 tbs sichuan peppercorns, toasted until fragrant
• 4 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tbs minced ginger
• 1 red bell pepper cut into 1/2" pieces
• 1 green bell pepper cut into 1/2" pieces
• 3 scallions, whites minced, greens sliced thin
• 1/2 cup roasted, unsalted peanuts or cashews
• cooked rice, for serving

1. Parboil potatoes until just soft enough to be pierced with a knife. While potatoes are boiling, combine 2 tsp soy sauce, 2 tsp sherry, and 1 tsp cornstarch in a large bowl and whisk until corn starch dissolves. When potatoes are done, drain and slice into quarters or halves. Toss with the marinade and let sit for 30 minutes.
2. While potatoes are marinating continue prepping ingredients. Grind half of the sichuan peppercorns and combine with the scallion greens and set aside. Mix together scallion whites, garlic, and ginger and set aside. Combine the remaining soy sauce, sherry, corn starch, vinegar, chili-garlic sauce and sugar and whisk until the corn starch dissolves. 
3. Set a mesh strainer over a bowl. Heat the oil in a large, heavy skillet (or a wok if you have one) over high heat until it shimmers. Add the remaining unground peppercorns and the dried chiles and fry for 15 seconds, until fragrant. Pour the oil through the strainer, then pick out and reserve dried chiles for later. 
4. Return the skillet to high heat until slightly smoking. Add 1/4 of the oil and add the bell peppers. Fry until browned and crisp tender, about 1-2 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer to a plate. 
5. Add another 1/4 of the oil to the pan and add the potatoes. Fry until crisp, about 1-2 minutes. Add potatoes to the plate with the peppers.
6. Add the celery to the hot skillet and cook 2 minutes. To the celery, add the peanuts, reserved chiles, potatoes and peppers and more oil if needed. Push the ingredients to the sides of the pan and add the garlic and ginger mixture to the center and cook about 15 seconds. Toss everything together and add the sauce. Cook until the sauce thickens and coats everything, then stir in the scallion peppercorn mixture. Remove from heat and serve immediately, with rice if desired.

Strawberries & Cream Cake

Recently, a friend of mine hosted a barbecue and I volunteered to bring a cake, as I tend to do. A couple days before the event I checked with her on the number of guests. I had planned to make a 6-inch cake, but she told me twelve people were coming.  I love making little 6-inch cakes but I also cannot stand the idea of running out of dessert. So, I did the only logical thing. I considered this news for about two minutes, then texted her to say that I’d be bringing two cakes. As one does.

One of those two cakes was the sprinkles and frosting cake I posted last month. The other was this lovely thing. In contrast to the explosion of sprinkles and pink, super sweet frosting, this cake held the more sophisticated position with barely sweet mascarpone whipped cream, vanilla cake, and beautiful, just in season strawberries. I don’t like to pick favorites but I think this was my favorite. Nothing is too sticky or too sweet, and with only three components it just seems so elegant in its simplicity. And once you start to find perfectly ripe strawberries, it really sings. 

(Also, not to brag, but one time I brought this cake to a restaurant for another friend’s goodbye dinner, and the staff asked me where I bought it. That basically made my year.)

This time, I actually thought my strawberries needed a little boost, so I flavored a bit of the whipped cream with freeze dried strawberries. This was delicious, but is completely optional, and also completely unnecessary when the strawberries get really good. If you were to make this cake now or into next month, you won’t need it.

In the end, we had the perfect amount of cake. And the only bit left after the frenzy was one little piece of this one. I don’t think anyone was sorry.

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Strawberries & Cream Cake

Vanilla recipe adapted from Style Sweet CA. Makes two, 6-inch layers.

• 1 1/2 cups cake flour
• 1/2 tbs baking powder
• scant 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg + 2 egg yolks
• 1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

For the frosting and the filling:

• 2 cups of cold heavy cream
• 8 oz mascarpone, room temperature
• 2 tbs powdered sugar
• 1 tbs vanilla bean paste
• 2 cups strawberries, hulled and clean, plus more, for garnish.

1. Make the cake: Butter and flour two, 6-inch cake pans and set aside. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Whisk together dry ingredients and set aside. In a small bowl, stir together sour cream and milk and set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the  paddle attachment, beat together butter and sugar on low speed until fluffy, about 4-5 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
3. Add the eggs and yolks, one at a time to the mixture while beating on low speed, then beat in the vanilla until mixture is well-blended. With the mixer on low, add in half the flour mixture, then the milk, then the remaining flour, fully combining each addition before adding the next. Once flour is fully mixed in, increase the speed to medium low and beat until smooth, about 15-20 more seconds.
4. Divide the batter between the prepared cake bans and bake 20-25 minutes, until a wooden skewer inserted comes out clean and edges of cakes are pulling away from the sides of the pans a bit. Let cakes cool in the pans for 10-15 minutes, then turn out to cool completely on a wire rack.
5. While cakes are cooling, prepare the filling and the frosting. Whip together cream, powdered sugar and vanilla for 2 minutes until thickened. Add the mascarpone and whip to stiff peaks. Chop the strawberries and fold into half of the whip cream mixture and set aside.
6. When cake layers are cool, level the layers so you can stack them evenly. Torte each layer so that you have four even cake layers. 
7. Assemble the layers and decorate: Pipe a border of the whipped cream frosting around the edges of your first layer, then fill in with the strawberry filling mixture. Stack another layer on top and repeat, until you top with your last layer (you may have some leftover filling at this point. It makes an excellent taco with the cake scraps from leveling). Spread the remaining frosting over the cake layers, as thickly or as naked as you want. I prefer to let the layers peek through. Decorate the top of the cake as you wish with any remaining strawberries.

Notes:

• You can choose not to torte the layers so that you only have 2 layers of cake (as pictured). You will have more leftover filling, as the recipe is based on more layers.
• If you want to add more strawberry flavor, you can swirl in some strawberry whipped cream frosting with the vanilla (as pictured). For this variation, adjust the vanilla frosting amounts to 1 1/2 cups whipped cream and 6 oz mascarpone. Put 1 tbs of granulated sugar and 1/8 cup of freeze-dried strawberries in a food processor and pulse to a fine powder. Add the remaining 1/2 cup cream and stir with a fork, then pulse with the remaining 2 oz mascarpone to a thick consistency. Use for decorating as desired.

Oven Totcho Home Fries

So these loaded potatoes are maybe a few days late for Cinco de Mayo, or maybe they are right on time for Taco Tuesday? We have no tacos in sight, but we have a lot of toppings that can go in a taco, so I'll allow it!

Just take all the delicious things you would pile into a taco, or better, onto nachos, and then even more better, pile them onto crispy, hot roasted potatoes, aka home fries. It's jalapeños on salsa on cheese on carbs and I love it. The potatoes soak up any juices, don't get soggy, and they stay hot while you eat them. It's nachos, but better. It's totchos!

(I think totchos usually refer to nachos made with tater tots, but I'm using whole potatoes here and I'm going with it.)

These make a killer brunch dish (you could even bake some eggs right on top of the potatoes) or side dish, or just an "I want a snack dish" but I think the important thing to note is that these potatoes are truly perfect for any time of day you crave cheese and spicy things on top of carbs.

Get it.

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Oven Roasted Potato Nachos

Potato method adapted from America's Test Kitchen

• 3 1/2 lbs fingerling potatoes
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tbs butter
• 3/4 tsp kosher salt
• pepper
• cayenne pepper
• 2 tbs vegetable oil
• cheddar cheese, shredded
• 3 scallions, thinly sliced
• pico de gallo
• 1 jalapeno, thinly sliced
• zest and juice of 1 lime
• sour cream
• avocado, sliced

1. Heat oven to 500 degrees with a rack in a low position. Place a cast iron or other heavy skillet in the oven to preheat.
2. Bring a large pot or water to boil, add the potatoes and baking soda. Cook for 2 minutes, then drain.
3. Return the potatoes to the pot over low heat, the cook 2 minutes until the moisture has cooked off. Remove from heat and add the butter, salt and cayenne and stir until well coated.
4. Remove the skillet from the oven and drizzle with the vegetable oil. Add the potatoes in an even layer and roast for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, scrape and flip potatoes, and roast another 15 minutes.
5. When ready to serve, sprinkle with cheese, and return to the oven for 2-3 minutes to melt the cheese. Remove from oven, mix together the sour cream, lime juice and zest in a small bowl and drizzle on top of the melted cheese. Top with remaining desired toppings and serve immediately.