Anyway, I’ve made today’s recipe before but I thought the deep fryer would take it up a notch. This recipe is a Puerto Rican recipe that is essentially seasoned ground beef, covered in potatoes, formed in to a ball, and then deep fried. Over the years, Ryan and I have made this recipe about a half a dozen times with mixed success. It always tastes good, but often the balls fall apart either while being formed or while in the oil. I thought using the deep fryer would help ensure good taste and good looks.

The true key to success is patience and preparation. You cannot make this recipe when you get home from work and want dinner – time is necessary! The mashed potatoes have to be cold so they can hold their shape. It is also important that the beef is cool. The meat doesn’t have to be cold, but if the meat is hot they will heat the potatoes, and then you’re in trouble.  The oil also has to be really hot, which is where the deep fryer comes in because it ensures a consistent temperature. You can totally do this recipe in a pan, but it’s harder to keep the heat high especially if you over crowd the pan.

Anyway, I am really happy with the way this recipe turned out. And, although this recipe is labor intensive, I had so much fun making it. I had dinner first, and then started cooking so I wasn’t hungry as I prepped the meat and potatoes. I was flow state cooking baby! I just let myself cook how I wanted, it was easy and fun. I didn’t use a recipe and I let myself enjoy the process. I made the potatoes and meat on one day, shaped the ingredients into balls the next, and then fried them. Everything worked out really well, I only wish I could make the potato layer thinner so there could be more meat. But, still a very delicious recipe. The rellenos held their circular shape, the outside was crunchy, and the inside was warm and flavorful.

Final note, I didn’t make a perfectly even amount of meat and potatoes. I made some potatoes and some beef and then formed rellenos until I ran out of one ingredient. If you have leftovers, I’m sure you can find other ways to reuse them. Enjoy!

Ingredients

2 1/2 pounds russet potatoes

1 lb ground beef

olive oil

1 small onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1/4 cup sofrito

2 tbsp cilantro

cornstarch

peanut oil (or other oil for frying)

Directions

1. Peel the potatoes. Put them in a large pot, cover the potatoes with cold water. Bring to a boil. Season with salt. Cook until the potatoes are fork-tender, about 40 minutes. (Note: keep the potatoes whole, you want them to be as starchy as possible so they’ll hold their shape later).

2. Drain the potatoes, and mash them until all large lumps are gone. The potatoes can still be a little bit lumpy, they shouldn’t be totally smooth. Put them in the fridge until cold (I put them in the fridge overnight).

3. In a medium pan, heat olive oil. Add in the garlic and onion and cook until soft (5ish minutes).

4. Add the red pepper and sofrito. Cook until the pepper has softened, about 5-7 minutes.

5. Add the ground beef. Break up with a spoon, and heat until cooked through.

6. Turn off the heat and stir in the cilantro.

6. Once the beef is done, drain on a paper towel. Let it cool until it’s easy to hold in your hand (I stored it in the fridge overnight).

7. Add oil to the deep fryer and heat to 350°. Alternatively, if you’re using a pan heat an inch of oil until it’s very hot.

8. When the potatoes and beef are cold, it’s time to form the balls. Coat your hand with a thin layer of mashed potatoes. (I’ve read you can do this using an ice cream scoop, but I don’t have one so here is my method)

9. Put a spoonful of  ground beef in the middle of your hand. Cup your hand to start forming a ball shape. Add additional mashed potatoes to close the ball.

10. Use your other hand to tighten the shape and create a tight ball.

10.5. This isn’t a real step, but I recommend putting the rellenos you aren’t actively cooking on a plate and in the fridge. Keep them cold so they won’t break before frying.

11. Put some cornstarch on a plate. Roll the rellenos in the cornstarch until completely covered.

12. Put the rellenos into the oil. Cook for 6 minutes (some areas will be a little brown).

13. Remove from heat and drain on a paper towel. Let cool a bit.

14. Serve and eat.

Messy level: This is a highly messy recipe. The potatoes, beef, and rellenos are basically three separate recipes. The messiest part is making the rellenos because potatoes will get all over your hand. Cornstarch also gets everywhere and if you aren’t really careful and delicate the rellenos will fall apart. It’s very messy – but if you give yourself the time it’s a fun recipe to make.

The post Rellenos de Papa (Stuffed Potato Fritters) appeared first on Cooking is Messy.

In addition to enjoying our neighborhood, I’m also trying to get back in the kitchen and do some real cooking. One the the best gifts we got from our going away haul, were two British cookbooks. Today, we can get practically any ingredient whenever we want, so it’s hard to know about traditional foods. I feel these cookbooks are giving me some good insight on traditional British cooking. There’s lot of recipes using lamb, pork, and part of the animals I’ve barely considered before. Alternatively, there aren’t many recipes using turkey or poultry. Vegetable recipes use mostly root vegetables, and barely any light leafy greens. These recipes give clues to what would have been available, before everything was available. I love it!

I also love the cookbooks because the recipe names are wonderful and amusing. Here are some examples: Yorshire Fat Rascals (cookies), flummery (custard), bubble and squeak (potatoes and cabbage). It’s so much more delightful than just describing what is in the dish. I love it. The name, soles in their coffins, is part of the reason that I c
hose today’s recipe. The sole, is the type of fish used. And the coffin is a hollowed out baked potato. I find this dish’s name both gruesome and adorable, I think that’s part of the fun. But I also thought the recipe sounded tasty. Seriously, fish, potatoes, and shrimp? That sounds yummy to me. I also wanted to push myself to try more fish recipes, and the technique seemed straight forward enough.  Although all the steps are pretty easy, it is a time consuming recipe. To make it quicker Ryan and I did the whole thing together, and that made cooking even more fun.

This recipe comes from the book Great British Cooking: A Well Kept Secret. This book is adapted for the American kitchen, which is awesome except that I’m an American cook using a British kitchen. So, I like measurements in cups and tablespoons, but Fahrenheit isn’t helpful anymore. More specifically, the recipe writes temperature in Fahrenheit and my oven is Celsius. Needless to say, Ryan and I did some Googling and converting mid cook.  I think after today, I’ll have to start putting both temperatures on the blog to keep my mind straight.

If you’re going to attempt this recipe, my most important recommendation is to trust your eye on how much to buy. The original recipe calls for 8 small sole fillets and 4 baking potatoes. When I saw the size of the available potatoes, compared to the size of the sole fillets, I knew that wouldn’t work. I went with three sole fillets, and 4 potatoes. The biggest fillet was cut in half and fit nicely in the two smallest potatoes. While at the grocery store, use your judgement on what will fit best. Ok, that’s enough direction. Let’s get cooking.

Ingredients:

4 baking potatoes

3-4 sole fillets

1 small yellow onion, finely chopped

2 cups white wine

4 tbsp butter

1/3 cup flour

2 cups mushrooms, sliced lengthwise

1 cup peeled and uncooked shrimp

salt

pepper

butter & milk for seasoning potatoes

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 425°.

2. Scrub the potatoes clean. Use a fork and poke a few wholes into the potato. Put the potatoes directly onto the oven rack, or on a baking sheet. Bake for 1 hour, or until a knife pokes through with no resistance. (I took this picture because I was so excited to have an oven light. The oven in Arlington did not have a light)

3. While the potato is baking, chop the onion.

4. In a small roasting pan, or oven proof dish, roll the sole fillets (like you’re rolling up a carpet). Pour the wine and onions over the fish. Season with salt and pepper. Cover loosely with aluminum foil.

5. When the potatoes are finished, take them out and set them aside to cool. Keep the oven door slightly ajar for a few minutes to let some heat out. Reset the oven to 350°.

6. Put the fish in the oven for 8 minutes. If you’re worried your oven is too hot, take it out a little earlier. You don’t want the fish to be overcooked.

7. While the fish is cooking, chop the mushrooms. Also, take the potatoes and cut a slice off lengthwise. This is the lid to your coffin. Use a spoon and hollow out your baked potatoes. Set the insides in a bowl to use later.

8. Take the fish out of the oven. Turn the heat up to 400°. Carefully remove the fish from the pan. Keep the cooking liquid, but strain out the onions.

9. In a saucepan, melt the 4 tbsp of butter. Then add the flour and cook for two minutes. Gradually add the strained wine cooking liquid. Stir until you get a light-colored creamy sauce (you might not need all the liquid). Taste. Season with salt and pepper if desired (Be careful! I didn’t realize my pepper opened two ways, one way with small holes and one with large. I accidentally opened the large size and dumped so much pepper in I practically ruined the sauce!)

10. While you’re making the sauce, heat a skillet over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes, then add the shrimp. Cook until they just turn pink. Remove from heat.

12. Put the potato coffins in your roasting pan. Spoon a bit of sauce into the bottom of a hollowed out potato. Then place a fish fillet inside. Spoon a bit more sauce on top. Then spoon the shrimp and mushrooms on top of that. If you like the sauce, you can pour lots more sauce on and smother the whole thing. Finally put the potato lid on top.

13. Cook in the oven for 10 minutes. While this is cooking, mash the potato insides. Gradually add milk, butter, and salt until the mashed potatoes are to your liking.

14. Remove from the oven. Place a coffin and a dollop of mashed potatoes on your plate. Serve!

Messy level: 4 spoons. This has a lot of steps, and requires a lot of spoons, pots, and finesse. The maneuvering between steps isn’t hard, but we made a mess straining the wine sauce, stirring the flour sauce, and all the pouring that has to be done. Also, hollowing a potato and stuffing it with a sole fillet makes for some gooey fingers.

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