Latkes

2 cups peeled and shredded potatoes

¼ slivered white onion

2 eggs, beaten

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 cup oil for frying

1. Once you've shredded your potatoes, most people use russet but I used red, it was all I had, you will need to squeeze out as much water from the potatoes as possible. I placed the potatoes in a sack I made from cheese cloth. Time to work out those forearms!

2. Once you've finished squeezing, place the potatoes in a bowl with the beaten eggs, flour, onion, and salt, mix together. (If there is too much egg mixture, add more shredded/squeezed potatoes)

3. Once you've heated the oil in your skillet, from what I've read the oil should be around 350 degrees, I just gauged it by placing a sliver of potato in the oil. If the oil bubbled immediately, its hot enough. Place the batter in the oil using generous spoonfuls so that it will flatten to 1/4-1/2 inch thickness and small palm sized disks.

4. You want to let the batter cook for a minute or two, once it is golden on the underside, flip, and cook till golden on the new side. Place the latkes on a plate lined with paper towels and pat excess oil off.

5. Serve hot with a side of applesauce, sour cream or some other condiment of choice.

Truely, YUMMMMMMMmmmmmmm!

King Cake

First of all, I had somehow managed to completely forget about this blog but I remember really enjoying it back in the day. I randomly stumbled upon it today so now I'll try to return regularly and post things the rare times I actually cook something interesting. Nobody's posted on here for over a year so I'll have to start poking people to try to drum up some other traffic from some of the previous contributors. Truthfully, I don't even know who owns this blog.

Now, to the food...


For anybody familiar with Mardi Gras, you know that king cake is an integral part of the season. That's right, Mardi Gras is an entire season lasting from January 6 until Mardi Gras day, which is the day before Ash Wednesday. January 6 is Epiphany or King's Day and, according to tradition, it is the day that the wise men reached Bethlehem. Ash Wednesday is, of course, the first day of Lent, the Christian season of fasting, which is why Mardi Gras (meaning fat Tuesday in French) exists; it's the last day of partying and eating rich, fat, or sweet foods before Lent. The Brits traditionally eat pancakes and call it Shrove Tuesday (aka Pancake Tuesday), I think the Czechs eat kolaci and the Poles eat something whose name escapes me at the moment. Most traditionally Catholic or Orthodox cultures have some sweet to use up the last of their sugar and oil and in New Orleans we have the king cake.

The king cake comes from the French tradition, as does Mardi Gras itself, but the Louisiana king cake quickly differentiated itself from the French cake and is now a distinct Louisiana tradition. King cakes are sold throughout the Mardi Gras season and, even though stores will begin selling them immediately after Christmas, locals are usually very strict about not eating them outside of Mardi Gras season. Occasionally, you can find king cakes in bakeries outside the Mardi Gras area (southern Louisiana, southern Mississippi, southern Alabama, western Florida, and SE Texas) but, if so, it's usually only the week before Mardi Gras and not the entire season. As I'm currently living on the Left Coast, I can't buy king cakes at the store so I've had to make them myself.

I did a little searching and found a recipe by Emeril that I like a lot. The traditional king cake is similar to a twisted loaf of sweet, cinnamon bread that is shaped into a ring, iced, and sprinkled with sugar that is colored green, purple, and gold, the official colors of Mardi Gras. However, every bakery also sells king cakes filled with cream cheese or fruit fillings. This recipe is filled with cream cheese. I find that the filled cakes are much more forgiving as the unfilled ones dry out easily so are trickier to make well.

If you're not familiar with king cakes, you might get down to the party about baking a baby in and think we're all crazy down in Louisiana. I got lots of weird looks at church and at work when I brought and shared king cakes there. We always bake a small plastic baby into the cake and whoever gets the baby is king for the day. The lucky finder of the baby is also the person who gets to bring the king cake to the next king cake party; back in NO it's common to have weekly king cake parties in offices or classrooms throughout Mardi Gras season. If you can't find small plastic babies (amazingly, I found a package of them at a local novelty shop), people sometimes use a kidney bean, pecan, or coin. Just make sure you warn your eaters that there's something non-edible (and probably plenty chokable) in the cake.

Anyway, I've rambled more than enough, here's the recipe:

* 2 envelopes active dry yeast
* 1/2 cup granulated sugar
* 1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
* 1-1/2 cups warm milk (about 110°F)
* 1/2 cup warm water
* 5 large egg yolks, at room temperature
* 4 1/2 cups bleached all-purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons salt
* 1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
* 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
* 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
* 1 pound cream cheese, at room temperature
* 4 cups confectioner's sugar
* 1 plastic king cake baby or a pecan half
* 5 tablespoons milk, at room temperature
* 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
* Purple-, green-, and gold-tinted sugar sprinkles

Combine the yeast and granulated sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add the melted butter and warm milk and warm water. Beat at low speed for 1 minute. With the mixer running, add the egg yolks, then beat for 1 minute at medium-low speed. Add the flour, salt, nutmeg, and lemon zest and beat until everything is incorporated. Increase the speed to high and beat until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, forms a ball, and starts to climb up the dough hook. If the dough is uncooperative in coming together, add a bit of warm water (110 degrees), a tablespoon at a time, until it does.

Remove the dough from the bowl. Using your hands, form the dough into a smooth ball. Lightly oil a bowl with the vegetable oil. Place the dough in the bowl and turn it to oil all sides. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 2 hours.

Meanwhile, make the filling. In a large mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese and 1 cup of the confectioner's sugar. Blend by hand or with an electric mixer on low speed. Set aside.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Using your fingers, pat it out into a rectangle about 30 inches long and 6 inches wide.

Spread the filling lengthwise over the bottom half of the dough, then flip the top half of the dough over the filling. Seal the edges, pinching the dough together. Shape the dough into a cylinder and place it on the prepared baking sheet seam side down. Shape the dough into a ring and pinch the ends together so there isn't a seam. Insert the king cake baby or pecan half into the ring from the bottom so that it is completely hidden by the dough.

Cover the ring with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel and place in a warm, draft-free place. Let the dough rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°F.

Brush the top of the risen cake with 2 tablespoons of the milk. Bake until golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely on a wire rack.

Make the icing. Combine the remaining 3 tablespoons milk, the lemon juice, and the remaining 3 cups confectioner's sugar in medium-size mixing bowl. Stir to blend well. With a rubber spatula, spread the icing evenly over the top of the cake. Sprinkle with the sugar crystals, alternating colors around the cake.

The cake is traditionally cut into 2-inch-thick slices with all the guests in attendance.

YIELD: 20 to 22 servings

If you want a fun Mardi Gras workout, try making it without a mixer!