I never really need an excuse to eat spicy food, but if I did, the horrible cold I've had for a few days that has reduced me to a mouth-breathing crybaby is a really good one. I rarely get sick, so when I do, I'm completely miserable. When cold medicine fails to relieve my congestion, I turn to my favorite sinus clearing ingredients like sriracha, jalapenos, and canned chipotles in adobo.
Fortunately, my cold coincided with my discovery of Chrissy Teigen's hilarious blog So Delushious. Am I living under a rock? Have you guys been reading her blog all this time? For those of you who are equally clueless, she's the gorgeous Sports Illustrated swimsuit model, who also happens to be engaged to John Legend. Oh yeah, and she's in culinary school. I basically read her blog from start to finish in a day, and noticed that she mentioned this chipotle marinade half a dozen times. Needless to say, I dragged my sneezing, congested self to the grocery store and immediately bought all the ingredients for this delicious meal.
I'd consider this marinade on the milder side of spicy, so if you're not a spice fiend, don't be afraid! Also, I beg you to make this with the chicken thighs as specified, and not boneless skinless chicken breasts. I know that's the go-to piece of chicken for most people, but thighs are infinitely more flavorful and juicy and soak up this marinade like it's their job. By the way, since this marinade contains vodka, you can easily freeze it without it turning into a block of ice! I'm really wishing I'd doubled the recipe below and stored half in the freezer myself!
You know the scene in The Boondock Saints where David Della Rocco launches into an impressive stream of profanity, after the brothers kill a bunch of people? (Here's a clip. Probably NSFW unless you work with people who curse a LOT.)
Well, imagine me in that scene instead of Rocco, and instead of me being surrounded by dead bodies, imagine wet slippery potatoes and hot oil. Allow me to explain...this recipe was a colossal pain in the butt to make. I don't know why. Maybe it's because I'm 100% Shiksa and trying to make Hanukkah food, and the majority of my knowledge about the holiday came from watching Rugrats. I made the biggest mess I have ever made while cooking. Potato skins and shreds were everywhere. I somehow went through an entire roll of paper towels. My bad, Earth. At one point I caught air when I skidded on an oil slick. To be fair, these aren't hard to make, they're just super messy. I literally dropped no less than 47 f-bombs during the time it took me to make these. Much like Rocco, I effectively illustrated the diversity of the word, and probably terrified and offended my neighbors in the process.
However, much like a mother forgets the pain of childbirth (or so I'm told) and is willing to do it again because babies are awesome, I've already forgotten the spectacular mess of making these, and would do it again in a heartbeat. I love these latkes, like they are my greasy, carb-filled spawn. Those of you who have actually given birth may hate me now for comparing the pain of latke making to baby birthing.
Like many things I cook, the desire to make these at home first came about a year ago, when I had some truly terrible latkes at a diner. I don't think the cook had ever eaten a latke in his life, because there were literally shreds of potato mixed into a traditional pancake batter. What the heck is that? Not edible, I can tell you that much. These latkes, however, are more than just edible. They are phenomenal. They're perfectly crisp, and with barely any filler to hold together the potatoes, they are not remotely in danger of tasting like the monstrosity I had at the aforementioned diner.
I know everyone is probably still stuffed from Thanksgiving festivities yesterday, but I highly recommend that you make a little more room in your stomach for a batch of these.
For the applesauce:
1 cup chunky applesauce
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground ginger
For the latkes:
4 Russet Potatoes, scrubbed and peeled
1 yellow onion, minced
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons fresh chives, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
Kosher salt and pepper
Oil for frying (I used half canola and half olive)
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Place a wire rack on a rimmed baking sheet, and set aside.
Mix together the sauce ingredients in separate bowls. Place in the refrigerator while you prepare the latkes.
Fill a large bowl with cold water. Using the large holes on a grater, shred the peeled potatoes into the water. Using a fine mesh sieve, drain the potatoes in batches, and rinse under cold running water. Drain again thoroughly, pressing against the sieve to remove as much water from the potatoes as possible. In batches, transfer the potatoes to a clean kitchen towel. Squeeze to remove even more water, and then place the potato shreds in a large bowl.
Place the minced onion into a double layer of paper towels, and gently squeeze to remove the moisture. Add the onions to the bowl. Add the eggs, flour, chives, and garlic. Salt and pepper the mixture, and stir to mix well. I didn't precisely measure how much salt and pepper I used, and the original recipe did not specify an amount. It's really hard to over-salt potatoes in my opinion. Taste one of the latkes after you fry up the first round, and if it needs more salt add it in - that's what I did.
In a large frying pan, heat 1/2 inch of oil over medium heat. Depending on your stove, it will take about 5 minutes to get hot enough for frying. To test it, drop a tiny bit of latke mixture in, and if it immediately starts sizzling, you're good to go. Using your hands, scoop up some potato mixture and form into into a golf ball size ball. Squeeze it over the sink to remove excess moisture. Gently flatten the ball into a pancake as thin as possible. Place into the hot oil, and repeat for 2-3 more latkes. Cook for 2-3 minutes per side, until golden brown. Transfer the cooked latkes to the wire rack, and place in the preheated oven to keep warm. Repeat with the remaining potato mixture until all latkes are cooked. Serve immediately with the sauces. I think I got 17 latkes out of this that were about 2.5-3 inches in diameter each.
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Source: Adapted from This is a Cookbook: Recipes For Real Lifeby Max & Eli Sussman. (Great cookbook in case you were wondering - a lot of simple recipes, written by two very funny, adorable guys who I now have a creepy cookbook crush on.)
I feel like Labor Day was last week. How on earth did this holiday sneak up so quickly? I haven't even completed my traditional pre-Thanksgiving ritual of watching all 10 Thanksgiving episodes of Friends back to back. Have I mentioned my obsession with Friends on here before? You know how there's comfort food? Friends is the TV version of comfort food to me. I own every season, I know every line, and something about the familiarity and predictability of it is very relaxing to me. The Thanksgiving episodes are the absolute best, and the phrase "squtternut bosh" will never not be hilarious.
One of my favorite episodes titled "The One With All the Thanksgivings" occurred in season five of the series. This episode revolves around the group's flashbacks to their worst Thanksgivings ever. One of the flashbacks reveals that during college, Ross brought his Thanksgiving-hating roommate, Chandler, home to Long Island for Thanksgiving. Chandler's refusal to eat any Thanksgiving foods prompts Ross' younger sister Monica to make him a batch of macaroni and cheese. At one point during the episode, (see 3:08 in this video), she asks Chandler if he liked the macaroni and cheese, to which he nonchalantly replied, "oh yeah, it was great, you should be a chef." Monica exclaims, "okay!", and as any avid Friends fan knows, she did just that.
Ever since I started cooking, I've always loved that moment because I totally get Monica's enthusiastic response. One of the reasons I love to bake is because it makes people happy, and makes them feel loved and appreciated when you put the time into making something homemade just for them. The approval that Monica got from Chandler in that moment is something I get a little bit of every time I make something delicious that people enjoy, albeit in a less sarcastic tone.
I guarantee you that if you make these salted maple pecan pie bars this Thanksgiving, you'll have a Monica and Chandler moment with one of your dinner guests. I think I like these even better than traditional pecan pie. I know most people are all about the crust when it comes to pie, but I'm more of a pie filling kind of girl myself. The crust is good, but it's not what I'm there for. Here, instead of a traditional pie crust, you have a brown sugar shortbread type situation that is absolutely delicious. It's topped with a traditional pecan pie filling, and sprinkled with fleur de sel to balance out the intense sweetness. If you're having a lot of people over for Thanksgiving this year, this would be an excellent dessert to make since it serves way more people than a traditional pie.
Any other Friends fanatics out there? I'm assuming if you're still reading, you are. If you are, just know that we'd be friends in real life. I got to know one of my great friends (hi Molly!) when we shared an office at my last job, and I'm pretty sure that 50% of the reason we became friends is because both of us understood that a "moo point" is a cow's opinion.
Have a very Happy Thanksgiving to all of my U.S. readers, and for everyone else, have a happy fourth Thursday in November!
Here's what you'll need:
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups flour (plus a bit more if necessary)
2 large eggs
3/4 cup dark corn syrup
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups pecan halves
Fleur de Sel for sprinkling
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x13 glass baking dish with heavy duty aluminum foil, leaving an overhang on all four sides.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and 1 cup brown sugar with an electric mixer. Beat in flour until coarse crumbs form. If your dough is still a bit sticky, add in more flour by the tablespoon. I used an additional 3 tablespoons. The dough should be crumbly, but able to stick together when pressed.
Transfer the dough to the prepared pan, and press evenly into the pan, packing down well. Bake for 12-15 minutes in the preheated oven, until it has slightly puffed and appears dry on top.
While the crust is baking, prepare the filling. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, corn syrup, 3/4 cup brown sugar, maple syrup, and vanilla. Stir in the pecan halves.
After removing the crust from the oven, pour the filling over the top, and spread evenly. Return the pan to the oven and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes. (Note: a reader told me that hers needed an additional 5 minutes on top of this to fully cook. Use your best judgment, because you don't want to under-cook these! They should not be excessively sticky on top when you remove them.) Remove from the oven when the filling appears mostly set (mine took the full 20 minutes), and sprinkle with fleur de sel.
Cool for 2 hours at room temperature, and refrigerate overnight before cutting. I refrigerated mine for about 18 hours before slicing these - definitely don't rush it! Remove the bars from the pan using the foil handles (you may need to loosen the edges with a sharp knife, because the sugary syrup gets below the foil a bit), and cut into 24 bars with a sharp knife. Serve cold.
by Max & Eli Sussman. (Great cookbook in case you were wondering - a lot of simple recipes, written by two very funny, adorable guys who I now have a creepy cookbook crush on.)
