09 March 2007

Potato and Onion Cakes for the Temporally Challenged


go to work come home go to bed go to work come home go to bed go to work come home go to bed go to work come home go to bed go to work come home go to bed go to work come home go to bed go to work come home go to bed go to work come home go to bed go to work come home go to bed go to work come home go to bed go to work come home go to bed go to work come home go to bed go to work come home go to bed go to work come home make potato and onion cakes go to bed go to work come home go to bed go to work come home go to bed go to work come home go to bed go to work come home go to bed go to work come home go to bed go to work come home go to bed go to work come home go to bed go to work come home go to bed go to work come home go to bed go to work come home go to bed go to work come home go to bed go to work come home go to bed go to work come home go to bed go to work come home go to bed


Potato and Onion Cakes
~adapted from a random magazine in a random auto mechanic shop in a random suburb of Chicago

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
coarse salt
1 teaspoon chopped rosemary, plus 6 sprigs for ramekins
1 small red onion, sliced into 6 1/4” rounds
4 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, grated
1 egg yolk, slightly beaten

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Butter ramekins, then sprinkle with salt, pepper, sugar, and vinegars.
Place a rosemary sprig in the bottom of each ramekin, then lay one onion round over the rosemary.
Toss potatoes with egg, rosemary, and 2 teaspoons coarse salt.
Divide the potatoes into ramekins and dot with remaining butter.
Bake for 30 minutes, until brown.
To remove the cakes, slide a knife around the edge of the ramekin, then turn upside down.

35 comments:

Anonymous said...

You put the onion in the bottom of the ramekin first, too, right?

Those sound extremely yummy and I might just have to make them this weekend.

Rachel said...

These look great! I've made potato onion cakes but never with the onion on top. Very clever!

Susan in Italy said...

I've missed my last 2 blog appointents due to overwork. Those potato and onion cakes look great and if they're quick...

Mia said...

Those look wonderful. I love red onion with rosemary and potatoes and basically everything on the ingredients list.

Sorry about the temporally challenging times, hope it's just, um, temporary!

ByTheBay said...

Gorgeous and amazing! I will be adding this recipe to next week's Gluten-Free Recipe Roundup.

Lynne Daley said...

What a great looking dish-would be wonderful with something grilled. Beautiful photos, also.

evinrude said...

I love onions! But me thinks you forgot the onion Erielle. ^^

Anonymous said...

For the days that we work late, this does seem like a very simple & filling idea... Looks tasty too!

Casey said...

Go home, go to work, go to bed.... I kinda like the go to bed part.

Susan from Food Blogga said...

Ooh, the sweet brown sugar and acidic vinegar must compliment the onion beautifully. Sounds and looks delicious.

Anonymous said...

What a great way to break the monotonous cycle ;P

Kajal@aapplemint said...

Hahahahaha...love the way u started off....routine can be a drag sometimes...actually most of the times !But look at the bright side...it got u making these lovely potato cakes.Love the onion pattern that has formed on the top.

Erielle said...

Jess, you are correct, I forgot to include that part. Ooops! Thanks!

Rachel, it's a nice touch.

Susan, they're not as quick as say, instant oatmeal, but they're pretty easy.

Deinin, it's a nice flavor and texture combination. And I think the temporally challenged times are possibly over now. More time to cook, yay!

BytheBay, that's exciting! You managed to find one of my only recipes that's healthy. I'm impressed!

Lynnylu, thanks! I can't wait for grilling season. These would be delicious alongside a juicy steak!

Thanks, Evinrude. I wrote that post up really fast and didn't check it. Should be fixed now.

Mike, with two of you cooking, it should go pretty quickly. One of you can grate the taters while the other one preps the ramekins.

Casey, me too!

Susan, the acid and the sugar tenderize and brown the onion quite deliciously. It's magic.

Y, yes. Another way to break the monotonous cycle is with coconut layer cake. I suppose that takes a little more time, however.

Hello Kate! The key to the onion pattern is to try to find the smallest red onion you can, so that a whole round fits into bottom of the ramekin. If you can only find large red onions, you can always peel of the largest circles from the slices until you are left with small circles.

Chris said...

I desperately want to try this (and I've been on an internet/tastespotting recipe-per-week streak for awhile now), but I need to find some way to incorporate cheese... ;-)

Any suggestions?

Anonymous said...

Those look so good...
I hope life gets a little less hectic for you soon.

Anonymous said...

Those look yummy. And wow, you've been having lots of fun lately, huh?

;-)

J said...

WOW...very yummy looking. I don't have ramikins, and no room to put them if I did...could I use a muffin pan, do you think?

btw, if you're at all interested, I tagged you for a food meme. :) Those are easy blog posts, right?

Anonymous said...

erielle, these are such pretty little dainty cakes. i'll take 20! clever too with the onion, i've never seen anything like this before, yumyum!

i'm glad you broke the cycle to post this one for us, thanks! :):)

Kim Vallee said...

The perfect easy entertaining side dish. Yummy and good looking. I suggest using a mandoline for slicing the red onions to get perfect layers. Thanks Erielle for the inspiration. I pitched your recipe on my blog.

Patricia Scarpin said...

This is delicious!!!!

Anonymous said...

I like this very much! What a fabulous idea! I love everything about it - good looking and a great recipe.

Mae

Erielle said...

Disillusioned, cheese sounds delicious. I’ve been thinking about how to incorporate it for a few days now. I imagine that you could just grate the cheese and throw it right in with the potatoes mixture. I bet fontina would work well.

Kristen, it’s definitely slowing down now, thank goodness. I hope to get back to cooking soon!

Kate, yeah, lots of fun. Whoo hoo!

J, now that you mention it, I do think the recipe said that you could use large muffin tins. And I’ve never been tagged before, how exciting! Thanks!

Aria, I know you were joking when you said you’d take 20, but it makes me wonder how these would do in mini-muffin tins. As one-bite appetizers. Then you really could eat 20! I’d have to find alot of very small red onions.

Kim, thanks for putting the recipe up on your blog. I wish I could remember what magazine it was from so I could give them credit. Oh well.
Yes, with a mandoline, the slices could be made very thin, and then they might caramelize more and crisp up even more.

Patricia, thanks!

Mae, thank you so much. I’ll be making them again soon, I’m sure.

Anonymous said...

Wow, you're a genius. Thanks for the laugh. I can't help but think of these as rosti in a ramekin, which is a very good thing. Erielle, would you ever consider serving these with some caramelized apples or pears?

Anonymous said...

Inspired by your picture, i made a version of this with my new found love RUTABEGA!!! My food processor shredded it in no time and i threw it together in a mufin tin. It was wonderful, almost creamy and slightly sweet but cripsy on the outside. Thanks for the inspiration!

-cw

*fanny* said...

i - want - one - right - now

these look so so so good and the pictures...

yum

- fanny

Anonymous said...

These look delicious! And with blogging being so wonderfully global, I'm delighted to discover a fellow Chicago food blogger. I'll be back for more.

Anonymous said...

That routine sounds strangely familiar ... except for the part about the potato onion tarts ... I'll have to try these.

They look gorgeous!

Erielle said...

Rob, the caramelized apples and pears sounds delightful! I might put in sage instead of rosemary, then. And maybe some blue cheese crumbles...

Anonymous, good way to get the green veggies in. I should be doing more of that!

Thanks Fanny, I'd mail you one if I could.

Terry, what's the name of your blog? There's no link in your comment, but I would like to stop by.

Thanks, Ivonne. I'm out of the rut now, hooray. Couldn't take much more of that!

Anonymous said...

Hi, this is my first comment, though I've been reading for a while. I made these in a regular muffin tin and they were fabulous and my superpicky husband liked them too. Although somehow, i got 12 instead of 6. I'm not complaining, but now I need some tips on how to reheat them--the microwave just makes them soggy. What do you think? Toaster oven?

J said...

I tried these last night, and I failed miserably! Too much vinegar, perhaps? The tops of the cakes came out totally black, and they were kinda soggy. Sigh. Perhaps I need to try again?

Erielle said...

Eliza, I'm so glad they turned out! I would say the toaster oven is the best bet. Or, put them right back in the muffin tins and put them in the oven for twenty minutes or so.

J, sadface. I wonder if the muffin tins were too thin, and that's why the tops burnt. Or maybe the vinegar reacted with the type of metal in the muffin tins.
Were your potatoes very watery after you grated them? Some potatoes have more moisture than others. In that case you can drain them after you grate them, and try to squeeze some of that moisture out. I hope you try again and it works out better!

freshair said...

Everyone loves a ramekin. Pretty little darlings, too. Perfect for a picnic lunch. Could you peruse the random magazines in that random mechanic shop next time you need service and surprise us again?

J said...

They actually didn't burn...they were just black. That's what made me think, too much vinegar. Because the balsamic is so dark. Strange, huh? They were tasty, though, just not crispy enough. I'll try again. ;)

Anonymous said...

The long time lost magazine is found. Erielle, one of my readers just points out that the recipe was published on Martha Stewart Living, November 2006 edition.

I glad that you prepared for us such a great looking simple recipe. Your beautiful picture is inspiring me to have friends over for dinner.

Erielle said...

freshair, I am due for an oil change...perhaps the waiting room will restock their magazines by the time I get around to making an appointment.

J, very strange. I'm glad that they were at least tasty, if not as crispy as they should be.

Kim, now that you mention it, I do remember picking up an old issue of Martha Stewart's Living! I should update the post now so I can give proper credit. Thanks!
I'm glad you are excited about making the cakes. Your friends will enjoy them!