Potato Blini

The Chef had me prep up the batter for some potato balinis. They're a lot like latkes.

I roughly followed the recipe given on the epicurious website:

• 1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 to 3 tablespoons crème fraîche, at room temperature
• 2 large eggs
• 1 large egg yolk
• coarse salt and freshly ground white pepper

Yukon gold potatoes were replaced by russets, creme fraiche was replaced by sour cream, and parsley was added at the end (Parsley is our most common garnish/ herb... I think the Chef has a bit of a parsley fetish).

The potatoes were steamed in their skins until very soft. They were skinned with the back of a paring knife while hot, then immediately pressed through a tamis. It's important to do that while the potatoes are still hot/ warm so that they're easy to work with. Even still, it's hard work.

Finally, the eggs, egg yolks, sour cream, and seasoning were mixed in by hand. The recipe recommends adjusting consistency using creme or flour: "The batter should fall in a thick stream but hold its shape when it hits the batter in the bowl."

I took home some batter to test it out. Fried it in a pan, much like pancakes, with a little butter on medium/ low heat. They're pretty good, and all the effort of pressing the potatoes achieved a fine, creamy texture. I believe that they will be topped with an herbal cream cheese and lox, and served as hors doeuvres.