Eat & Drink
Originally published on Tuesday, 28th October 2008
Corn Tostadas with Spicy Potatoes and Crema Mexicana
Serves 6
To save time, you can by pre-fried tostada shells from a company called Mexigrocer or just use taco shells broken in half.
These spicy potatoes are like a Mexican version of ‘patatas bravas’ and are also delicious for breakfast with a fried egg on top.
Ingredients
4 medium sized potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/2 inch cubes
1 onion, halved and thinly sliced
8 tbsp vegetable oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 quantity corn tostadas or taco shells broken in half
Salsa Negra
8 tbsp vegetable oil
85 grams dried chipotle chilies, stemmed and seeded
12 cloves of garlic, peeled and left whole
1 tsp salt
500 mls boiling water
Crema Mexicana
250 mls creme fraiche
4 tbsp buttermilk
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 200C. Place the potatoes, onions and oil in a roasting tin and toss well to coat the potatoes in the oil. Season with salt and pepper and place in the oven to roast for 25-35 minutes until the potatoes are tender, well browned and crispy.
Meanwhile, make the salsa negra, warm 4 tbsp of the oil in a frying pan over medium heat and add the garlic and chilies. Saute for 5 minutes of until the garlic is golden and the chilies have puffed up. Set aside the garlic.
Place the chilies in the boiling water and leave to soak for 15 minutes or until soft. Carefully remove and discard the stems and pound the chilies with the garlic and salt in a mortar and pestle to a coarse paste.
Place the chili-garlic paste in a saucepan and add whisk in the chili soaking liquid. Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes or until the mixture is thick enough to start to stick to the bottom of the pan. Remove from the heat and set aside.
When the potatoes are done, pour about 6-8 tablespoons of the salsa negra into the roasting tin and stir to mix well. Return the potatoes to the oven and roast for a further 5 minutes until the potatoes have a nice, sticky coating of the salsa. Remove and allow the potatoes to cool slightly.
Make the crema Mexicana by whisking together the creme fraiche and buttermilk. Top each tostada with a generous spoonful of the spicy potatoes and drizzle generously with the crema mexicana to serve.
Jennifer Klinec from Eat Drink Talk has kindly agreed to provide Urban Junkies readers with mouthwatering recipes and foodtips.
To learn more, classes at Eat Drink Talk are held in Jennifer's beautiful loft in Clerkenwell, packed with information and useful tips, and you'll get to sample all of the delicious dishes prepared during class.
In collaboration with Eat Drink Talk