Sunday, July 17, 2011

Potato Goat Cheese Sopes by Colleen Guenther

These are delicious! Make them along with a tasty homemade salsa and you will be in heaven! This recipe is inspired by cookeatshare.com.

What you need:

2 medium (about 8 ounces) baking potatoes, peeled and cut into large pieces
8 ounces (1 cup) fresh smooth-ground corn masa for tortillas OR 1 cup powdered masa harina mixed with ½ cup plus 2 Tbs warm water.
Salt
Vegetable oil to a depth of 1/2" for frying
Salsa
Couple of handfuls of Spicy Greens or Micro Greens
Goat cheese

Directions:

The dough for the Sopes: In a medium pan, boil the potatoes in salted water until really tender. Around 25 minutes. Drain and cool. Mash potatoes into a fine paste and discard about 1 cup of the potatoes, return 1 cup to the bowl and knead in the masa (fresh or reconstituted) and ¾ teaspoon salt. The dough should be the consistency of soft cookie dough.
Forming and baking the sopes: Heat a well-seasoned or nonstick griddle or heavy skillet over medium. Divide the dough into 18 portions, roll into balls and cover with plastic to keep them from drying out. One by one, form the fat little tortillas that will become the sopes: cut two squares of plastic (to be on the safe side, cut them from a food storage bag, the thicker plastic works better). With your hands, gently flatten a ball of dough between the sheets of plastic to about 2 ½ inches in diameter (it should be about 1/4” thick). Peel off the top sheet of plastic. Use your thumb and index finger to push up the dough into a border about ½” high around the edge to form the sope, the little boat. Take the sope and put it, flat bottom down, onto the skillet. After about a minute, when the sope has loosened itself from the cooking surface, remove it from the griddle. This cooking is just to set the bottom surface, not to cook the masa all the way through. While the first sope is cooking, continue shaping and adding others to the griddle or skillet. After cooking, to keep them from puffing oddly during frying, prick the bottoms of each one with a fork, being careful not to go all the way through. Cool, then cover the sopes with plastic to keep them from drying out.
Finishing the sopes: In a deep heavy medium skillet or saucepan, heat ½” of oil to 350 degrees (if you do not have a thermometer you can judge the temperature by dipping the side of a sope in the oil—if it sizzles vigorously, it’s ready). Get your cheese, mint, lettuce and salsa ready. A few at a time, fry the sopes until they are a rich golden brown, about a minute. Drain them upside down on paper towels, then keep them warm in the oven. Serve on a bed of the greens with the goat cheese, lightly sprinkled mint and salsa on top.

No comments:

Post a Comment