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In the Los Angeles food world, we’re fond of “paloozas.”
We’ve experienced the wondrous funkiness of Trufflepalooza 2010, Trufflepalooza 2011 and Trufflepalooza 2012, we’ve had Kale-a-Palooza, and then we had PotatoPalooza!
What can you do with potatoes besides mash them and fry them?
The more appropriate question is what CAN’T you do with potatoes? Because at PotatoPalooza, we had them in everything ranging from…
…vodka shooters (vodka made with taters, naturally, served in little hollowed out cooked fingerling potatoes)…
…to Potato Sweetheart Cakes for dessert.
In between, we also had…
… Fingerling Cups with Smoked Salmon Mousse…
… and Be My Valentine Twice-Baked Potatoes…
… and Potato Kale Lasagna Muffins…
… and Rainbow Potato Pizza with Gorgonzola Cheese…
… and Shepherd’s Pie Spoonfuls, along with three or four other things I ate before I photographed!
The party, for Southern California food bloggers, was sponsored by the Idaho Potato Commission and produced by Erika Kerekes with a very capable assist from chef Judy Lyness.
I loved all of it, every little tater-filled bit, but was instantly charmed by these heart-shaped Potato Lover’s Potato Chips. You could make these for your Valentines.
February is Potato Lovers’ Month. Get cookin’!
Recipe: Heart-Shaped Potato Lovers’ Potato Chips
Summary: A genius idea to soak raw potato slices in beet juice yields charming pink heart-shaped homemade potato chips!
Ingredients
- 2 large Idaho Russet potatoes
- 2 tablespoons salt
- 1 (15-ounce) can beets (whole, sliced or shredded)
- Oil for frying
- Equipment: small heart-shaped cookie cutter
Instructions
- Using a mandoline, thinly slice the potatoes. Punch a heart shape out of each slice. Put all the heart-shaped pieces in a colander, add the salt and toss. Let the heart-shaped pieces sit about 30 minutes. (This extracts some of the water out of the potatoes so they can better absorb the color from the beets.)
- Put the beets with their liquid into a blender; whirl until smooth.
- Rinse the potato slices and pat dry very thoroughly with paper towels. Put the potato slices into a bowl or plastic container, pour the beet puree over, and stir gently to make sure every slice of potato is in contact with the beets. Refrigerate overnight.
- The next day, fish the heart-shaped potato slices out of the container. Rinse in a colander and dry thoroughly with paper towels. They will be stained pink.
- Pour 3 inches of oil into a heavy pot or saucepan. Heat the oil to about 350 degrees F. Drop in a few chips at a time and fry until golden around the edges and crisp. Remove the chips with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with salt while still warm.
Source: Erika Kerekes, In Erika’s Kitchen
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Diet type: Vegetarian
Diet tags: Gluten free
Number of servings (yield): 4-6
Culinary tradition: USA (General)
My rating
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Here are a couple of the recipes from the party, posted elsewhere. Check them out!
- Fingerling Potatoes with Salmon Mousse
- Grandma Rose’s Potato Blintzes
- Kale Pesto Potato Lasagna
- Potato Sweetheart Cakes (slightly adapted from this recipe)
- Potato Lefse served with Idaho Huckleberry Jam
This post was originally published Feb. 11, 2014, and has been republished today.
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{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
How cute are these. Potatoes are definitely the way to my heart too!
Such a COOL idea! I can’t wait to try this! 🙂
Putting these in a heart shape was a wonderful idea. They taste delicious, too!
These look so fun and tasty!
Perfect timing for this thank you so much for sharing!
These are adorable and so perfect for the holiday! Love your creativity.
I agree – the soaking in beet juice thing is genius! These were some tasty chips! : )
I LOVE these. So creative and gorgeous, too!
Betsy,
And they were GOOOOOOOOD, too!
These are too cute! I can’t believe all the festive and creative things you’ve done with potatoes.
Laura,
And they tasted as good as they looked!
Looks like this was a really fun event and what a sweet idea to make potato with the beets for coloring for Valentine’s Day. I wonder if I could introduce my boys to beets this way. It’s worth a try!
Holly,
Absolutely. They will love these chips!
Man, am I sad I missed this one. Everything looks marvelous. I would love the recipes! Great job everyone!
Sharon,
Clear the decks for the next one!
will be frying up some of these chips for sure! and would surely love the recipe for potato sweetheart cake and potato kale lasagna muffins pretty please and thank you
Great shots of all the yummies we had! I had to dash, so missed the chocolate & potato sweetheart cakes. Erika and Judy did a fabulous job creating these recipes!
Priscilla,
Agreed! They really did.
Love this! Love it, love it, love it! If you could post the potato kale lasagna muffins, I would appreciate it…
what a fantastic idea this heart-shaped potato chips!
Sally,
Wish you could have been at the party! You and I woulda polished off the whole basket o’ those tater chips.
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