Monday, May 18, 2009

Rosie Attempts Blarney Puffballs.

The other day, my friend, Marilyn, of FoodiesUntie Blogdom, posted about the Scottish Rite Guild meeting at The Irish Lion and a particular appetizer she had: Blarney Puffballs. Marilyn's husband wanted her to reproduce this dish, so I'm going to help Mar out. Now, this is my first try at Blarney Puffballs, so please bear with me. Marilyn described this dish thusly: "Blarney Puffballs, deep-fried potato balls made with a cheese/garlic mixture, were served with sour cream."
OK, Mar, here goes.
My mise en place:
 2 potatoes, cubed and boiled until tender
 2 TB butter
1/4 cup flour
1 onion
1 tsp baking powder
 1 egg
1 bunch parsley (Maybe 2 TBs.)
 1 1/2 ounces cheddar cheese
4 garlic cloves
salt and pepper
Mr. Hawthorne cooked the potatoes until just tender. 
Then I started smashing. 
I added butter, salt and pepper, and the cheddar. 
I added in the minced garlic and onion. 
Flour and baking powder went in.
Egg went in. 
Parsley.
I put the potato mixture in the fridge for an hour or two,
 then took my melon baller,
made little scoops of potatoey goodness, 
and placed them on my baking sheets, and refrigerated.
Now, on to the breading. 
I had half a loaf of a hard-as-a-rock French baguette. 
I Magic Bulletted that.
 And I added half a pack of crushed Ritz crackers to that. 
I coated my tater balls in the bread crumb/Ritz mixture.
And I fried those bad boys up and drained them on paper towels. 
Single little Blarney Puffball.
Crispy on the outside.
Creamy, potatoey yumminess on the inside. 
Another one with herbal goodness inside.
These were pretty darn good.
Next time I make them
I will add a little more salt
and more cheddar.
I don't think you can have too much cheddar
and these were not all that cheesy.
I also think they would be really good
squished out like a potato pancake
and sauteed in butter.
I froze a tray of the balls,
so when I thaw them out I'll try the pancake idea.
For lunch today, I heated some of the leftovers in my toaster oven
and I think they were even better than last night's.

4 comments:

Marilyn said...

Ooh, they look wonderful! Guess I'll have to make some now that we are back home.

Mr. P said...

Those look wonderful. I bet they taste better than the real thing.

Anonymous said...

If u wanted to make these ahead of time would u recommend frying, freezing, and then reheating in an oven; or freeze before frying, thawing, and then frying?

I'm looking forward to making these for a family get together and want to minimize the time spent in the kitchen. Thanks for the recipe!

Rosie Hawthorne said...

Hi Anony, I froze before frying. Then thawed and fried. They were fine. I think you'd be OK doing either.
Rosie