Categories
Side Dish

You have my ‘parmesan’ to treat yourself to potatoes this weekend

Crispy Mexican potatoes feature lots of traditional Mexican flavors, making them just a little spicy with a crispy, cheesy bottom and a creamy interior. They are a great side dish for a variety of meals.

“What makes them Mexican potatoes?” a friend asked as he scooped my latest food experiment onto his paper plate in our backyard.

“I think it’s just the spices that put it in that category,” I told him.

He looked at me quizzically and only grabbed a few.

But after finishing off that first spoonful and going in for a second, I think it was safe to say he didn’t really care if there was a national origin to this side dish or not—they were a hit.

It was a couple weekends ago that Joey fired up his smoker and we invited some people over to eat with us and enjoy the truckload of food we prepared. It’s always more fun to enjoy meals like that with friends, and this one was no exception.

And this potato side dish was a great addition to the meal.

The recipe I tried comes from the blog, “Bites with Bri” by Brianna May. You can find the original post at https://biteswithbri.com/mexican-potato-recipe/. I added extra spices in my version below.

Print

Crispy Mexican Potatoes

Crispy Mexican potatoes feature lots of traditional Mexican flavors, making them just a little spicy with a crispy, cheesy bottom and a creamy interior. They are a great side dish for a variety of meals.
Course Side Dish
Keyword barbecue side dish, black pepper, chili powder, cumin, easy side dish, garlic powder, Mexican, onion powder, oregano, paprika, parmesan cheese, yellow potatoes

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 pounds small yellow potatoes halved
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 2 teaspoons paprika
  • 2 teaspoon cumin
  • 2 teaspoons chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon pepper
  • 2 teaspoons garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon oregano
  • 1/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese use the real stuff, not the stuff in a can

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a large, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and set it aside (I tried using foil, and it was tough to remove the potatoes. I think parchment is a better way to go.)
  • Make sure the potato skins are dry after washing them before proceeding with coating them in seasonings. Just pat them with a paper towel.
  • In a large mixing bowl, combine the potatoes, oil and spices. Stir well to completely coat the potatoes.
  • Press the cut side of each potato into the shredded parmesan and place it, cut side down, on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat, spacing the potatoes just slightly apart.
  • Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender.
  • Transfer hot potatoes to a serving dish and serve immediately.

I wish I could tell you how these reheated for leftovers, but we didn’t have any of those. These taters went quickly, and if I do this side for another barbecue where we’re expecting more people, I will definitely double the recipe.

These were just a little spicy. You can always decrease or cut out the chili powder if that’s not your thing, but we really enjoyed them. The crispy cheese, creamy potato and Mexican spices all go together perfectly and were perfect along with the smoked chicken Joey made as the main course.

I still can’t tell you if they really qualify as a “Mexican” dish, but I can tell you nobody will care much once their mouths are full.

This piece first appeared in print on July 20, 2023.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Side Dish

‘Tajin’ up the flavor with yummy seasoned rice

Tajin rice takes on all the flavors of the popular spice mix—chili peppers, lime and salt—and is perfect as a side dish to all kinds of Mexican dishes.

When we were stuck in the house for lockdowns at the start of the pandemic, I (like everyone else) started getting a bit stir crazy and began looking for ways to reorganize different parts of our house.

One of my first projects was my horribly organized spice cabinet. The way it was all stacked in, I had to pull half the contents out to find what I needed. I started looking online and discovered a large spice rack I could hang on my kitchen wall and immediately bought it.

That thing has been a game changer. I love having everything in its place, alphabetized and ready to use immediately. It also freed up an entire cupboard in the kitchen for other items.

Recently, I kept staring at a large bottle of Tajin Clasico (pronounced tuh-heen) seasoning in my spice rack, which I purchased for a failed recipe and hadn’t touched in awhile. I decided I needed to put it to good use.

If you’re not familiar, Tajin is a mild seasoning that features chili peppers, dehydrated lime and salt. The lime is the flavor that really sticks out when you first give it a try. Some people swear by it and put it on everything.

This comes from the blog “The Fiery Vegetarian.” You can find the original post at https://www.thefieryvegetarian.com/tajin-rice-recipe/. I added more spices in my version.

Print

Tajin Rice

Tajin rice takes on all the flavors of the popular spice mix—chili peppers, lime and salt—and is perfect as a side dish to all kinds of Mexican dishes.
Course Side Dish
Keyword chicken stock, garlic powder, onion powder, rice, Tajin Clasico, vegetable stock

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups white long-grain rice
  • 1 3/4 cup vegetable or chicken stock
  • 2 teaspoons garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 2 tablespoons Tajin Clasico seasoning

Instructions

  • Rinse your rise with cold water several times until the water runs mostly clear.
  • Add the rinsed rice, vegetable stock, garlic powder and onion powder to a medium-sized pot with a tight-fitting lid. Heat over high heat, stirring to dissolve the seasoning, until the mixture is at a boil.
  • Place the lid on the pot and turn the heat down to a simmer. Leave it on the heat, covered, for 10 minutes.
  • After 10 minutes, remove the lid and stir in the butter until it’s melted and fully incorporated. Stir in the Tajin and then let the rice sit, off the heat, for about five minutes to let the flavors meld. Add any additional seasonings if desired, and serve as a side to your favorite Mexican entree.

This was a nice side dish. We had it alongside some chicken tacos one night and ate the leftovers with quesadillas on another evening.

I will say that if you’re not a fan of Tajin or citrus flavors in your savory dishes, you definitely won’t like this rice, but we thought it was pretty good—especially as a side dish. I don’t know if it could hold its own as the main star of a dinner, but it probably depends on how much you like Tajin.

So, that spice bottle is still staring down at me from my spice rack, but at least it’s a couple tablespoons lighter. I’ll have to come up with some other ways to use it up—especially since it’s nice and tall and has to be stored out of alphabetical sequence in the rack. Now that I finally have things organized, I want to keep it that way.

This piece first appeared in print on July 14, 2022.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Exit mobile version