Papas Rellenas

Last week, on the first day of the new year, I decided I was going to make something really yummy and out of the ordinary for dinner. The problem was I had no idea what I was going to make. So as I stood in the kitchen thinking about things I enjoyed eating that I hadn't had in a long time I remembered the fabulous and delicious CubanInTheMidwest. Ivonne's blog is pretty much the epitome of the food I ate throughout my childhood. Growing up in urban NJ we had a true melting pot of Latinos from everywhere and I had a lot of the things she posts about. She is fantastic, with great recipes and pictures and directions for making delicious Cuban or Cuban-inspired food.

So I remembered that she made PapasRellenas or Meat Stuffed Potatoes. I already had garlic parmesan mashed potatoes made from scratch that had been leftover from dinner the other night. And I also had some picadillo (cooked ground beef) that would be enough for the potatoes.

I didn't follow her exact recipe since my "ingredients" were leftovers. And I used Panko bread crumbs, instead of regular. Here are a few pictures from my cooking.

Potato Ball already stuffed

Already breaded potato balls

In the frying pan!

These were soooo good! We scarfed them down before I realized I never took photos of the finished product. We made a yummy dipping sauce with ketchup and hot sauce (Cholula brand hot sauce is the best!) Please visit Ivonne'sRecipe to see how EASY this is and so worth the time! She says its quite messy, but my mess wasn't bad at all. Mmmm, so good!