Increi'ble Cascara de Papas

I just finished posting my recipe for my mouth-watering potato skins. Do you like a little heat? Do you get turned on when you walk past a burrito joint, or salivate when you smell a fresh pot of Menudo cooking? Can you relate to Deadpool's love for Chimichangas? If yes to at least two of those, (Menudo is an acquired taste), you likely will be all over these spicy and flavorful skins. I'm pretty much going to do a copy and paste here as it's almost the identical prep as my regular skins. The main difference is the ingredients. So, here we go!

Ingredients:

10 medium to medium large potatoes

1 lb of quality Sharp Cheddar Cheese

12 oz of Monterey Jack Cheese

8 oz of crumbled Queso Fresco Cheese

1 1/2 lbs of Al Pastor (WITHOUT PINEAPPLE)

2 bunches of Mexican Green Onions

8 good sized Jalapeno Peppers

I small can of Chipotle Pepper w/Adobe Sauce

1 8 oz tub of Sour Cream

1 Lime

4 cloves of Garlic

Bacon Grease or Olive Oil

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 F. While oven is heating, scrub any dirt off the potatoes. When clean, dry them off with a towel or paper towel. After cleaned, pour the 2 Tbs of olive oil into a small bowl or ramekin. Find a kitchen brush and brush a thin layer of oil on each potato and coat all around.

2. Place each potato directly on the middle oven rack. No, I don't poke the potatoes with a fork before I put them in. I've cooked potatoes 1000's of times and I've never had one blow up. You can put a layer of foil down on the bottom rack to keep the potato juice from dripping in the oven though. While the potatoes are cooking you may hear a hissing or squealing sounds. Don't worry, that's just the potato giving it's last breath of life. It's ok though, he is giving his life for your stomach's happiness. Potatoes live for this stuff. Set the timer for about 45 minutes.

3. This gives you plenty of time to start making the other ingredients. Take your al pastor and fry in a pan until cooked through. You should be able to find al pastor at a Mexican market if you have one nearby. It should already be chopped up in bite size pieces. Do you best to find it without pineapple. I like pineapple as much as the next person, but I don't like hot fruit and I definitely don't like hot fruit combined with hot cheese. All you hot cheese and fruit people go for it...wave your freak flag! When done frying, drain and place in a bowl and set aside.

4. Next, slice your jalapeno's into about 1/2 inch slices. You should get about 6 or more slices out of each jalapeno. If you have bacon grease available, this works better as you can fry at a higher heat than you can with olive oil. The longer you cook your peppers, the less spicy they will be. So, the easiest way to do this is to crank it up to medium heat and cover the pan with a lid and fry/steam at the same time. Keep covered for a few minutes and flip. You want them semi-soft, but not burnt. As soon as you get a little char on each side they are good to take off, drain and set aside.

5. Take out your Mexican green onions and chop them into 1-2 inch pieces. Mexican onions are thicker and have a bigger bulb than traditional green onions. They also have a sharper flavor. Use both the white and green parts. Take out your food processor...if you don't have one...get one! Chopping by hand is just plain boring, time consuming and dangerous. Yes, I am a cheater...but I also like to save time. This could be an extra 5 minutes I could add to my mid afternoon nap! Anyway, place the green onions in the processor and grind them up. Not to the point where they are mush, but ground up pretty good. Put aside in a bowl

6. By now your potatoes should be pretty close to done. Get a sharp knife and poke one of the largest ones to see if they are done. If the potato is done it should easily slide in with little resistance. If you have to force it in, it's not done yet. The goal is to get all the potatoes the same relative size, because when one is done, they should all be done. When they are done, get some tongs and place them on a cutting board and immediately slice them in half vertically. A sharp serrated knife works best for this. Once they are cut in half, let them cool until they are able to be held without giving you third degree burns. These things are incredible, but not to the point where you need to get a skin graft at the local ER. You can wait the 15-20 minutes.

7. While the potatoes are cooling it's a great time to shred your cheeses. I like to get good quality cheese for these. I usually get the jack in brick form from TJ's and for my cheddar I love Cabot (which TJ's carries). The sharper the better IMO. Sometimes I will try some of the aged sharp English cheddar's which work well also. My queso fresco I usually get at my local Mexican market as they will always have it. It's hit or miss going to a store like Safeway trying to find it. So, shred up jack and cheddar cheeses and mix them all together in a large mixing bowl and set aside. Your queso you should stick in your food processor and grind until a crumbled texture.

8. When you potatoes are cool, it's time to start taking the potato guts out. The best tool for this job would be a grapefruit spoon if you have one. They are serrated around the edges, so it's kind of like a mini spoon-saw. You want to remove all the potato except leave about 1/3-1/2 inch around the skin. Save all this potato filling. It works good for potato salad. Russets aren't ideal for potato salad as they are more starchy than white or red potatoes, but they will work in a pinch once you add in all the onions, pickles, mayo, mustard, eggs, etc. So, save those potato guts...you can also make home fries/hash brown or have them with huevos rancheros.

9. You should now have 20 mostly empty potato shells. It's now time to fill them with the cheesy and spicy goodness. First grab three jalapeno slices in place them in each potato shell. Then grab a small handful of the jack and cheddar cheese and fill each one up to the level of the edge of the top of the potato. If you still have cheese left, you can add a little more if you like (the cheese will melt down about 1/3 of the way after baking) or you can just keep the rest for future use. After you load them up with the jack/cheddar mixture, it's time to sprinkle the queso cheese over top of each one. Maybe about a Tbs for each one.

10. After the cheese layering is complete, you will want to put about a Tbs of the al pastor on top of each one. If you still have some left, use the rest and even the potatoes out with the rest of the mixture.

11. Lastly, place some Mexican onions over the top of each potato.

12. So, you're ready to go. Next question. Are you serving them now or later that day or even the next day? If now, place them in a oven safe pan or dish, heat oven to 350 F and cook for about 15 minutes. If you are making them later on, place in oven safe dish and put in the fridge until you are ready to cook them. If cold, you will need to cook them about 20-25 minutes at 350 F. One disclaimer. If you make them in advance, you will lose the crispness of the outer shell of the potato. That's the only drawback to not having them fresh right after preparing them. So, you will miss out a bit on the texture. Otherwise, same incredible flavor, just will be a little softer when eating. These freeze great. If you don't have one already, I HIGHLY suggest investing in a Foodsaver©. We use ours for virtually everything that we know is going to be in the freezer for more than a couple weeks. If you are planning to freeze them, make sure not to cook them first. Once you finish assembling them, that would be the time to food-save them.

13. Wait! You aren't done yet. After you take these magnificent beasts out of the oven we need to put the finishing touches on. Open your can of chipotle peppers and drain the adobo sauce into a small bowl. My suggestion would be to get a salad bowl and mesh strainer and strain the adobo into the bowl. If you want to use the actual chipotle peppers, be my guest...you're going to have some hot ass skins though. Once the adobo is drained into the bowl, take a spoon and coat it with the sauce and drip several drips on top of each skin. It will give it a nice kick and it looks purdy too. Reserve the rest of the adobo sauce...you're using it in the final step.

14. Time to make the dipping sauce. Open your sour cream and put it in a medium bowl. Pour in the rest of your adobo sauce. Squeeze the full lime into the mixture. Finally food process your garlic and dump that in as well. If you have a jar of chopped garlic that will work even better and save you some time. Mix it all together and voila! This sauce is also awesome on fish tacos.

Cerveza please! If there is any time to ditch the craft beer movement, this is it. Crack open a Corona, Sol, Dos Equis Amber, Victoria...they all work. Not a fan of Tecate at all, but it will do the trick. When in Rome....