Papas Rellenas - without the meat

I grew up in Tampa FL, parts of which are - from what I have been told - a lot like Cuba in its heyday. 

I once worked for a tri-lingual newspaper  in Ybor City - the latin quarter east of downtown - for one of the best bosses ever: Roland Manteiga. (The paper was La Gaceta, a political institution for those in the know in Tampa and in Tallahassee.

Roland would dig around and talk to sources from both political parties to find out the dirt behind the scenes and publish his findings in his weekly As We Heard It column. These days, his son Patrick, is continuing the tradition. (http://www.lagacetanewspaper.com)

Roland was an icon in Tampa. Every day at exactly noon, he would take his reserved seat at an Ybor City restaurant called La Tropicana.

There, politicians, would-be politicians and anyone who wanted sage advice from Roland, would reverently approach and hope to be asked to take a seat with him.

As English language writer-in-chief I got to join him once a week at the table to talk about the next week's issue. Once, he even turned down a invite with the POTUS because we were already heading out the door for lunch.

I always ordered a Papas Rellenas (stuffed potato) - I was not a vegetarian back in those days. I have no idea what other offerings were on the menu.

Looking at a current issue of the paper, I started thinking about those good old days and remembered the potatoes. I thought it might be quite easy to make them vegetarian so I gave it a whirl and came up with this quite tasty variation.

Papas Rellenas Vegetarian Style

4 large potatoes, peeled and quartered

1 tablespoon of warm milk
½ teaspoon of salt

2 eggs, beaten with 1 tablespoon water

1 cup of dry bread crumbs

¼ cup of flour

1 pound of soy chorizo

1 cup of vegetable oil (or more to fill the pan to a height that will cover half of the potato ball for frying)

• Boil the potatoes until they are fully cooked. Drain and mash the potatoes with the salt and about 1 tablespoon of warm and let them cool.
• Grab a handful of the mashed potatoes, split the handful in half, and make each half into a little bowl by pressing in with your thumbs.
• Stuff the indentations with the soy chorizo. Put the two halves together and roll them together to make a round ball.
• Mix the bread crumbs and the flour together. Dip each potato ball into the beaten egg, and then roll it in the flour mixture until it is ightly covered.
• Dip the ball in the egg again and roll in the bread crumbs again so it is thoroughly coated. Repeat for each ball (this recipe will make five or six potato balls.)
• Refrigerate the balls for two to four. Fill a pan with enough oil to cover half the ball at a time. Heat the oil to about 375º and drop the balls one at a time  into the hot oil.
• Cook until the ball is golden brown on one side then flip it over and cook the other side.

Vegetarian