Knish Knosh
If you ever get tired of having the same potato dishes over and over….and by that I mean the standard fries, or roasted potato, or mashed/baked, etc….then you should definitely try making knishes. It’s a little bit of extra effort, but at least it’s fun and it makes the humble potato a wee bit of a show stopper.
My first knish was in NYC and it came off a cart and it was this sort of squarish bland kind of hand pie type thing. It tasted faintly of onion and the filling was powdery. I wasn’t impressed. Then I made my own and it was a completely different story.
Traditionally, the filling is made with cooked, to varying degrees, of onion and some shmaltz. But the filling is still mashed potatoes which, for me at least, is a blank canvas for a multitude of flavor combinations. I did leeks, roasted garlic, and butter because onions shmonions.
I made plain dough, but there’s no reason it couldn’t be dotted with fun things like thyme leaves or snipped chives. You know I’m totally going to experiment with a mashed potato filling of herbed salt and pink peppercorns wrapped in a dough dotted with lavender flowers. Maybe a little cream cheese. Another time, though.
I needed these knishes for an event we did at a winery. Because I didn’t want to serve a messy rice and the standard potato fare is a snore. Leeks was about as adventurous as I was going to get, though. Around these parts, no one even knew what a knish was, but everyone raved about them so it was totally fun. There’s nothing better than a positive food adventure. I wonder how many folks were googling knishes the next day.
Most recipes will tell you that the mashed filling needs to be smooth. It doesn’t. Some will tell you that the dough needs coloring. It doesn’t. Some insist that knishes need to be square. They don’t. And of course, there’s the shmaltz, which is just rendered chicken fat. Shmaltz is fine, I just didn’t want my knishes to taste like chicken because I was serving mine with beef. Also, I live in a place where you can’t just buy rendered chicken fat at the store. Duck fat? Yes. Chicken fat? Who cares?!
I’m sitting here staring at my cursor and I was thinking out loud, “What else can I say about knishes?” Hubs said, “They’re super good.” And there you have it. They have the Hubs seal of approval. That, and they also freeze super good. The end!
Roasted Garlic And Leek Knishes
Ingredients
- 3 to 4 lbs potatoes I used Russet
- 1 whole head roasted elephant garlic
- 2 hefty leeks cleaned and sliced thinly crosswise
- 3 sticks butter
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup room temp water
- 4 cups flour plus more for kneading and dusting
- 2 tablespoons milk
- Kosher Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Fill a large stock pot with washed potatoes, water, salt it heavily, and put it on high to boil. In a large saute pan, combine the leek slices and 1 stick of butter and cook on medium heat until soft. Set aside. I might have splashed mine with some Chardonnay...about 1/2 cup, but it's not crucial to the dish.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk 2 eggs, the oil, and the water. Add the flour one cup at a time to combine. Scrape the dough out...it will be sticky...onto a floured surface and knead for 5 to 10 minutes dusting with flour as you knead. I usually make it to 8 minutes before I get tired of it. Cover it in saran wrap and chill it until you're ready to use it.
- When the potatoes are fork tender, drain them and let cool enough to handle. Slip the skins off and discard. Mash in 2 sticks of butter, the entire head of roasted garlic, and the leeks with all of the butter they were cooked in. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside to cool completely.
- Dust a work surface with flour and cut the chilled dough into thirds. Roll each third out into a general rectangular shape. It doesn't need to be perfect, but you want it somewhere between pita and tortilla thin. Place the potato mixture in a log down the center, leaving a little room at both ends.
- Wrap the potato mixture in the dough, not too tightly, and pinch close the ends in a twisty fashion. Here's where it gets tricky. I mark my log with my thumb and forefinger all the way down before I commit to sectioning them out so that they will be all around the same size. When your spacing is good, you just do a sort of pinch and pulling at the same time to separate out the individual knishes.
- Then you twist them off like you would wrap a taffy. The dough is stretchy. Once you get the hang of it, your next logs will go faster. Decide which end is going to be on the bottom and twist pinch it shut. Turn the knish right side up and flatten the bottom on your work surface, cupping the knish with one hand to form it's roundness. Pinch and twist the top until you're satisfied with how it looks.
- Give the seam a once over, making sure that it, too, is pinched closed. Place the knish on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Repeat until done.
- Separate the egg yolks on the remaining 2 eggs and whisk them with the milk. Brush the knishes completely and bake on 350 for about 45 minutes to an hour. Voila!
These were delicious!!! I love adventuring food together: you make, I eat. ?
Such a great team! lol