The Same Thing, Only Different (Tallegio Stuffed Tater Tots)

One of my favorite hors d’oeuvres is roasted potatoes with tallegio and truffle.  It’s so easy to prepare and always impresses, no doubt it’s the intoxicating aroma of truffles.  But these are really best fresh out of the oven.  After a few minutes the cheese starts to congeal, and they’re just not as good. 

As I’ve commented before, my style of entertaining has simplified.  I love having a big platter or hors d’oeuvres and snacks before dinner, but I also want to serve items that I can put out and then just enjoy my company.

I decided to reimagine this dish to withstand a little sitting at room temperature.  Instead, I made tater tots, filled them with the cheese, and drizzled a little truffle oil and honey on top.  Just before the guests arrived, I popped them in the oven to reheat.  The panko-crust kept them nice and crispy. And the potato wrapping kept the cheese warm and oozy.   I served them with homemade ketchup, but this was gratuitous. 

Tallegio Stuffed Tater Tots with Honey and Truffle Oil.
4 yukon gold potatoes
½ cup flour
1 – 2 teaspoons salt
1 egg
¼ pound tallegio cheese.  Rind cut off and cut into ¼ inch cubes
1cup panko crumbs
1 cup clarified butter or canola oil
1 -2 tbs. truffle oil
1 tbs. honey

1. Put potatoes in a pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and cook potatoes until tender, about 20 minutes.

2. When potatoes are cooked, drain them and put them through a potato ricer. The ricer will extract the skin from the potatoes, so no worries. Alternatively, you can grate the potatoes using a food processor or hand grater. In any case, grate the potatoes while they’re still warm

3. Let potatoes cool to room temperature

4. Mix potatoes with, flour, salt (to taste) and egg.

5. Divide dough into 4 balls and roll potato dough into 4 logs. Cut each log into 1 inch pieces.   Flatten out each piece, put a piece of tallegio inside and fold the dough over.

6. Roll each tot in panko bread crumbs. If you’d like, you can further reshape the tots to a round shape.

7. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add butter or oil. In batches, cook tots on all sides until evenly browned, about 5 minutes.  Put on a serving platter and drizzle truffle oil and honey on top. Serve with ketchup if you’d like.