Yucatan Potstickers

Ingredients
¼ cup pickled red onions, minced
8 oz softened cream cheese*
1 bunch minced cilantro with separated stems and leaves
Pinch sea salt
Secret Aardvark Habanero Hot Sauce to taste, approximately 2 t
1 pkg wonton/eggroll wrappers
¼ cup water
1 cup sour cream and favorite hot sauce for garnish

Mis en place
A small bowl or saucer with a clean, small pastry brush & a little cool water.
Tray with 2 clean, dry kitchen cloths (not terry)
Large non-stick sauté pan
Oil mister with canola or vegetable oil
Slotted spatula

Directions
To make the wantons: mix pickled red onions, minced cilantro stems, salt and hot sauce with soft cream cheese. Open the wonton package and lay out 2 or 3 on your clean, dry work surface. You’ll notice that there’s a dusting of white powder or cornstarch on each sheet. Take a small amount of water on the pastry brush and moisten the edges of the wontons. Place a rounded teaspoonful of the filling in the center of each one. Fold corner to corner, so they make a pyramid shape. Move gently to you cloth-covered tray and cover lightly with the second cloth. Repeat until filling used. For garnish and sauce, mix your favorite hot sauce with sour cream and the minced cilantro leaves.

To cook the dumplings: place your sauté pan over medium-high heat and add a double mist of oil. When it shimmers, add the wontons and allow to brown on the bottom. Add 1/4 cup of water to the pan and cover, lowering the heat to medium. After 2 minutes, uncover pan and allow water to evaporate completely. Mist once more with oil and gently remove to warm plate with slotted spatula. Serve immediately the sour cream sauce on the side or spoon onto the bottom of the plate.

*If you have some leftover grilled shrimp or roast chicken, you can mince that up and add it to the filling as well.

Yucatan Picked Onions

Ingredients
1 red onion, peeled and slivered (cut in half, then thinly sliced from top to root end)
2 cups white distilled vinegar
2 cups water
2 whole cloves

Directions
Bring vinegar, water, and cloves to a boil. Place slivered onions in a heat-proof glass jar (like a canning jar), a tempered glass bowl, or a ceramic dish. Do not use metal as it will react to the acid, imparting a funky flavor and color. When vinegar mixture boils, pour carefully over onions. Allow onions to sit for 24 hours.

The pickling process will leach all the color out of the onions and then, over the following hours the color will re-absorb, turning the onion bright pink. Drain and use the onions for the potsticker recipe, but you can use the vinegar for salad dressings or any other preparation calling for vinegar. Leftover onions can be sealed and refrigerated for 2 weeks.