Fried potatoes. It's everybody's weakness, at least it certainly is mine. I generally eat pretty healthy throughout the week even though by the look of this blog, it probably doesn't seem likely. The key for me is to not bring home any potatoes because they will most likely be fried.
On a recent trip to Trader Joe's, I saw a bag of cute little fingerling potatoes that I couldn't resist. I brought them home and, yep, fried them up. I tried to recreate them in the way of RestoX, where the cut sides have a deep golden crust.
At the table, to negate the caloric and fat intake of the potatoes, I washed up a massive amount of arugula (the scientific method is to triple the amount of greens to fatty substance), drizzled it with a bit of vinaigrette and topped it with the potatoes. Et voila, the healthy basically canceled out the unhealthy! Pretty neat, isn't it?
Recipe: Pan-fried potatoes
With guidance from RestoX and Alice Waters' The Art of Simple Food
I pan fried these instead of roasting simply because I didn't feel like taking my entire collection of pots and pans out of the oven today, but I think they would be just as good, if not better, roasted. I would recommend using a cast iron pan, but if that's not available to you, any heavy-bottomed pan will do.
1 lb fingerling potatoes, washed
1/4 cup of olive oil (or 1/8 cup olive oil and 1/8 cup duck fat)
1 1/2 tablespoon rosemary needles picked off branches
1 clove garlic, minced (optional)
Sea salt
1. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil.
2. While water is boiling, slice potatoes in half, lengthwise, then cut large pieces in half widthwise to create as uniform pieces as possible.
3. When potatoes are tender but not falling apart, about 5-10 minutes or so (forgot to time it), drain them and let them dry.
4. In a cast-iron pan, heat the oil and duck fat, if using.
5. When oil is hot, add rosemary and potatoes. Arrange the potatoes so the cut side faces down. Let it sit undisturbed for about 5 minutes or until golden brown.
6. Turn over potatoes to the other side for a few minutes, then stir and toss with garlic for another minute.
7. Turn off heat, then sprinkle with sea salt to taste.
8. Enjoy after allowing them to cool for a few minutes. Sprinkle with more salt if needed.
9 comments:
You should keep an eye out for fingerling sweet potatoes! They're amazing.
If you develop your fat negation theory, you could be the creator of the next diet fad. I'm already on board!
Steve, where can I get a hold of those, and how do you like to cook them?
Ha! Jenny, maybe I can pitch the idea to McDonald's so they can add it to their "healthy choice" options.
We got them once from Fresh Direct. They seem to be sold out right now: http://tinyurl.com/yqcewz.
I just baked them in foil. They cook so much quicker than regular sweet potatoes/yams, though. The flavor was pretty much the same.
Whole Foods! I usually get them from there.
I love to roast them too with fresh herbs (rosemary and thyme), carrots and olive oil.
YUM! roasted carrots!
-MF
Sorry, in case I wasn't clear, you can get fingerling potatoes from whole foods, NOT that you can roast whole foods. LOL
-MF
Thanks, Steve! I must get on to Fresh Direct. I just lugged home some massive amounts of groceries all the way from Midtown.
MF, I love all roasted vegetables (except salad greens). I can't wait till spring to have me a large pan of roasted asparagus with Parmesan and lemon.
I've been looking for a reason to buy a bag of those fingerling potatoes. I LOVE the nice brown crust you got on them. These look sensational (and will probably grace my dinner table this evening.)
Miss Scarlett, thank you for your comment. The restaurant I work at cooks their fingerlings this way, and it's very tempting to dip into the pan each time I see the golden crust. If you tried them, I'd love to hear how they came out!
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