Fascinating fingerlings

Ok, it's a stupid title. I know it. But bear with me. It's early, I've been out jogging or running, depending up on your point of view, it's raining, and I'm looking at working on stuff today that is not at all appealing. And then... any thoughts of an early Friday departure are dispelled by a 3pm conference call. Still... there's lunch with Dylan. YAY!!!!. In any event, my mind is functioning not so well this morning (perhaps from the fumes of 2 quarts of strawberry jam I made last night. Why do I do this? Why do I do these NUTSY things. And do you want the recipe?).

Enough digression: to the matter at hand. Let's review. Remember yesterday when I told you potatoes have a season? Well, let me amplify on that. Potatoes are edible over the course of a LONG season, but you will find different types of potatoes, as they mature. Now, as the weather is just warming up, is the time when you will find the smaller potatoes, the young ones, that are called, sometimes, "fingerlings."

If you think back to the different kind of potatoes you see in the market, you may recall that some are round, and some are elongated. The ones that are round, when young, are sometimes sold as "butterballs" or some equally silly name like that. Younger versions of the longer potatoes, like Idahos, are called "fingerlings," allegedly because they look like a small (or large ) finger.

Honestly, I try not to think about that image. Remember, Annalena was a biologist at a prior point in his/her life. I try to think of them, simply, as young potatoes.

As I said yesterday, you cook these differently from the big ones. I'm going to provide you with my favorite way.

These are potatoes you don't want to peel. They are so small - generally no bigger than an ounce or so - that if you peel them, you wind up with nothing. What I do is I give them a quick rinse with plain water, and then put them into a pot, whole. I don't slice them - yet- because they are so small that they will cook quickly. Then I add a tablespoon of salt, for two pounds of fingerlings, and like with the mashed potatoes, I barely cover them with water. Again, like the bigger potatoes, I boil them, BUT... instead of boiling them to soft, I boil them to "aldente." This is a judgement call. I want a knife to go through them, but not easily. When they get "there" (ala Oleta Adams), I dump them into a colander, and let them cool.

This may be the most important thing to keep in mind: "LET THEM COOL." More people have blistered fingers from working with potatoes that are too hot. Starch holds heat. A dense product like a potato holds it for a while. What I try to do to make sure that they will cool completely, is to cook them the morning of a day I will need them for lunch or dinner. Then, with a small, sharp knife ( one of those hollow cheese knives is ideal for this), I slice them in half, lengthwise.

I get a big pan - the widest one I can find, and put a good amount of oil in. Don't fret, ragazzi. If you get the oil hot enough, you are going to be fine. I do NOT salt the p otatoes at this time, but I have salt ready. Why? Because salt draws water. If water is on the surface of your potatoes, they will not brown. when the oil is hot, put the potatoes, cut size down and let them sizzle away. This is going to take longer than you think: but it won't take more than 7 minutes or so. Check. Every pot, like every one of us, has its "hot spots," and some will brown much faster than others. Move them around. Have paper towels ready, and when they're as brown as you like (some like them darker than others....DON'T GO THERE YOU PIGS), put them on the paper towel to drain, and salt them liberally, IMMEDIATELY. There is something in this step that seems to make the salt stick better.

Now, if you happen to have some young, green garlic around (and at this time of year, you should), have a bulb or two of it chopped up nice and fine. Remove all but about two tablespoons of the oil, and toss in the garlic, at a medium low heat. Just cook it till it breaks down and softens, then add the potatoes back and stir them together .

How much of this should you make? Well... let's put it this way. If I make a pound of these, the two of us will eat all of them. If I make a pound and a half of them, we'll eat them all. They are THAT good.

There are so many ways you can use fingerlings. One way I saw them used was to boil red, white and blue ones, and then use color coordinated fillings, after someone had gone in and scooped out the cooked potato flesh, then put a tray of them out for fourth of july. Glad that that lady has time on her hands. Let's not go that far.

You could forego the browning, by the way, and make a pretty damn good soup of these potatoes with that green garlic, and perhaps some peas.

Hmmmm. I was looking for a soup recipe this weekend. Hmmmm....