Being fair to the boilers

Over the past few weeks, I've posted a number of recipes for potatoes, and dishes with potatoes in them, that may lead one to believe that I HATE the red boiling potatoes. In re-reading some of the entries, it does seem that I come down hard on them.
Well, it's not that I don't like them. I just don't find them to be all that compatible with the style of cooking that I prefer. Normally, when I'm serving potatoes, I want something crispy, or soft and buttery . Boiled potatoes are great, but if I'm going to boil a starch, inevitably I make something like pasta, or rice, and almost never get to those little red ones.

But.... there are times, like last night, when they are the right thing.

Striped bass have come into season. WILD striped bass I mean. WILD, LOCAL striped bass. And I shall write at length about this incredibly wonderful fish. The main dish last night, was baked striped bass mediterranean style (and yes, the recipe SHALL go up, perhaps later today). Looking at the recipe plans for the week, which include polenta, risibisi, and perhaps pastina, potatoes were the way to go. But again, for some reason that I shall never understand, when I prepare a starch with fish, I always feel like it needs to be leaner. We were also lookng at a leaner dinner because the menu for the week features treats like pork chops and duck breast and leg of lamb with pancetta (remember? ). So, rather than push our collective cholesterol up 900 points, something simple and light seemed to be the right thing.

Many years ago, there was a "movement," (if you can call it that), to lighten potato salads. People started playing with the dish we know as "German potato salad," (which no German I know has never heard of). If you are familiar with it, generally, you know that, as compared to "American" potato salad, "German" potato salad has got a high acid content, usually from vinegar, less or no mayonnaise or other fat, and "stuff" like chopped pickle, or diced egg, and so forth.

It is actually the case that some things that you might not think work well with potatoes, do. And if you, like me, gravitate toward oil or butter or cream when making potatoes, this treatment will convince you that it is not necessary. This is a good dish. I imagine that it would work with just about any meat meal, but it did work really well with our fish.

You need a pound of small red potatoes. The variety you will almost inevitably find, is the "red bliss". Don't ask me why it has that name, I haven't a clue, although I love the name. "Red bliss" sounds like something that should be used for a variety of marijuana doesn't it?

When I say small, I mean on the order of 12-16 to a pound. I say this because - and I kid you not - one of the most common questi0ns Annalena gets asked is "how many potatoes are there in a pound of potatoes."

Now, ragazzi, think about that question for a minute. Then think about the potatoes you see in the store. How do you expect Annalena to answer this one? I TRY to be polite. I don't always succeed.

Anyway, you put them in a pot, and just cover them with water, as usual with 'taters. Add a scant tablespoon of salt, bring the pot to a boil, and cook these at a fast simmer/low boil, until you can just get a knife through to the center of the biggest one, with minimal resistance (be reasonable here, as well. Don't use the Genghis Khan approach, and don't use the new mother approach either. Somewhere mediate to these two approaches is really called for).

When you've gotten there, dump out the potatoes and let them cool until you can handle them easily. They will still be warm. PLEASE don't start burning your fingertips in pursuit of this dish, it just isn't worth the pain. It will take all of about ten minutes. Cut the potatoes in half, or quarters if they are especially big and put them back into the pot. You're putting them there, simply not to dirty another receptacle. Now, grate the rind of one lemon over those potatoes, and then squeeze in the juice of half of the lemon. Finally, add a good handful of chopped dill, and stir it into the potatoes as well.

Again, to our "German" potato salad afficionados, these ingredients will sound familiar, but you may be waiting for the other additives. There ain't none. This is a fairly pristine, fairly austere dish. But it IS good.

Go back through that recipe: did you find any fat? Nope. So, if you're one of those folks who feels a need to get into one of those speedos that USED to fit but don't anymore, or want your partner to do that, this is the dish for you. Of course, you can also use it to justify something like veal in cream sauce, or some other delicacy like that. However you lead your life. Don't let Annalena get in the way.

Hell, after all I'm just a cook....