Lick the Bowl Potatoes

(serves 4)

6 medium pota­toes, any kind at all, peeled
4 tbsps olive oil
1 tbsp but­ter
Mal­don salt and fresh-ground pep­per
heap­ing tea­spoon sweet Paprika

Cut peeled pota­toes into bite-size wedges and place in a saucepan with cold water to cover. Add enough salt to fit in your cupped palm. Bring to boil and sim­mer high for about 15 min­utes or until pota­toes are eas­ily pierced by a fork. Drain into a colan­der. Place colan­der on hot burner (heat turned off) and leave for a half hour or so, while you do other things. The idea is to dry them out completely.

When you’re about 8 min­utes away from want­ing to eat, heat olive oil and but­ter in a very large skil­let. Add salt and pep­per. Heat until the oil and but­ter “stop talk­ing to you,” as Julia Child would say. That is, the bub­bling set­tles down to silence. Add pota­toes. Stir con­tin­u­ally, turn­ing the pota­toes over and they brown. Sprin­kle on most of the paprika (retain­ing a dust­ing for the end).

Amaz­ingly, the pota­toes will not retain the oil and but­ter. At the end of cook­ing, when the pota­toes are lightly browned and lightly crisped, sim­ply tilt the skil­let and pull the pota­toes out with a slot­ted spoon, leav­ing the oil behind. Magic.

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