If you can get your hands on some tiny new potatoes, they really are a treat. What is special about them is their unique flavour. Once they grow beyond an inch in diameter, they taste different. Not every small potato is new, the bagged ones available year around most certainly aren’t. The way you can tell the new potato is you don’t have to peel them; the skin is thin and comes off easily when scraped with a paring knife.
When I was a kid we sometimes bought our new potatoes from a tiny produce store next door. The store had a potato scraper rigged up and kept a ready supply of them in a large bin of water. New potatoes used to be big business and the smaller they were the better.
Use a mixture of olive oil and butter to sauté the new potatoes. The butter adds flavour and the oil prevents the butter from burning. Cook it over medium low heat and don’t stir them too much. New potatoes cook up surprisingly fast, so don’t salt them until you roll them into the chopped parsley.
NEW POTATOES IN PARSLEY
2-4 servings of small new potatoes 2 Tbsp olive oil
3 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh flat leaf parsley [but not cilantro]
salt to taste
• Place the new potatoes in a large bowl of water.
• Let them sit in the water for 30 minutes.
• Scrape the skin off with a paring knife.
• Rinse them and chop the larger potatoes into 1/2 inch cubes. Leave the small ones whole.
• Place the oil and butter in a non stick fry pan over medium heat..
• When the butter melts, add the potatoes.
• Turn heat down just a little and place a lid on the fry pan.
• Meanwhile rinse the fresh parsley and chop. Sprinkle with salt and chop very finely.
• Sauté the potatoes until they start to get a little color. By then they will be tender.
• Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer potatoes to a serving bowl.
• Add the chopped parsley and gently toss.
• Serve immediately.
