Crushed and Fried Potatoes

Crushed and Fried Potatoes

I love potatoes probably more than just about any other vegetable. And I love Jacques Pepin and James Beard and have enjoyed their books and recipes for many years. I’m also a fan of the James Beard Foundation. What a delight, then, to get this recipe, with draws on Pepin’s version of many years ago, in a recent email newsletter from the James Beard Foundation. It’s from Joshua McFadden’s cookbook, Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables, a 2018 Beard Foundation award nominee.

For excellent Yukon Gold potatoes, I rely on Romero Farms. And for garlic, I recently bought some fabulous dried garlic slivers from Loretta Sandoval of Zulu’s Petals.

The Recipe

Yield: four servings

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds small medium-starch potatoes, such as Yukon Gold
• Extra virgin olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon rosemary leaves
• 1 teaspoon thyme leaves
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon dried chile flakes
• 4 lemon wedges

PREPARATION

1. Heat the oven to 400°F.
2. Spread the potatoes on a baking sheet and bake until fully tender when poked with a knife, about 30 minutes, depending on how big they are.
3. Let the potatoes cool enough so that you can handle them, then crush each one with your palm or the back of a pan. You want to create a patty shape, with lots of craggy surface area to crisp up in the hot oil. If you have larger potatoes, tear them up into smaller pieces after smashing.
4. Heat 1/2 inch of olive oil in a large skillet until quite hot. Put a corner of a potato into the oil to test the heat; if it sizzles nicely, the oil is ready. Working in batches, fry the potatoes until nicely browned on one side.
5. Flip and cook until both sides are browned, about 5 minutes total, but about 30 seconds before the potatoes are done, toss in some of the garlic, rosemary, and thyme.
6. Transfer the potatoes to paper towels to drain. Continue frying the potatoes, scraping out the bits of garlic and herbs between batches so they don’t burn.
7. Season with salt and black pepper and the chile flakes. Serve with a lemon wedge for each diner.

This locally inspired recipe is brought to you by Pam Walker. Pam is an avid home cook, writer, and local farm and food activist who is also a board member of the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute. Thank you, Pam, for helping inspire us to use locally sourced ingredients!