Taste Buds: French Dinner! Part 1: Braised Fingerling Potato Coins

Our French dinner was the first time the Cooking Adventures of Ms B and Cindy became a cooking club. We welcomed a coworker, who happens to live across the street where I live, Josh. Now, unlike Cindy or me, Josh has been cooking since he was a kid. For his housewarming, his parents got him a new set of All-Clad pots and pans, so he insisted on hosting our first club meeting. Other than this potato appetizer, this three course Taste Buds segment also includes a quick Coq au Vin and the Coffee-Caramel Crème Brûlée I tweeted so much about.

As I was browsing through Epicurious for French recipes, this braised fingerling potato coins recipe caught my attention because it was based on / inspired by a dish from Chez Panisse, a famous restaurant in Berkeley, California, founded by Alice Waters, one of America’s pioneers of sustainable and local agriculture that produces the finest and freshest ingredients. After I read the little history of this dish, I realized that this recipe is sooooooo simple to the point of confusion. It’s because I had to keep on reading and re-reading the recipe and kept asking, is that really it; is that really all I need to do?? Apparently it was, and this dish was simply good.

Here’s ALL that you need. This very short list:

2 pounds fingerling potatoes, peeled if desired

2 cups water

3/4 stick unsalted butter, cut into bits

3 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

The equipment you ABSOLUTELY NEED unless you can slice potatoes into very very thin slices:

A mandoline slicer

And how you do it…

Cut a piece of parchment paper that would perfectly fit your heavy skillet and butter one side. Slice your potatoes with the mandoline slicer into very thin slices, about 1/8 inch thick. Arrange the potatoes in a skillet and add water, salt and pepper. Add your butter cubes on top.

Cover the potatoes with the parchment paper and let it simmer until all the liquid is gone and the potatoes are tender (about 30-35 minutes). Then serve and sprinkle with parsley. That’s it, a simple pommes de terre! I really liked this because it was so easy to eat, but you have to watch it because as the slices are thin, you’ll think you’re barely getting filled. However, these are  still carbs honey.