Papas Arrugadas, Canarian wrinkly potatoes.

I think of myself as a foodie most of the time, but I admit that I’ve become quite jaded with the concept of a celebrity chef restaurant.  The general public is gladly lapping up the fame food craze,but I find myself wondering how a person who calls themselves a chef can appear in multiple television series, run several different food properties (often in different states) and still find the time to ever get dirty in a kitchen.  When you add in the rampant trend jumping of middle-end dining, you can quickly become disappointed with almost any dining experience.  When’s the last time you saw a menu without some kind of miso-glazed sea bass or a shaved fennel salad?

That being said, I’ve got to give credit to Jose Andres and his restaurant Jaleo for introducing me to Papas Arrugadas, an unexpectedly unique and simple side dish you should try today.

Papas Arrugadas hales from the Canary Islands, where they are considered a hallmark of Canary Island cuisine.  Traditionally cooked in sea-water, the skin of these potatoes becomes wrinkled and crusted with a light dusting of salt in the cooking process.  Served with an intense mojo or chimichurri style sauce on the side, these potatoes are a fantastic tapas-style appetizer or an awesome side for a heavier meat dish.

Unlike a lot of dishes, there are guidelines instead of ingredients when making this dish.  Quantities are determined by how much you want to prepare.

Directions:

1. Find the smallest new potatoes you can find, you want them to be no bigger then an inch if possible.  For this example, we were able to find potatoes about the size of a grape at Harris Teeter.
2. Fill a pot with enough water to cover the potatoes somewhere around an inch above the top.
3. Start pouring salt into the water and stirring to dissolve.  When there’s enough salt in the water, the potatoes will float.
4. Dump your potatoes in and bring the water to a boil.  Let the potatoes cook in close to a rolling boil with the lid off for about 15-20 minutes.
5. After about 15 minutes, the potatoes will be very tender, pour off all the water but keep the potatoes in the cooking pot.
6. At this point you’ve got two choices, cover your pot with a towel and set aside for 5 minutes, or you can return the pot to a low burner for a few minutes to dry out the potatoes.  You’ll see them wrinkle up and turn ashy from the salt.
7. For a quick chimichurri sauce, grab a bunch of parsley, a bunch of cilantro, 2-3 cloves of garlic and some olive oil and obliterate them in a food processor.  We made ours even quicker by using gourmet garden herbs and mixing everything with a fork.
8. Plate the potatoes and the sauce and enjoy!