Amazing Crispy Crushed Potato Side Dish Cooked With / Tallow

This is the most amazing potato dish I’ve had in a while. Crispy exterior with a buttery smooth interior.

Ingredients:

The following is enough potatoes for 2 people. For more servings, you can double, triple quadruple etc the recipe.

8 fingerling potatoes

1 red chili pepper

1 shallot

5 cloves garlic

1/8 c tallow

2 tbsp butter, unsalted

1 sprig fresh rosemary

Salt

Pepper

Tools needed:

Sharp knife

Cutting board

Cast iron skillet or thick bottom stainless steel pan

Spatula

Measuring cup

Stock pot

Spoon

How to make it:

Fingerling potatoes are the perfect potato for this dish because they have a great potato flavor and get a nice soft texture inside when cooked.

First, wash the potatoes and chili pepper off with cold running water. Let air dry on clean kitchen towel.

Cut the shallot and pepper into thin julienne strips. For the pepper, I recommend cutting both ends off it and cutting the pepper in half. Carefully cut out the seeds and placenta before slicing the pepper.

Slicing the garlic will give you delicious crispy pieces of garlic when cooked with all the rest of the ingredients.

Remove garlic from outer paper and slice thin.

Pick leaves from the rosemary and rough chop.

Cook the potatoes in boiling salted water for about 10 minutes or until fork tender.

Once the potatoes are cooked through, carefully remove them from the pot. No need to shock them in ice water as I lightly crush them while still warm. I found that crushing the potatoes while they are still warm works best for keeping the potatoes from falling apart. I use a spatula and use a clean rag to carefully crush the potato. Be careful with this part as the potatoes are still hot. You can allow them to cool slightly if needed.

Warm up pan over medium heat for about 2 minutes. Add the tallow and melt completely. Tallow has a smoke point of around 400 degrees f, so it should be able to handle high heat. Add the potatoes, lightly baste them with the melted tallow and hit them with a pinch of salt and pepper. Basting the potatoes is so that the salt and pepper will stick to the potatoes. Cook the potatoes on this side for about 3-4 minutes. Carefully flip the potatoes over with a spoon. Handle gently as the potatoes are delicate. Season the second side with salt and pepper as well. Add the shallot, garlic and peppers to the pan. Season the shallots, peppers and garlic with a pinch of salt. The salt will bring out some flavor. Cook the potatoes on this side for an additional 3-4 minutes. The shallots should start turning translucent. At this point, turn up the heat on the burner to medium high. Continue to cook the potatoes until a good crispy caramelized crust starts to form. You can flip the potatoes at this point once more to get the crust on the other side before serving.

Serve the potatoes on a warm plate with all the peppers, shallot and garlic. Drizzle the potatoes with the hot fat from the pan. The great thing about this dish is not only are the potatoes are crispy, the garlic gets crispy as well. To compliment the crispy exterior of the potatoes, the inside of the potato is nice and buttery smooth. The flavors and textures in this dish work really well together. By far my favorite dish to make with potatoes.

Serve immediately.

Goes great with a nice pan seared steak, smoked chicken, with eggs or by themselves.

Enjoy!

Logan