Book Ninety-Seven: Michael Chiarello's Casual Cooking

by Michael Chiarello

Named after the famous restaurant Da Delfina in Italy.

I was browsing through my cookbooks looking for something to make for dinner (main course) when I came upon this recipe.

I was on a hunt for something in the healthy spectrum, and normally I cringe shy away from any recipe that is deep fried. However, I could not resist the photo in the book, and I justified making these being we had Raw Kale Coleslaw for dinner on Monday, and Grilled Portobello Burgers (normally made with pesto mayo and provolone - this evening I used pesto only and subbed goat cheese) on Tuesday. I figured we could splurge today, this a side dish after-all, along with tonight's dinner of grilled chicken and an arugula strawberry salad.

Mr. Chiarello says to serve these with a simple roasted meat, and they will steal the show; and that they did. 

Success meter (1-3): 3 

 amazon

 Pick out the smallest Yukon Gold potatoes you can find.

 It took about eight medium sized garlic cloves to attain one-quarter cup chopped garlic.

The instructions say to remove the garlic from the oil with a slotted spoon - this will not work with chopped garlic. I poured the garlic from the pan into a sieve placed over a bowl.

 Mix the sautéed garlic into the parsley and lemon mixture.

 I chose to use a glass to smash the potatoes rather than using my hands as instructed.

 You want to smash the potatoes just till the skins split.

Pour half-inch of peanut oil into a fry pan and cook on both sides till crispy - darker the better. I did not have peanut oil and subbed grapeseed and walnut oil, and only poured about a quarter inch. I may try making these again with just coating the pan with oil instead of deep frying - then again maybe not; why mess with a good thing.

 Remove potatoes from oil and drain on paper towels. Season with salt and pepper.

The recipe states to toss the potatoes in the parsley-lemon mixture. I felt the potatoes were to fragile to be tossed so instead I sprinkled the "gremolata" on top, which you will want to be generous with it's so good.

 These are heavenly - the potatoes are crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside.