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Dishes from my Other Blog - Pan fried Fingerling potatoes with Garlic Scapes (Day 189)


Potatoes.. how can ANYONE not fall in love with them in Infancy? On second thoughts. if there is an answer to that, the subjective self centered part of me does not want to hear it!
  Raghavan Iyer, A culinary idol of mine, recently mentioned that he was going to work on a book with Potatoes as the main ingredient, and this definitely kicked me out of my inherent laziness with working with these marble sized spuds (i.e, Peeling them after boiling) that had spent more than 2 weeks in my kitchen's Lazy Susan.
Summer is here, and so are the garlic scapes. I found these curly, wispy yet wiry beauties at my local Hillsboro farm. Garlic bulbs can be put aside for the winter, this is the time to relish the crisp garlicky flavor of these beauties. Simply dice and saute them lightly to bring out their flavor.

You need:
2 lb fingerling potatoes (I used a medley of Reds, Goldens & purple Peruvians)  boiled and peeled
3 tablespoons olive or sesame oil
1 teaspoon cumin
3 tender garlic scape stems cut at an angle
1 Serrano chile, diced
1 tablespoon ginger root julienned
Salt to taste
Juice of 1/2 a lime

Heat the oil in a cast  iron skillet and add the cumin when the oil just barely begins to smoke, once the seeds 'split', toss in the scapes, chile and the ginger. Give it a light stir and allow the flavors to bloom. Add the potatoes, and fold to allow the oil and the other spices to coat the potatoes. sprinkle salt and allow the spuds to gently crisp up and turn a golden color (at least the light color ones, the purple ones don't really have that swoon worthy appearance about them). Transfer to a serving dish, drizzle with lime juice and serve warm with dal & rice.


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