{recipe} Sauteed Potatoes with Green Garlic and Fresh Horseradish

I went to the fancy Ferry Building Farmers’ Market today- usually I go for the lower key, lower priced Alemany Market so it was a welcome change of scenery. I picked up a few slightly unusual things and tasked myself with combining them in a delicious dish. You can think of these as really fancy, really flavorful hash browns. They would be a great side dish for a roast chicken, a prime rib, or steak.

I picked up some pink huckleberry potatoes, which are pink throughout and have a creamy texture. You can use any kind of potatoes for this recipe- red bliss would be a great choice. As well, I splurged and threw down 50 whole cents (!) on a fresh horseradish root, and got a couple stalks of green garlic. If you’ve never tried green garlic, try to get your hands on some. It looks like a small leek, but the taste is like a cross between sweet pungent garlic and a fresh scallions. They complement any form of potato perfectly, and are only available for a short time each Spring. The fresh horseradish is a fun little condiment to grate on steaks, potatoes, or anything that needs a little kick.

pink huckleberry potatoes and a fresh horseradish root

The trick to getting great sautéed potatoes that are cooked through, a little crispy, but not burnt, is to parboil them then sauté them in clarified butter. Butter is made up of oil and milk solids. Clarified butter is just the oil part of the butter without the milk solids. When cooking with butter, the part that burns is the milk part whereas the oil part won’t blacken. Making clarified butter is quite simple and quick, and it’s a great tool to lock away in your culinary repertoire. I add a little bit of plain yogurt at the end, which mostly cooks away. It adds a slight tang and is a nice finishing agent to get the potatoes perfect.

Sauteed Potatoes with Green Garlic and Fresh Horseradish

Ingredients:

• 4 medium sized potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/8 inch slices
• 4 Tblsp butter
• 2 stalks green garlic, the white parts and a bit of the green parts finely chopped
• fresh horseradish to taste, peeled and finely grated (I used about 1 tsp.)
• 2 Tblsp  plain yogurt (nonfat, 2%, whole milk- doesn’t matter)
• salt and pepper to taste

Method:

• Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes and cook 8-10 minutes, until al dente. (The potatoes should be  firm but you should be able to cut through them pretty easily.)
• Meanwhile, clarify the butter. Put butter in a large sauté pan over medium low heat. When the butter bubbles, you will notice the white foamy matter rises to the top. When the bubbles settle, turn off the heat and use a spoon to skim off the white foamy bits. Discard white bits. Leave clarified butter in pan.
• When potatoes are done, drain. Turn clarified butter on high heat and add potatoes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Saute for about 10-15 minutes, flipping every 2-3 minutes, until potatoes have crisped on the outiside.
• Turn off heat and add green garlic, horseradish, and yogurt to the pan. Flip a few times to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning. Serve immediately.