Purple Potatoes?!?

In the same trip to the market that resulted in cipollini onions, a bag of fingerling purple potatoes made its way to my kitchen - mostly because how often do you get the chance to eat purple potatoes?



I first browned the cipollini's in olive oil and then covered and braised with sage, vinegar and water. I loved the way they looked, but I think I should have cut the sweetness and added some more vinegar to the braising liquid and finished it with some sea salt.



For the potatoes, i boiled them and then peeled them and fork mashed them with thyme, a little salt, and olive oil. I wanted to really taste the potatoes so I kept it simple. They were a little dry so I think I would maybe add some sourcream or milk - but the flavor was great.

I also roasted a chicken. This recipe is my favorite for chicken - I got it from the Tribece Grill cookbook.



Stud an onion with about 10 cloves. Put in inside the cavity of the chicken with 1/2 a lemon and 1/2 an orange. Make a mix of minced garlic, sage, tarragon, and thyme (about 2 tbsp of each). Stuff it between the skin and the meat of the chicken. Rub the skin of the chicken with a liberal amount of room temperature butter. Put chicken on a rack in a roasting pan and put about 1 inch of water in the pan. Then cook for suggested time (our chicken was 3.5 pounds, and I think I cooked it for 1 1/2 hours or so). Baste every 10 minutes or so. The oven should be preheated to 450 and then reduced to 350 as soon as the chicken is put into the oven.

I also made a porcini gravy. Essentially, I browned some onions, then I made a roux with butter and flour, added chicken stock, chopped porcini mushrooms that had been reconstituted, then added the liquid from the mushrooms. Oh, and I put some white wine in as well and of course some salt and pepper.



The finished product.



Pretty good farmers market meal for the middle of winter. Yes, it was March - and I didn't realize it at the time - but March is apparently now the middle of winter.

Off to Florida to escape the rain that has already delayed my flight by 3 hours (hence the multitude of posts). I'll bring my camera - hopefully I will make some good food finds.