While I enjoy cooking for others, it is nice at times to cook only for myself, to not consider the dislikes of the other person(s). I knew that I would be able to cook for just myself tonight and started thinking about what I wanted this afternoon.
The ingredients I needed to work with:
New red potatoes - purchased from the farmers market yesterday and one of my long standing favorites. Sorrel - weeded from the garden this afternoon, a leafy green with a lemony bite.
The ingredients I wanted to work with:
Salt - I received six speciality salts from my mother for my birthday. Duck fat - rendered by me a while ago.
Boil a bunch of new potatoes until they are just tender. Drain and leave to dry out on a baking sheet. Heat 2 tsp of rendered duck fat in a pan until quite hot. Throw one potato in to test the heat - if it sizzles you are set to go. Throw the rest in and shake them about for around 20 seconds. Dump back onto the baking sheet and throw into a 415 degree oven. Bake until crispy.
Chop up around 1.5-2 cups of sorrel. Melt 2 tsp of butter in a sauce pan, add the sorrel and cook until wilted. Add 3/4 cup of vegetable stock and cook over medium heat until thick and mushy. Set aside. Meanwhile heat 1.5 cups of whole milk. In the same sauce pan (now rinsed) melt 2 T of butter. Add 3 T of flour and cook until it loosens up. Slowly add heated milk until it has a thick consistency. Add the reserved sorrel and cook for another minute or two. Add remaining milk until desired consistency. Finish with salt, paprika and pepper to taste.
Serve potatoes with two options for topping: Sorrel sauce and truffle salt.
I was worried about over salting my potatoes by salting them once out of the oven and then again by dipping in truffle salt. I could have either over salted the sauce or dipped each sauced potato first in salt. I chose to dip in a Mayan sea salt before the sauce.
