Potato Caviar

Disclaimer: This is in no way related to fish eggs or the solidified juices made popular by Ferran Adria.

I could go on an on about the farmer's market. The benefits to health, society, and the environment, are virtually immeasurable. But that's not what this is about. Okay, I can't resist, here's a few.

• The food comes from people, not companies
• There is no middleman unnecessarily stealing money from you
• You get the best, peak seasonal produce improving flavor, freshness, and healthfulness
• The environment is protected from unnecessary travel times transporting grapes from Chile to Vermont (google it, that's pretty far)
• The environment is protected from the very destructive practices of factory farms, be they chemical, physical, or social

Again, I could go on, but here's the reason that is important to this post: you can get stuff that you won't find anywhere else. Let's start with the why. National grocery store chains such as the Jewel, Dominick's, Wal-Mart, Price Chopper, and Stop & Shop require the same products in all of their stores. This is because of perceived demand. What's all this then? It's not simply that apples must be available at every store, year round, but that red delicious apples must be available at every store, year round. Red delicous apples are cheap and easy to grow, and have a long shelf life, but they lack the flavor and nutrients of, say, Honeycrisp apples, available only in certain areas at certain times of the year. The corporate growth strategy of most large corporations such as these is to provide an absolutely consistent product year-round, with the same selection available nationwide. This is a strategy based upon the premise of an infinite supply of cheap fossil fuels (think gasoline). Though we are currently in the midst of a major paradigm shift, these stores are resistant to embrace local varieties, seasonal produce, and quality ingredients.

So when you shop for potatoes at a grocery store, you have few options. Red and white (tiny), yellow (medium) and russet (large), are pretty much all you're limited to. But around this time, in the farmer's market, a single farmer can have as many as 20 varieties of potato, with a broad range of shapes, sizes, colors, textures, and flavors. Furthermore, among each variety, many size options are possible. Seeing these potatoes, I was instantly drawn to what most people would usually reject, the teeny tiny potatoes. These guys were all narrower than the width of a dime (though some were oblong), and I spent close to ten minutes picking out a pound and a half of them from among the baskets of potatoes. There were four varieties, two purple, one pink, and one yellow. Together, they looked almost like an assortment of olives, though the purple ones resembled blueberries when set alone.



Though there would surely be many cool and fun options for these potatoes, I went with a simple potato salad. The standard first step (after a thorough washing) is to boil and cool the potatoes. Start them in cold, salted water, and then heat until soft and tender, but not so much so that the skins split. I don't like the heaviness of mayo, so I use Greek yogurt as a base, with an equal amount of dijon mustard. A bit of lemon juice adds kick. Some chives and lemon thyme (picked in my garden) add nice flavor depth. A bit of grated garlic will give you a bit of a punch in the face, in the good way. And salt. Always salt. Here it is. Just so you understand the tininess of the potatoes, those green rings are thinly sliced chives, not scallions, as would be proportionate with regular potatoes.



What I'd do differently:

• Use an emulsified-vinaigrette-based dressing, rather than yogurt-based, so that it's translucent and the color of the potatoes shines through better
• I guess that's it right now. Have a nice day.
  

Coming soon: garlic scapes/blossoms