My gal Rachael Ray. She saved me from an elbow-busting potato-mashing on Christmas Day with this ultra-simple fabulous recipe. She gave full credit to Jacques Pepin, or rather, to his grandmother or great-great-grandmother, or whoever really originated this recipe.
Rachael (and perhaps Jacques' grand-grand-mere) calls for Yukon Gold potatoes, but i happened to have some lovely and tender Baby Dutch Yellow from Trader Joe's. The label might say "No butter required!" but I begrudgingly side with Paula Deen on this one: keep the butter.
A bag of these fit perfectly in my 10" saute pan.
It's sooo easy. Braise the potatoes in chicken stock, dot with butter, salt and pepper. When they're tender, you take the lid off and let the stock finish evaporating. That's what the recipe says, though the full-fat thick stock I use from Trader Joe's never completely goes away.
Then the fun part: once they're tender, pop them. I found that placing gentle pressure on each one until it cracked open was all that was needed, and a good test of doneness. From there, they're supposed to brown, but mine never really did.
No matter. Tasty and tender, and popular all around. Potatoes especially are dangerous to futz with in this habit-driven household, but even my husband approved. The most rousing endorsement came from my 5-year-old son: "These are my FAVORITE POTATOES Mom!" Now that's worth inviting Rachael and Jacques into a group hug.
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