Guest Editors

Alice Waters' Salt-Roasted Potatoes with Crème Fraîche and Chives

November 18, 2013

This week's guest editor is Alice Waters, the visionary behind Chez Panisse and The Edible Schoolyard Project. All week, she'll be sharing recipes from her latest cookbook, The Art of Simple Food II, answering our questions, and inspiring us to get a little dirt on our sleeves. We'll also be giving away a copy of her new book each day!

Today: Alice Waters introduces us to a new potato variety, and a new way to roast potatoes.

Alice Waters's Salt-Roasted Cranberry Red Potatoes on Food52

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It is easy now to find many varieties of potatoes at the market or the nursery -- yellow-, pink-, and purple-fleshed; waxy and floury; baby, fingerling, and new. Cranberry Red are super-sweet and magenta inside, and I love roasting them in salt. Choose small potatoes for this recipe; they will cook faster and make a very pretty hor d'oeuvre or side dish. The bright red flash of the Cranberry Red potatoes is striking when accented with the green chives and white cream.

Salt-Roasted Cranberry Red Potatoes with Crème Fraîche and Chives

16 to 20 small Cranberry Red potatoes
4 cups rock salt
Crème fraîche
Chopped chives
Freshly ground black pepper

See the full recipe (and save and print it) here.

Photo by James Ransom

We're giving away a copy of The Art of Simple Food II! To enter, tell us in the comments: What's your favorite type of potato to cook? We'll choose a winner this Friday, November 22 -- unfortunately, we can't ship outside the US.

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Written by: AliceWaters

27 Comments

Shannon November 22, 2013
Purple potatoes are my favorite
 
Karina N. November 21, 2013
I think I love them all...
 
Lynne B. November 21, 2013
Fingerlings, of late! Parboiled, oven roasted or grilled with olive oil, garlic, rosemary, and Italian parsley.
 
Jessie November 21, 2013
I love new red potatoes, oven roasted with olive oil and rosemary.
 
Linda S. November 20, 2013
Yukon Gold roasted with salt and olive oil and a little rosemary.
 
Krista November 20, 2013
New potatoes roasted with salt and olive oil and some parmesan cheese... yum!
 
andie November 19, 2013
I prefer yellow/golden potatoes because of the smooth texture.
 
Kate November 19, 2013
Yukon Gold (or similar) - smashed, pan-fried, and topped with parsley-walnut pesto!
 
enbe November 19, 2013
I love tiny gold potatoes for cooking but I'm always tempted by purple ones (my favorite color!) to roast.
 
Allison (. November 19, 2013
I love new red and purple potatoes for curries, and yukon golds for roasting!
 
SallyM November 19, 2013
My favorite type of potatoe is new potatoes just dug up from the garden and boiled for a few minutes then tossed with butter and salt and pepper. Yum.
 
sfielding November 19, 2013
I love all the waxy potatoes!
 
Audrey November 19, 2013
Fingerling potatoes! They're such a fabulous side dish. Plus they're cute!
 
CarlaCooks November 19, 2013
I don't think I've ever met a potato I didn't like, not a preparation I didn't like. I suppose my favorite potato is tiny little new potatoes; I simply roast them with plenty of olive oil, salt, and rosemary. But I also love mashed potatoes; add some goat cheese and roasted garlic and I'm in heaven!
 
KimmyV November 18, 2013
I love Yukon golds. They are great for making latkes
 
Hannah R. November 18, 2013
Sweet potatoes for sure- but for a classic white potato I love to choose something small and buttery with a thin waxy skin- especially purple and rose fleshed varieties!
 
AntoniaJames November 18, 2013
I love red potatoes, unpeeled, because they are so versatile, and subtly beautiful in their own way. These cranberry reds certainly are pretty, though -- striking like beets but, I expect, without the bleeding to make everything within a mile deep pink. I'll have to try to find them! Haven't seen them yet in the farmers' markets I frequent. ;o)
 
ATG117 November 18, 2013
When im not making sweet potatoes for myself, I love making fingerlings. They always look lovely and they cook quickly. But as a child, my favorite side my mon made was mashed potatoes with Carmelized onions.
 
sexyLAMBCHOPx November 18, 2013
Baked "fries" with sea salt.
 
Brad C. November 18, 2013
Purple potatoes in a hash with other veggies like zucchini, onion, and mushrooms