For lovers of our Wild Herb Salt - This Colombian potato dish - "Papas Saladas" in Spanish - is for you! Imagine tiny new potatoes bursting with buttery flavour under a crisp, Wild Herby Salty, crystallized crust. Not only do they look amazing but the flavour of these salted potatoes is so good and like nothing you've had before (in the potato repertoire) that you simply cannot stop eating them. Because the potatoes lose a lot of their intrinsic moisture due to osmosis in this method, the flesh is delightfully creamy and buttery in flavour and denser in texture. If you are a Wild Herb Salt addict, as we are, you are going to love this dish You can serve these with ají, a traditional Colombian-style fresh tomato, onion, chilli and coriander salsa but we enjoy ours with sour cream with a little lemon myrtle stirred through it. And butter on the hot potatoes - always lashings of butter! And if you like chilli, our Peri Peri Wild Lime Sauce would be the perfect dipping sauce for these little gems.
Warning - this takes a lot of salt! This recipe will serve 4-6 people , so feel free to reduce it or even increase but keep the ratios the same.
1 kg baby Kipfler or baby chat potatoes ( we like using baby Kipfler)
100g Wild Herb Salt
1 litre water
Sour Cream
Lemon Myrtle to taste
Wash and clean the the potatoes but don't not peel them.
Place in a saucepan so that they fit snugly into a saucepan or a deep frying pan.
Add the Wild Herb Salt and and cold water. Stir to dissolve the salt as much as possible, pop the lid on and bring to the boil. Once boiling remove the lid and continue to boil rapidly for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Keep an eye on them as the water level reduces so as not to burn we don not want that!
At this stage cook, shaking the pan often, until the liquid evaporates and the potatoes are crusted in a fine film of salt, about 5 minutes. The pan should be extremely dry and coated in salt and the potatoes will sound crackly when shaken.
Once all that liquid is gone, let the potatoes rest for a few minutes. As they cool, you'll begin to see a hardened crystallized crust form on them, sort of like rock salt forming.
The end result is a potato that has a more intense potato flavour and denser, creamier texture (as opposed to the fluffier texture of plain boiled potatoes). The skin of salt-boiled potatoes also ends up thinner and more delicate. And the flavour of the Wild Herb Salt is intensified and is so beautifully aromatic.
While the potatoes are cooking, swirl some Lemon Myrtle through it and let it infuse until you are ready to serve.
Sounds good ?Serve as a side dish with butter and Lemon Myrtle sour cream or with Aji. These Salted Potatoes are traditionally served with BBQ meats in Colombia and it sounds pretty perfect for Australian BBQs too