Recipe Index

Portuguese | Punched Potatoes (Batatas a Murro)vegan

Posted on January 2, 2012

I was looking for a Portuguese potato dish and found this recipe in The New Portuguese Table cookbook by David Leite. This recipe is similar to Thomas Keller's Smash Roasted Marble Potatoes but is a bit easier to make. The potatoes are crispy and salt-crusted on the outside, creamy on the inside, drizzled with garlic oil and garlic chips. What's not to like?

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

punched potatoes

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds golf-ball-sized Yukon gold potatoes, pricked all over with a fork

kosher sea salt, to taste

1/2 cup olive oil

3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced (or more, to taste)

 

Method

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and heat to 425 degrees F.

Rinse the potatoes, blot them almost dry with paper towels, and roll them lightly in salt. Spread them out a baking sheet and roast until tender when pierced with a knife, 50 minutes to 1 hour. (I roasted for 1 hour.)

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a small saucepan over low heat until it shimmers. Add the garlic and cook until it's golden and the oil is infused with its flavor, 6 to 8 minutes. (This took longer than 8 minutes for me.) Remove the pan from the heat. (Be sure to take off the heat just as the garlic starts to get golden since the garlic will continue to cook a bit and you don't want burnt garlic.)

When the potatoes are done, press on them with your fist or a mallet to split, arrange them in a serving bowl, and drizzle with the garlic oil.

 

(Ref. "Punched Potatoes" recipe, The New Portuguese Table.)