Kudos to the Potato Perspective, because when I was at the Farmer’s Market on Saturday morning I picked up a sack of super ugly purple-black potatoes at only $1/lb. An old grizzly gent had artfully (not) arranged a mess of root vegetables on a huge wooden table – potatoes of all stripes, grubby parsnips, knotted carrots, dingy beets, all mixed together, all a dollar a pound. But once washed and scrubbed of grit, the papery, thin medallions of potato looked so special.
In a skillet fried at low heat with a big pat of butter, tubes of green onions and smoked paprika they turned a less appetizing rusty brown color. They were still rich and creamy, particularly when paired with a fast saute of spring vegetables: chiclet-sized bites of asparagus, ribbons of leftover swiss chard, and diced sweet onion flash fried at high heat with olive oil and lemon. I was tempted to throw the entire mess into a pot and puree into a creamy soup but I was hungry and so it was.
