Recipe: Fingerling Potatoes Steamed In Porcini, Garlic and Rosemary Broth
Steaming fresh fingerling potatoes over a flavorful broth is as easy as it is delicious.
There are days when I look to my pantry for a little inspiration just as I do to the farmers markets, and this past rainy weekend I spied an unopened package of dried porcini mushrooms nestled among my “fancy pantry” items. I also had some super fresh fingerling potatoes stored in a dark, un-fancy cupboard and I was curious about simply steaming the fingerlings over a really flavorful broth so that none of their potato-ness was lost to the cooking liquid. And it turned out beautifully with the potatoes staying firm but tender and the broth lending the side dish a nice earthy and herbacious complexity.
Fingerling Potatoes Steamed in a Porcini, Garlic and Rosemary Broth
Serves 4 as a side dish
1-1.5 ounces of high-quality dried porcini mushrooms (I found mine at Tenuta Market in Canaan, Conn.)
2 cloves garlic
1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 Tablespoons pastured butter
2 teaspoons finely minced fresh rosemary
¼ teaspoon freshly ground coriander seeds
½ cup of dry white wine
1 pound fingerling potatoes, scrubbed but not peeled
Sea salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
The first order of business is to soak and rehydrate the porcini. Place the dried porcini in a medium-sized bowl. Pour just boiled water over the porcini to completely submerge and create enough broth for steaming — about 3 cups. Let the mushrooms steep for 30 minutes.
Drain out the mushrooms but reserve the steeping liquid. Mince the mushrooms and set aside.
In a small saucepan, heat the butter and olive oil together. Add the minced garlic, coriander seeds and rosemary and stir over medium heat for 30 seconds. Add the minced, steeped porcini mushrooms and stir well another 30 seconds.
Add the white wine and simmer 1-2 minutes. Add the porcini steeping liquid. Simmer all together for 20 minutes.
White the broth is simmering, cut the fingerlings in half lengthwise. Pour the simmering broth into the bottom of your steamer. Season the broth well with sea salt and black pepper. Line the steamer top with the cut potatoes, cover and steam until the potatoes are just tender — about 10 minutes. Check the steamer bottom occasionally to make sure there is enough broth in the bottom and it hasn’t boiled away — add pure water or stock if needed. You don’t want to scorch the porcini in the steamer bottom.
Serve the potatoes in a bowl and pour the steaming broth over them. Feel free to add more butter or olive oil — the potatoes have an insatiable appetite for flavor, too.
