Red Potatoes with Arugula (p. 163)

This post has been sitting in blogger for almost two months half written. I made this dish way back when I made the whole grilled snapper and I didn't find it to be a very exciting dish so I've been putting off finishing. I decided it was finally time to finish it off. So without further ado...Iron Chef Michael Symon's Red Potatoes with Arugula (p. 163).

Potatoes in a bed of arugula, about as artistic as I get

This is the second recipe in a row that involves few ingredients and is very quick and easy to make. You know how to boil potatoes, right? In this case simply wash a couple pounds of red potatoes, add them to a pot and cover them with warm water. As always, add kosher salt to season the water when cooking potatoes, it helps increase the flavor of the potatoes without having to over salt your final product.

Bring the water to a boil and cook the potatoes until they are tender, probably a little more than 30 minutes. Be careful not to over cook the potatoes or you'll end up with a messy, soft final product. The potatoes should not be crumbling or falling apart, rather they should still have a little bite to them. Once the potatoes are done, carefully drain them and let them dry. Once dry, cut the potatoes into slices around a half inch thick, or whatever your desired size is. You can also peel the potatoes if you chose, but I prefer to leave the skins on since that's where most of the nutrition is.

Simmering sauce

When the potatoes are getting close to being done, it's time to start the sauce. The sauce is a simple combination of heavy cream, Dijon mustard, and homemade chicken stock.

A quick note on chicken stock - don't buy the stuff in a can or even cardboard container at the grocery store, if you don't have time to make stock, you are better off just using water rather than stock from the grocery store. The stuff in a can at the grocery store is full of sodium and has very little taste to it. Don't believe me? Taste the stuff in a can next time you have some on hand and then compare it to water. I bet the biggest difference you'll notice is the salt. Still don't believe me? Read Michael Ruhlman's thoughts on the subject.

Combine the three ingredients in a large sauce pan (the potatoes will be added eventually) and reduce the mixture until it starts to thicken, 5 minutes or so. Once the sauce has reduced, gently mix in the potatoes, along with the butter, salt, & pepper.

Not as pretty as it looks in the book

Keep the heat up and bring the sauce up to a simmer and add the arugula, stirring gently until the arugula cooks a little and begins to wilt. Remove from the heat and serve immediately.

You've seen this picture before

Like I mentioned earlier, I served these Red Potatoes with Arugula (p. 163) along side the whole grilled snapper way back before Easter (as you can tell by the tablecloth on our table). Everyone I had over for dinner really seemed to like the potatoes but I thought they were just OK. It reminded me of a warm German potato salad, which I typically don't like. My wife makes an awesome cold potato salad in the summer. Even though I'd much rather eat her potato salad, I definitely recommend giving this dish a try if you are sick of the typical mashed or roasted potatoes. The arugula is a nice addition to the dish and helps bring some additional nutrition into your diet.

Cost

I will provide the approximate cost for each recipe in the book, as well as the source of the products used. 

It cost about $5.42 to make Iron Chef Michael Symon's Red Potatoes with Arugula (p. 163).

Red potatoes - $2.42

Heavy cream - $1

Chicken Stock - $1 (I used, and recommend, homemade)

Arugula - $1

Misc (salt, Dijon mustard, butter, pepper) 

I purchased all ingredients for this recipe at Heinen's.