Smashed Russian banana fingerlings

Posted by Dana McMahan on April 16, 2008

I've admired the long narrow colorful fingerling potatoes at Whole Foods for some time, but passed them by every time. This weekend though, I couldn't resist, and picked up a bag of Russian banana fingerlings.

Fingerlings are small potatoes shaped -- as their name suggests -- like fingers. Their skin colors vary from red, pink, and white, to yellow, purple, or cream colored. The flesh can be white, yellow, pink, or blue. Fingerlings are known for their firm, almost waxy texture, and for their buttery flavor. Russian banana are among the most popular variety. They are similar in color to the more common spuds we see in all the grocery stores.

They're great for potato salads, but tonight we felt like having some butter (I say that is if there's ever a time I don't want butter), so we smashed them. This was super easy and the resulting smashed potatoes were delicious -- noticeably creamy and buttery, without having to add a ton of butter.

I can't call this a recipe,but here's how we made them:

1 24 oz bag of fingerling potatoes, scrubbed.
3 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
3 Tbsp chopped parsley
Sea salt

Peel the potatoes sparingly -- just scrape off a little and lop off any little growths or bruised areas (this shouldn't be many -- fingerlings are known for their resistance to this)

Cut potatoes in halves or thirds and add to a pot of salted water with a splash of oil

Bring to a boil, boil for 10-15 minutes until tender

Drain well. Add butter, salt and parsley and smash with a wooden spoon or fork. Serve while hot.

This would serve 3-4 as a side dish.

TAGS: Potatoes
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