Very simple to make, this dish goes well with all kinds of brunch meats, such as steak or pastrami, and with eggs. It is easy to double or triple when you’re serving a lot of people. Red-skinned potatoes have a moist, less starchy texture than baking potatoes and are ideal for boiling. Use the smallest ones you can find.

　　

Ingredients

serves 6

　　1 pound small red new potatoes

　　4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

　　1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

　　Sea salt or kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

　　

Step 1

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the potatoes, reduce the heat to medium, and cook for 10 minutes, or until soft. Drain well. Pat dry with paper towels.

　　

Step 2

Place the potatoes in a serving bowl. Toss gently with the butter, parsley, salt, and pepper until well combined. Serve warm.

　　

Sorting Out Salts

Step 3

So many kinds of salt are in stores now that it’s hard to figure out which one to use for what. Keep a box of kosher salt, which is coarse-grained and additive-free, on hand for sprinkling into large amounts of water—when you boil potatoes, pasta, or vegetables, for instance. Most cooks use kosher salt for pretty much everything, and sea salt for finishing. Sea salt tends to be rather gray looking (it literally is the product of the evaporation of seawater), with a very delicate flavor as well as some essential minerals. Fleur de sel is a type of sea salt that’s harvested in some areas of France. The salt is marketed as fleur (or “flower”) de sel because of the flower pattern it forms as it dries. It looks like flat crystals and has a very delicate flavor. Since it is also expensive, it’s best to use it wisely, on salads, meats, fish, or vegetables where it will add texture and really be noticed.

　　Bubby’s Brunch Cookbook by Ron Silver and Rosemary Black. Copyright © 2009 by Ron Silver and Rosemary Black. Published by Ballantine Books. All Rights Reserved.