Salt and Vinegar Roasted Potatoes

Is there anything better than potatoes?  I like them mashed, I liked them made into fries, I like them sliced on top of a cottage pie.  I like them here, I like them there, I like them like them everywhere.

I especially like those adorable little baby ones...you know the ones I mean.  The little tiny red and white ones, the ones that make it possible for you to eat multiple potatoes at the same meal and still feed kind of virtuous.    Kind of.  Hey, they are vegetables!  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

So besides mashing them up with lots of butter and cream, which I completely concede is the absolute best way on earth to prepare a potato, I think I just stumbled upon the next best approach to potato heaven.  It's completely easy, completely delicious, and only involves four things.  Potatoes (natch).  Olive oil.  Coarse salt.  And this...

Now, I admit that finding malt vinegar can be a bit of a challenge.  I actually found mine in the international foods section of my supermarket, in there with the Cadbury chocolate and the really good English breakfast tea...but if you get really desperate you can click here.  And if THAT doesn't work, you can use regular old cider vinegar.  It will be almost as good.

Take those cute little potatoes and boil them up in salted water until they are tender, about 20 minutes or so.  Drain them, and now comes the fun part.  Put them in groups of three or four on a clean dishtowel and fold it over.  Now take a potato masher or a can of tomatoes or whatever you have that is heavy and flat, and press down gently on each potato until they flatten up just slightly.  Now transfer them all to a cookie sheet, brush them with a little olive oil and bake 'em until they are just a little crispy on the outside.

When they are out of the oven, toss them with that vinegar and sprinkle on some coarse salt...and then have an internal argument with yourself about whether these are maybe even better than those mashed potatoes that have always been in first place in your heart.  It's a conundrum for sure.

Salt and Vinegar Roasted Potatoes, adapted from Martha Stewart

• 1 1/2 pounds small round or fingerling potatoes
• Coarse salt
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup malt vinegar

1. In a medium pot, bring potatoes to a boil over high in salted water. Reduce heat and cook at a rapid simmer until potatoes are tender when pierced with a knife, about 20 minutes; drain. Place a folded dish towel on a work surface and place a potato inside. Gently smash potato so that it is flattened but still in one piece (edges will split). Repeat with remaining potatoes.
2. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Brush a rimmed baking sheet with 1 tablespoon oil. Place potatoes on sheet and brush tops with 1 tablespoon oil. Bake until crisp and golden, 35 minutes, flipping them halfway through. Remove from oven, toss with vinegar, and season with salt.
   
   
   
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Chocolate Caramel Cookie Brittle

Still looking around for that perfect holiday gift? Well, look no further, this may be it! This is a simple and dramatic recipe for a cookie "brittle" that is different and delicious and very festive looking. You can make batch of it in no time, and if you have a nice glass cookie jar and some ribbon you are ready to rock.

Now get ready to be amazed...the secret ingredient in this one? Saltines. Yep, you read that right, good old boring saltines -- they transform into this exotic concoction like Clark Kent morphing into Superman. You line your favorite jelly roll pan with foil (I like the nonstick kind myself). Open a sleeve of saltines and lay them out on the foil in a single layer, with the sides touching. If you have an 11/17 inch pan they will fit perfectly.

Next take 2 sticks of butter and melt them in a saucepan over medium high heat. Pour in a cup of brown sugar and boil that sinful mixture for three minutes. It will look alarmingly dramatic, but don't worry, it's doing its job. After three minutes give it a good final stir and pour it over those saltines, making sure they are good and covered. Pop the pan into a 400 degree oven for 7 minutes. The butter and sugar will soak and cook into the saltines, coating them in caramel goodness.

After 7 minutes you take out the tray and put it on a cooling rack. Pour a 12 ounce bag of chocolate chips into a microwave safe bowl and nuke them for about 2-3 minutes until they turn into melted chocolate when you stir them. At this point pour the melted chocolate over the caramel saltines and spread that chocolatey goodness over the whole thing with a spatula until the entire layer is covered. Oh yes. Then put the whole thing into the fridge and chill it down until the whole thing is hardened together -- usually about an hour.

Now you have a mass of caramel chocolate heaven...break it into irregular pieces and sample one. The caramel is crunchy and sugary. The chocolate is, well, chocolate. The saltine has practically disintegrated into all of it, leaving only a tiny crunch on the inside with just a hint of salt.

Now if you can bear to give this deliciousness away, drop them into your pretty glass jar and wrap the ribbon around the jar. Holiday Gift Extraordinaire. Do I look out for you or what?!

Happy Merry Ho Ho Ho!

Click here for printable recipe

CHOCOLATE CARAMEL COOKIE BRITTLE

1 sleeve saltines

2 sticks butter

1 cup brown sugar

12 ounces chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2. Line 11-17 baking pan with foil.

3. Lay out all saltines in a single layer in pan, sides touching

4. Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Add brown sugar and heat to boiling for 3 minutes, stirring frequently.

5. Pour butter/sugar mixture over saltines, making sure to cover all of them thoroughly.

6. Bake for 7 minutes.

7. Meanwhile, melt chocolate chips in microwave for 2-3 minutes until they are completely melted when you stir them. Spread them on top of the saltines, covering completely

8. Refrigerate until completely cooled and hardened. Break into pieces.