Salted Potatoes (Canary Islands Papas Arrugadas)

Papas arrugadas translate literally to “little wrinkly dads” but of course we all know that they are simply small wrinkly salty potatoes. Traditionally, the potatoes were cooked in seawater, but the purposes of hygiene, and because we personally don’t fancy all the manmade nonsense and pollutants from the waters ending up on our dinner plates, we’ll stick to using salted water. Don’t balk at the amount of salt used in the recipe, most of it cooks off anyway, or is easily scraped on your plate.

Papas arrugadas are not complete without a pot each of mojo verde and mojo rojo.The former is green and made with either coriander or parsley, whgereas the latter is slightly spicier and made with paprika and red pepper.

small potatoes (1 kg)
1/3 cup coarse sea salt

Put potatoes in a single layer in a wide pot. Add water to half way up the potatoes (not quite covering the smaller ones).

Add the sea salt (the traditional method used sea water)

Bring the water to a boil and cover the pot with a tea towel (take care the tea towel doesn’t come into direct contact with the flame, or electric element)

Reduce heat to medium, and cook for about 15 minutes until done (the water will evaporate a lot. Don’t top it up). The skins will begin to wrinkle slightly.

Drain by carefully pouring the excess water out of the pot directly (very carefully as you want as much of the salt to remain as possible)

Turn the heat down the lowest it will go. Put the pan back onto this low heat. It will start to dry the potatoes.

Shake the pot every once in a while to coat the potatoes evenly with the salt.

Serve hot.

Makes 4 servings.

Cook's Notes: These papas arrugadas are fantastic served on their own with mojo verde or mojo rojo, with or without their skins. However, they make such a fabulous accompaniment to fresh fish, steak or chicken and, despite the salt, are a much healthier alternative to chips.