Roasted Fingerling Potatoes with Country Ham and Chilis

I know I have said this before, but I'm not typically a big potato-eater.  I love McDonald's french fries as much as the next person (although I love sweet potato fries more), but mashed potatoes and baked potatoes don't really do it for me.  I will eat them from time-to-time if they are part of a dish I order at a restaurant, but that really only happens once a blue moon.  Every once in awhile I like to humor Alex (who really is a potato lover) and roast some fingerling potatoes at home.  This tends to happen in the fall and early winter when the farmers' markets first start displaying pretty little fingerling potatoes.  This year we discovered roast sunchokes and I think they are better than roast potatoes.  So these fingerlings might very well be the first potatoes we have made all year...  

This recipe was intended to be made with new potatoes, but I decided that I wanted to use fingerlings instead because I think they crisp up better.  When I think of new potatoes I tend to think of boiled or steamed new potatoes, rather than roasted new potatoes.  And if I am going to do potatoes (roasted or fried), I want them to be crispy.  These potatoes weren't as crispy as I would have liked but I thought they had good flavor.  Even though the addition of the balsamic vinegar decreased the crispy texture it added a nice mildly sweet flavor.  And I loved the salty porky flavor of the country ham.  In the future I would add another poblano pepper for additional mild pepper flavor.  I might also add some onion for additional sweetness and flavor.  Alex thought the potatoes would be improved by the addition of some heat (nothing new there) as a counterbalance to the sweetness of the balsamic, but I'm not sure if I would add red pepper flakes or just serve the potatoes with some hot sauce.  These potatoes would make an interesting alternative to home fries for brunch.  The cookbook recommends serving any leftover potatoes with poached or fried eggs for breakfast.  We tried the potatoes with fried eggs and I think they would work nicely either way. 

Recipe after the jump!

Pork and Potato Saute (Jeyuk Sun)

I feel like Alex and I have been on a Korean kick lately.  A few weeks ago we made a Korean chicken dish and we had kalbi over the weekend.  And then I found this Pork and Potato Saute in our Korean cookbook, which we served with a Korean Mixed Simple Salad from the same cookbook.  And if I get out of work in enough time tomorrow we are going to make a Korean cucumber salad and the apple kimchi from our Momofuku cookbook.  See?  It's a total Korean kick!  If this is the least successful of our Korean recipes, I will be a very happy cook.  While I didn't love this dish, it was a really homey, rustic dish - the type of dish that would be really welcome on a really cold winter day.  The potatoes soak up a lot of flavor from the braising liquid and make the dish feel very hearty.  The pork on the other hand, does not.  I wish there had been a little more spice and depth of flavor from the gochujang-marinade.  I also wish there had been more soy (or salt).  Instead of braising future pork dishes I might make a variation on the Korean Spicy Chicken (Dak Bulgogi) we made earlier this month with pork instead of chicken.  I just thought the dak bulgogi had better flavor.  Alex agreed that the chicken was better, but he said that he enjoyed the pork and potato leftovers today for lunch.  My problem with this dish is the same problem that I have with most braises.  I always expect the meat in a braise to be imbued with the flavor of the braising liquid and that is rarely the case.  I also expect the meat to be moist, when it is often dry.  Leftovers are often better because as the meat sits in the braising liquid in the fridge overnight it soaks up some of the braising liquid and becomes more flavorful.  So maybe that is why Alex enjoyed his leftovers today as much as he did...

Recipe after the jump!