Mediterranean Salted Breakfast Potatoes & Vanilla Salt Review

Crispy breakfast potatoes are fried and seasoned with sumptuous Mediterranean flavored salt!

Yield: 2
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes

Mediterranean Salted Breakfast Potatoes

Crisp on the outside, still fluffy at the center, these pan-fried potatoes are phenomenal! There's nothing new here, we're all reminded of the glorious trinity of potato, hot fat and salt a hundred times a day. Whether it's in the form of thick cut chips, skinny golden frites, baked wedges, oven-roasted potatoes or these little diced potatoes, potato + oil + salt = *swoon* .

When I read Vanilla Salt (review after the recipe) and got to the part where the heroine concocts different infused salts, all I could think about was potatoes. This recipe is made with my interpretation of one of the salts mentioned in the book, a Mediterranean salt. Parellada, the author of the book and acclaimed Iberian chef, lists flavors incorporated into each salt. Throughout the book, she writes passionately about dishes, divulging ingredients and methods of cooking with poetic cadence and reverie.

I made these potatoes for breakfast, because growing up, we often had scrambled eggs and diced fried potatoes as another variation on hash browns. If you didn't fancy them in the morning, they'd make an excellent snack or side dish, too. And the salt recipe is just fantastic! You could add a bit of sugar and use it as a rub or even a crust for roast meats.

Ingredients:

For the Mediterranean Salt
2 parts coarse sea salt
1 part fresh rosemary leaves
1/2 part oregano
1/4 part cinnamon
1/4 part Spanish smoked paprika
 
For the potatoes
1 large potato, washed and diced
1 tablespoon sunflower oil
1 tablespoon butter

Mediterranean Salted Breakfast Potatoes

Instructions:

1. Grind the salt, rosemary, oregano, cinnamon and paprika using a mortar and pestle or spice grinder until desired texture is achieved. I prefer mine a bit more coarse and rustic.
2. Wash the potato and dice into evenly-sized squares. Rinse the cut potato under water and blot dry with kitchen roll.
3. Heat a bit of oil in a skillet with the butter. When sizzling hot, add the potatoes and fry until cooked through, no more than 5 minutes if you chopped your potatoes into a fine dice.
4. Drain the cooked potatoes on kitchen roll and immediately season with the Mediterranean salt, tossing the potatoes to coat evenly. Serve with a fried egg or alongside an omelet.

Vanilla Salt Review

Vanilla Salt by Ada Parellada, is a debut novel for foodies and gourmands. Parellada, a successful Iberian chef with an empire of restaurants to her name, wows in this beautifully written homage to the kitchen and the act of creating dishes that transform everyday ingredients into exquisite and delicious works of art.

With the pacing of an established writer and the diction of an authentic wordsmith, Vanilla Salt takes readers on a journey through the kitchen and into the very hearts and souls of its well-rounded and believable characters. Alongside pages filled with veritable recipes for restaurant-quality dishes, Parellada regales us with romance, drama and deceit.

Alex, an incomparable Catalan chef with taciturn mannerisms and an endearingly eccentric personality has all the classic makings of a mad genius. He moves in the kitchen methodically, taking pride in each long-winded process and Catalan ingredient he uses. Alex's quirks are made known early on when we learn that he refuses to cook with any ingredient whose culinary origins can be traced to America. Yet, in spite of his passion and knowledge, his restaurant is struggling. Parellada introduces us to Annette, who hails from North America and who challenges Alex's quirks while revealing quirks and a suspicious past of her own. What plays out between Alex and Annette is a lovely drama about the lockstep of professionals working and living together under the same roof, the battles they fight and the tender moments they share.

Vanilla Salt not only reads as a kitchen manual for every aspiring chef, it also answers questions about what's right and wrong and examines how far passion alone can carry a person. One of the main themes Vanilla Salt explores is humanity and whether people have a fixed, clearly defined nature or if outside influences or even internal influences can assuage that nature.

I absolutely loved this book; devoured all 315 pages in less than three days, on the edge of my seat as the characters developed and lived up to expectations or shattered them. If you're looking for a book written for foodies about food with a bit of romance, drama and intrigue, then Vanilla Salt, published by Alma Books, is a must read.

Vanilla Salt Ada Parellada Alma Books 1st 978-1-84688-333-0