Ok, full disclosure here:  I’ve been sitting on this recipe for a while.  I originally made it as part of a series of recipes that I gave a charitable organization for the purpose of helping working families create wholesome vegetable dishes that kids would like and wouldn’t take too long to create.  If I were cooking this without time constraints, I would blanch the potatoes first prior to cooking the dish.  The result would be much crispier potatoes.  However, the recipe as written is pretty good too and certainly resulted in a crispy texture in its own right.

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: around 15 minutes

Total Time: around 30 minutes

NOTE: This versatile dish can be served as a main dish or as a side dish. Make it a vegetarian main dish with a side salad. You can add a protein by using left-over meat. Adding cooked chicken, ham, etc. would be great. If you do, just add at the last minute, at the same stage as the peas to simply heat through for a minute or two. Then Serve.  Recipe follows after the jump!

Ingredients:

3-4 russet or yellow potatoes peeled and cut into ½ inch cubes

One small onion (or half a large) small dice

4-6 cloves of garlic minced

2 tablespoons of kosher salt

Ground pepper

Vegetable oil ¼ cup

½ – 1 cup frozen peas- thawed

Fresh Herbs such as thyme, parsley, cilantro, or chives chopped finely. This is purely optional.

Directions:

Gather ingredients and prepare everything prior to starting to cook. Use a large cast iron or other large heavy bottomed skillet.

Dice potatoes (1/2 inch dice).

Cut onion in small dice so that it cooks quickly. (Also, the small dice will allow them to hide in the potatoes, so you get extra veggie consumption for the kids without them really noticing).

Mince the garlic (mince for the same reason as the onion)

Thaw peas by placing in a strainer and running cold water over them for a minute or two. Dry as best you can.

Now that you have all ingredients prepared prior to cooking, begin to heat your pan. Place pan on range and heat over medium to medium high heat for at least 4 full minutes. Doing this will sear the outside of the potatoes, allowing them to brown and caramelize. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP!

Pat your potatoes dry. This will further encourage browning as well as help to prevent splattering.

Once the four minutes have passed, add your oil. It should immediately move around the skillet easily and may actually begin to smoke. Smoke is OK, so don’t panic. Simply turn on your vent. If there is a lot of smoke created, take the pan off the heat, wait 30 seconds and place back on the heat and proceed as normal.

Add the potatoes and add one tablespoon kosher salt and 10 grinds of your pepper mill. If you are using pepper from a jar use a half teaspoon. The potatoes should sizzle in the oil immediately. If your pan was smoking prior to putting the potatoes in, it should calm down after you add them. The coolness of the potatoes will lower the skillet temperature.

NOTE: The potatoes will slowly absorb some of the oil. So the amount of oil will reduce. If you feel the food sticking to the pan too much, add another tablespoon of oil.

Cook the potatoes for 3-5 minutes stirring only very occasionally (once per minute is probably good). Too much stirring will not allow them to brown and get crispy.

After 3-5 minutes of cooking, add the onion. Cook onion and potato mix for another 5 minutes stirring only occasionally. If you sense that the potatoes are beginning to blacken, lower the temperature to medium low and continue cooking.

After 6-10 minutes of total cooking time, your potatoes should be nicely caramelized, brown, and crispy. If they are not, raise the temperature of the pan and cook for a few more minutes until you get them browned and crispy.

Once brown and crispy taste the potatoes. If they are cooked through, lower heat to low, add garlic and cook another minute. If they are not cooked through, give them another few minutes, and taste again. Once they are cooked through, again, lower heat to low and add garlic and cook for one minute.

After the minute, add the peas and cook for up to minute. You are just warming the peas through and should take no longer than 30 seconds to one minute.

Turn off heat and taste. If you need more salt, use the remaining tablespoon of kosher salt to taste by adding a little at a time until you reach a seasoning point you like. Put a little bit more pepper on (a few grinds or a small pinch will do).  If your children like herbs and you have some on hand, sprinkle with herbs such as thyme, parsley, cilantro, or chives. If not or if you don’t have any on hand, just serve as is. Either way, place on a warm platter and serve immediately. NOTE: If the other part of your dinner isn’t quite ready yet, turn your oven on warm and place the platter inside until ready to be served.