party potatoes!
also known as potatoes with brown butter, lemon, and dill
Hello!
Thanks to Schnitzel Party, there are a lot of new people around here — welcome! This is so fun! Historically, the end of summer makes me pretty sad. But now, thanks to a constant stream of positive attention from strangers on the internet, I’m feeling great about fall. There’s definitely no downside to living like this, right?
Anyway, fives of tens of people asked for the potato recipe from Schnitzel Party, so it’s down at the bottom of the newsletter. If you don’t want to hear me wax poetic about small moments of joy, you can skip right down to it. If you are interested in an itty bitty bit of joy, keep reading.
Last week, I started a new job as a private chef. For those of you who don’t know, for the past ten years, I’ve made a living as either a writer or a chef in some capacity. Sometimes, I’ve worked in restaurants — sometimes supper clubs. I’ve been a columnist. A journalist. I’ve also been a copywriter for a couple of tech companies, mainly because they paid me more money than any of my other jobs combined.
In fact, that’s exactly what I was doing right before I started this private chef gig. I had health insurance and benefits. I had unlimited PTO. I even had options that were vesting, and although I still don’t really know what that means, it sounded like a good thing. It was a good thing! Except for the fact that I was mostly very unhappy.
This is where I’ll quickly pause to say that it can be hard, for two reasons, to talk about not being sure if you can be happy living what I will call, for lack of 10,000 more words to describe it, a more traditional 9–5 life. For one, it is hard because so many people would love to be living it, and I have been so privileged to live it for as long as I did (despite being laid off several times). It’s also hard because so many people are living it because it really and truly is the right and best thing for them.
I don’t think there’s anything noble or more right about eschewing a 9-5 in favor of less stability. I don’t think I’m “following my dreams” any more than someone with a 401k. I’m constantly nervous about the fact that, instead of generating shareholder value, I’m still trying to figure out what I want to do in my early-mid-thirties. (Yeah, I said early-mid-thirties — deal with it!) But here we are. It’s the choice that I’ve made, and so far, I’m loving it.
I love waking up at 6:30 in the morning. I love getting to see the sunrise. I love not looking at a screen all day, and I love that on some days, the hardest decision I have to make is whether I want to braise or grill the chicken thighs. Also, my body is so, so sore. My feet ache, and my lower back hurts, and on more than one occasion, I’ve walked home smelling like grilled chicken thighs.
It’s been years since I’ve been in a kitchen this regularly cooking for this many people (I do lunch and dinner three days a week for 35). I have little cuts and burns on both of my hands because cooking at volume and on a deadline is like dancing or riding a bike, and I’m a little out of practice, but slowly, I’m getting it back. I’m figuring out, again, what I love about food and how exciting it is to be in a kitchen all day.
Not everything has been perfect, but at least once a day, someone walks through the kitchen to say thank you or to tell me something was tasty. A guy from London who lives in the house stopped in to tell me I “smashed it once again.” It doesn’t make the burns heal any faster, but, as it turns out, hearing something nice from at least one person at least once a day will make you feel better — and that’s just math and science, babe.
In the middle of my first day, my best friend Joe texted me something along the lines of, “I’m sure today is hard, but if I told you four years ago you’d be getting paid to cook all day, you would have squealed.” and reader, he was right. Although I am sore and tired, and although I am afraid my hands will permanently smell like garlic, and the callus on my pointer finger I get from gripping my knife will never go away, I am, for now, happy.
Almost as happy as these potatoes are going to make you (BOOM, recipe transition). They’re simple and bright, and they go with just about anything. Don’t like dill? Use tarragon. Use chives. Use rosemary for all I care — they’re your potatoes. Do what makes you happy!
Just like Schnitzel Party, these are for a crowd. And just like Schnitzel Party, you can scale up or down depending on your needs.
lemon, brown butter, and dill potatoes: ingredients
serves 8-10
These potatoes are good all the time, but they are especially good when you are cooking a more involved main dish because these gorgeous little potatoes are extremely low-maintenance. A low-lift crowd-pleaser? What more could you want?
4.5 lbs baby yellow potatoes
1 cup finely chopped dill: I use the stems and all because they are delicious and add lovely texture, so do with that information what you will. Also, if you don’t like dill, use an herb you do like! Just make sure you scale appropriately. (Like, a cup of fresh oregano is probably too much here, but chives or parsley or half a cup of fresh tarragon? Delish.).
1 cup unsalted butter, browned
1 tablespoon kosher salt plus more for salting the water
the zest of two lemons
the juice of one lemon: the zest of one lemon is too little, but the juice of two is too much — make lemon water with the other lemon or something else more fun!
1 tablespoon fresh cracked black pepper
3 garlic cloves, smashed: optional but nice!
lemon, brown butter, and dill potatoes: method
For my visual learners
Bring a large pot of very salty water to a rapid boil, and boil your potatoes until fork tender.
While you wait for the water to boil and the potatoes to cook, add the butter and three smashed garlic cloves to a saucepan and brown the butter over medium heat.
Once the butter is decently browned, remove it from the heat, add the salt and pepper, and set aside.
Once the potatoes are done, drain them and return them to the pot. Add the butter mixture, lemon juice, zest, and dill. Mix well, transfer to a vessel of your choice, and serve! Finish with a gorgeous little shower of flaky salt and more cracked pepper if that’s your thing.
And that’s it! If you’re making this for a party or a crowd, you can make the brown butter mixture a couple of hours in advance and then boil the potatoes and mix before serving. Or, do it all at once. Again, it's totally up to you.
Whether you make them or not (I hope you make them), I hope, wherever you are, someone is saying at least one nice thing to you at least once a day. I hope you see the sunrise (if you want), and I hope you feel happy, even just for a little bit.
xo,
Garrett
Love this! Your food is pure joy ☀️
I feel happy, even just a bit, reading this! ❤️❤️