There’s a woman who attends my crazy-hot, crazy-yoga class religiously. She out-religiouses all of us by going every single workday. Everyone knows her by name (hi, Nancy!) because she’s endearingly eccentric and hardworking and immediately feels like a sister.
By minute 40 of every Thursday’s class– weekend nearing– after burpee #30 in 115 degree heat, the physical exhaustion we’ve held silent inside all week through breathing and balance begins to breach. Even the shyest among the community scream at high decibel when they’ve reached their limit.
Nancy ain’t shy. Her repeated battle cry, grunting for all to hear from her spot in the back, remains the same: “NACHOS!”
I’ve never talked to her about the whole nacho chant. (I think I will now.) But anytime she booms it, I squat and wonder, jeez… is that really her favorite food? Is she triceps dipping in exchange for chip dipping? And then I think, “Ya know what? Pretty solid choice, Nance.”
Want more NOODLE? Awww, NOODLE wants you, too. Consider upgrading to a paid subscription to receive exclusive recipes and support my work!
I LOVE A NACHO, TOO
Before I even thought of Nancy’s Thursday plea for weekend ‘chos, I had already written the following as this newsletter’s first line:
“Why don’t we eat and treat every plate of food like a plate of nachos?”
DIPPITY-DO
I won’t take the nachos analogy over the edge here and name this week’s recipe “Sesame-Crusted Pot-Achos” or anything. I won’t deconstruct the construction of a nachos pile to make the obvious point that great nachos are (more than) great because all the elements of greatness are present: texture, crispiness, fun flavah, creaminess, brightness, crunch, layers, salt, margaritas. And most great of all, each bite is personally constructed by YOU. Nacho’ing is an experience. Actually, no. When done well, it’s a ritual.
I’m regretting photographing these potatoes with a utensil jammed onto the plate, since this dish is most satisfying when eaten as you do your chips and dips: swipe, dip, rip, crunch, munch, a lick of the fingers, and repeat. That’s how my household has been eating these potaties for about a week now, swooshed through the Dreamy Green Tahini sauce and labne with big lettuce leaves for scooping– whole baby gems, radicchio and Savoy cabbage cups, etc., etc. So many acoustics with all the crispies.
MIX + MATCH. JUST DON’T FORGET THE DREAMY TAHINI.
These aren’t just roasted potatoes with a measly lil’ sprinkle of a garnish atop. No! The flesh of these spuds are SMASHED and CRUSHED into a copious amount of sesame seeds, rendering them more akin to the crackling but tender exterior of a perfectly toasted and legitimately sesame-smothered sesame bagel than to a bare home fry or hash brown. Oh, the satisfaction of a sufficient smattering of sesame seeds… all thanks to the smoosh.
STEP 1, STEP 2, STEP 3. (IN CASE YOU’VE NEVER KNOWN WHAT A SMOOSHED SEED LOOKS LIKE)
POTATOES: FACELIFTED
These potatoes are TEXTURAL. They’re flavor-filled. They’re dynamic. I’ve also been super psyched about how crazy delicious this method is with Japanese sweet potatoes: drier and denser and so gorgeously caramelizable, just screaming for a shattering sheath of toasted sesame seeds and an herby-nutty-spicy-honey’d dip to sauce each bite.
After 4 rounds of testing, I’ve honed in on the best crusting method: dip and smash the boiled, halved potatoes— cut-side down and DRY— into a plate of sesame seeds. (Dipping the cut side into olive oil before smashing into sesame seeds results in a sesame crust that doesn’t stick. Similarly, if you crush the potatoes on the baking sheet after dipping, you won’t maximize crust coverage.)
ONLY THE BEST LANDING PAD FOR THESE BABIES
Then drizzle a little landing spot of olive oil on a sheet pan and place the potato right on top, which seals the sesame crust to the potato flesh when the pan hits the oven.
THREE STEPS A LADY
PRAISE BE that the three-step boil-smash-roast method has gloriously become pretty normalized, so perhaps you’ve already tried it. The EASE of the technique is inversely proportional to the level of gastronomic payoff. Boil-smash-roast is the way to strike that tender-crispy potato balance every single time. And thus, that’s precisely why I eat my potatoes (at home) 100% of the time in this fashion. ONE HUNDRED. I’ll often throw potatoes in a pot to boil many hours before dinner, not knowing what else we’re eating. Just let them hang on the counter– cooked and tender– until you’re ready to roast.
Noodling with this method– that is, riffing on how to make fluffy potato pieces with the most crispy-caramelized edges even better– felt necessary. And then… a couple of weeks ago, I was talking with my cook friend about how we both use way too many sesame seeds. And then I realized that the annals of NOODLE have YET to see a SINGLE seed-boasting recipe. WHAT?!
MAKE-ME-WHEN?
Make me now! Smoosh ‘em and seed ‘em and never eat an unsesame’d potato ever again. These potatoes have personALITY, NOODLERS, especially with the Dreamy Tahini sauce, which combines tahini and olive oil with cilantro, parsley, chiles, and a bit of honey and garlic. If you can’t find labne, which I find a necessary accompaniment, sour cream is the best sub, but a great whole milk yogurt works well, too.
Back to the potatoes: they’re fun with eggs for breakfast and play super well with steak, fish, chicken, or any ol’ vegetable main you may be making for din. Serve them as apps with something bubbly and try going 50/50, making them with both sweet potatoes and Yukons together. Or do like Nancy does and eat them next to nachos.
Make Me Now Sesame Crusted Smashed Potatoes With Dreamy Green Tahini Sauce And Labne
"MAKE-ME-NOW" SESAME-CRUSTED SMASHED POTATOES WITH DREAMY GREEN TAHINI SAUCE AND LABNE
Serves 4
REMEMBER, BEST PRACTICE: READ THE RECIPE ALL THE WAY THROUGH BEFORE YOU START COOKING!
This recipe is totally addictive, and debatably even more so when made with Japanese sweet potatoes– purple or white, dense and slightly dry. (American sweet potatoes/yams will work but because of their higher moisture content, won’t caramelize quite as intensely.) The sesame crust becomes savory-sweet and burnished: a pretty brilliant balance to the herby-nutty-sweet-spicy tahini sauce.
Make these potatoes with salad, as per the recipe, or alongside ANYTHING. They’re great with steak, fish, and vegetable mains of all kinds, eggs, etc. You get the point… let the etc.’s run wild! The tahini sauce is delicious with basically anything that lands on a plate, which is great, because the recipe makes a bit extra.
1 ½ pounds medium Yukon Gold (or any other waxy, yellow potato) or Japanese sweet potatoes (about 8 Yukons or 2 largesweet potatoes)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 small clove garlic, grated
1 jalapeño
3 tablespoons tahini, from a well-stirred jar
3 tablespoons olive oil, plus additional for drizzling and dressing salad
⅓ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice, from 2 lemons, plus 1 lemon for dressing salad, if desired
1 tablespoon honey
1 small bunch of cilantro (and 1 bunch parsley, if desired; a mix is nice here but not necessary)
1 (2-ounce) jar untoasted sesame seeds (about a scant ½ cup)
Lettuces for serving, such as radicchio, baby gems, arugula, and/or bibb; if desired
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved, for serving; if desired
Labne, for serving (sour cream or yogurt make a fine sub)
1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and position a rack in the center. Line a rimmed 13” x 18” baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Place 1 ½ pounds of potatoes in a medium pot and cover with cold water by an inch. Generously salt the water. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce to maintain a steady boil, and cook until potatoes are just tender when pierced with a toothpick, about 15-22 minutes. (The sweet potatoes will take on the longer side of this window to cook, as they’re firmer and bigger than Yukons.) You can boil the potatoes far in advance, as well; keep at room temperature until ready to roast.
3. While the potatoes boil, make the tahini dressing. Finely grate 1 small clove of garlic into the bowl of a blender or a mini prep. Cut the jalapeño in half lengthwise and add half to the blender, reserving the remainder to add later, if desired. (Every jalapeño is different, of course, so best to start small.) Add 3 tablespoons of tahini, 3 tablespoons of olive oil, ⅓ cup of lemon juice, 1 tablespoon of honey, 1 ½ teaspoons of salt, and 2 tablespoons of water. Blend until smooth.
Cut the leafy tops off of one small bunch of cilantro. Totally okay to include the stems. Reserve some leaves for serving and measure 1 cup packed. (Supplement with parsley, if desired. A mix is nice here.) Roughly chop and add to the blender. Process until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. If you need to add an additional 1 tablespoon of water to get the mixture going, go for it. Taste. Add more lemon juice or salt if the flavors don’t absolutely pop and sing. If you want it spicier, add more of the jalapeño.
4. Drain the potatoes. When cool enough to handle, cut each one in half. (If using Japanese sweet potatoes, cut them first in half lengthwise and then crosswise into 3-inch sections.)Season the cut sides of the potatoes generously with salt and pepper.
5. Pour the 2-ounce jar of sesame seeds onto a plate. Working with one potato at a time, press the cut side into the sesame seeds, lifting and lowering like a stamp pad, until the cut side is thoroughly covered. Next, using your palm, smash the potato into the sesame seeds until flattened to about ½-inch in thickness. You’re going for craggy, rough edges, which will yield superb crispiness when roasted, so don’t hold back with the smashing! Lift and dip, stamp-style, to ensure max coverage with the seeds.
If the potatoes fall apart, you may have overcooked them a touch. Don’t worry! You’ll just end up with slightly more broken up pieces of potatoes. Just be sure to smash sufficiently into the sesame seeds to encrust. (Also, room temp potatoes will be less delicate and easier to work with than hot ones, so let them cool if necessary.)
6. Pour a small drizzle of olive oil onto the top corner of the parchment on the baking sheet. Place the potato, sesame seed side down, directly on top of the olive oil, giving a gentle swirl to distribute the oil on the bottom of the potato. This will help to seal the crust and turn the potato roasty-toasty. Repeat with the remaining potatoes– smashing into sesame seeds, drizzling oil on the parchment, and placing potatoes on top of the oil– working systematically as you oil and space the potatoes, so as not to have to do much rearranging later on. (The goal is not to disturb the bottom crust of sesame seeds too much once they land on the baking sheet.)
7. Lightly drizzle the tops of the potatoes with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Transfer to the oven and roast, rotating the baking sheet halfway through, until the tops of the potatoes are golden and crinkly and the sesame crust on the bottom is a medium-golden hue, about 35-45 minutes. If you’re finding that the bottoms aren’t toasting, try moving the sheet pan to a lower rack in the oven.
8. If serving with salad, assemble the lettuces, cherry tomatoes, and reserved herbs in a large bowl while the potatoes roast. When ready to serve, toss salad components with a spoonful or two of the tahini dressing, a generous squeeze of lemon juice from the remaining lemon, and a nice pour of olive oil. Season vigorously with salt and pepper. This is where you need to rely on yourself to taste, season, and adjust until the lettuces are well-dressed and delicious. Keep adding more– dressing, acid, oil, salt– and continue TASTING until the flavors sing.
9. Plate up! Divide the green tahini among serving plates. (You may have extra sauce.) Add a dollop of labne to each plate and top with the potatoes, salad, and extra herbs.
