Crispy Potato Skins With Fried Herb Aioli
Ragged, oven-crisped potato skins with a pickle-caper aioli and fried herbs. Bar food that went to finishing school.
Ingredients
Produce
- 4large russet potatoes3 pounds
- 1 bunchof flat-leaf parsley
- 1garlic clove
- 24 sprigmixed hardy herbssuch as rosemary, sage, thyme, and/or marjoram
Pantry
- 8cornichonsplus 2 tablespoons of their brine
- ½ cupmayonnaise
- 2 tbspcapers in brinedrained
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- ½ cupextra-virgin olive oil
- ½ cupneutral oilsuch as canola or vegetable
- Flaky sea salt
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 425°F.
- Scrub the potatoes and put them on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until a toothpick slides in easily, about 1½ hours. Let them cool until you can handle them. Leave the oven on.
- Meanwhile, finely chop the cornichons and parsley leaves, grate the garlic clove, and put it all in a small bowl.
- Stir in the mayonnaise, drained capers and a big splash of cornichon brine. Season with salt and pepper and set it aside. That pickle brine is doing more for this aioli than any fancy ingredient could. Don't skip it.
- Halve the baked potatoes lengthwise and scoop the flesh into a large bowl, leaving a ¼-inch layer on the skin. Save the scooped potato for another day. Rip the skins into ragged 2- to 3-inch pieces and season with salt and pepper. Ripped, not cut. The ragged edges are where the crunch lives.
- Heat the olive oil and neutral oil in a 12-inch cast-iron skillet over medium-high. Add one piece of skin as a tester. When it sizzles hard, add the rest, turning them to coat and setting them flesh-side down. Take the skillet off the heat. It will spit at you. That's normal. It spits at everyone.
- Move the skillet to the oven and roast until the undersides are deeply golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Flip and roast until nearly golden all over, about 10 minutes more.
- With tongs or a fish spatula, move the skins to a rimmed baking sheet, leaving the oil in the skillet. Drop the oven to 300°F and slide the skins in to stay warm.
- Line a plate with paper towels. Put the skillet with its oil back on the stove over medium-high.
- Working in batches so the pan isn't crowded, fry the herbs, stems and all, until lightly golden in spots, about 30 seconds. Move them to the paper towels and sprinkle with salt. Thirty seconds goes fast. Have the plate ready before the first herb goes in.
- Strip the fried leaves off any thick or tough stalks and toss the stalks. Finely chop two-thirds of the herbs and stir them into the aioli.
- Pile the skins on a plate with the aioli, scatter the rest of the fried herbs and some flaky salt over top, and serve hot.
Kitchen's closed Save the herb-fried oil once it cools. It's now the best oil in your house, and it knows it.