Roasted Potatoes with Anchovies and Tuna

For someone accustomed to daily trips to the grocery store, it's been a weird experience to have been completely housebound for 15 days. Fortunately, given my love of all things associated with the kitchen, I have a very robust pantry.  I buy a lot of things online that are not readily available at my usual grocery stores and stockpile them. One thing I always buy by the case from Amazon is Cento tuna. It is the best canned tuna I have ever tasted.

The downside of not going to the store everyday is that you have to make dinner with what you have on hand. Fortunately, I stumbled on this Melissa Clark recipe in The New York Times that appeared to have been written with my pantry in mind. It's not something I would ever have thought of...mixing roasted potatoes with canned tuna, anchovies, capers and onion. But oh my gosh, what a compelling union of flavors!

Ingredients

1-1/2 pounds baby or fingerling potatoes 

Kosher salt

Extra-virgin olive oil

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

1, 2-ounce tin anchovies, chopped (about 12 anchovies)

1 tablespoon capers, drained

2 garlic cloves, minced

1, 5-ounce can tuna (Cento recommended!)

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

Fresh lemon juice (to taste)

1 cup chopped flat leaf parsley

1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion

Directions

1. In a medium pot, cover potatoes with at least 1 inch of cold water and add a generous amount of salt. Bring to a simmer, then cook until potatoes are very soft, 25 to 30 minutes. You want to overcook them a little, so the insides stay creamy when they’re roasted later.
2. Drain the potatoes, and let them cool until you can handle them.
3. Heat oven to 425º. Use your hands to smash the potatoes to about 3/4-inch thick and transfer to a rimmed baking sheet. Toss with oil and a little salt. (The more generous you are with the oil, the crispier the potatoes will get.) Arrange potatoes in a single layer.
4. Roast until dark golden and crisp, 40 to 50 minutes, flipping them over halfway through.
5. Meanwhile, melt butter in a small pot over medium heat. Stir in anchovies and capers and continue to cook until butter is brown and nutty. Stir in garlic and remove pan from heat.
6. Pour brown butter all over the potatoes. Add tuna to the pan and toss well. Season with more salt, if needed, and add pepper and lemon juice to taste. Scatter herbs and onions over the top and serve.

Wine pairing: Petite Sirah

Grogs and Goldie, 1956