Potatoes can be a really versatile side dish besides being great for mashed potatoes or your standard baked potato. There’s nothing wrong with using one of the old stand-by recipes or even just boiling up some potatoes for a really simple side dish but with so many different things you can do with potatoes I am always trying to come up with something just a little bit different to jazz up a meal. This is especially true if I am making a meal for a special occasion and want something different as a side dish that really stands out on its own. When I made the New York strip steaks for Valentine’s Day this past week, I knew I wanted to make potatoes with the steaks and mashed potatoes or even fries seemed like a good option, but I had seen this recipe just recently on Food Network for a pan-fried fingerling potato with leeks that looked like it would be perfect to go with a steak. They also had a nice honey-lemon coating on them that made them perfect and the recipe seemed really easy to make so I had to give them a try.

Pan-Fried Honey-Lemon Fingerling Potatoes and Leeks

Salt

2 pounds fingerling potatoes

2 tablespoons butter

1 leek, halved, thoroughly washed and sliced up to the pale green part

Freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon honey

1 tablespoons minced fresh Italian parsley

1 lemon, zested

Bring a medium saucepan of salted water to a boil over high heat. Gently add the fingerling potatoes and poach the potatoes for 5 to 7 minutes. Drain the potatoes, cut the potatoes in half and dry the potatoes thoroughly.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Melt the butter and add the leeks and season them with salt and pepper.  Saute the leeks until they are softened, about 8 minutes. Remove the leeks to a separate bowl and set them aside.

In the now-empty skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Put the fingerling potatoes cut-side down in the pan and cook the potatoes until they are golden brown, about 5 to 6 minutes. Flip the potatoes and repeat the process on the skin side of the potatoes, cooking them for about 5 to 6 minutes to brown them nicely. Add the leeks back to the skillet, drizzle the vegetables with the honey and cook them for another 2 to 3 minutes.

Sprinkle the vegetables with the parsley and the lemon zest. Season the vegetables with additional salt and pepper to taste and serve.

It’s a very basic dish that gives you some great results. You do want to make sure the potatoes are completely dry before you put them in the skillet so you can brown them nicely and get that great crunch to them on the outside while they stay soft on the inside. The addition of the leeks is great for the dish to give it that subtle flavor that leeks have. Just remember leeks can be pretty gritty so you need to clean them thoroughly before you use them. The honey and lemon just added the final push to the dish to give that hint of sweetness that was perfect. I don’t often buy fingerling potatoes because they tend to be quite expensive compared to other potatoes for a small amount, but I did find them on sale so it was perfect timing for this dish. I think you could do this dish well with other potatoes as well as long as you cut them small enough so they poach nicely and fit well in the skillet. The potatoes went perfectly with the steak and they would be great for any beef, pork or poultry side dish.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!