Caramel Potatoes

I found this recipe in a Fine Cooking magazine and was instantly intrigued! Caramel potatoes...kinda weird sounding but kinda good sounding at the same time. Apparently it's a Danish side dish that's often served with ham. I convinced my parents to try this dish for our Christmas dinner. It was just going to be the 3 of us so that's usually when I try new dishes. While I was making this, I wasn't sure it was going to turn out since the caramel didn't seem to be breaking down but in the end, it melted down. And it tasted really good! The only thing I didn't like was my potatoes. I used pre-cooked ones from Schwan's and I think they were cooked too well. They were kind of mushy so I think if I make this again, I'll use raw potatoes and not cook them as much. My parents want to try this dish with ham so I was thinking I could try to convince whatever relative hosts Easter this year that I would bring the potatoes lol.

Caramel Potatoes (8 servings) (Fine Cooking):

4 1/2 lb baby potatoes
Salt
1 c granulated sugar
1/2 c salted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

Put potatoes in a 6-8 quart pot, add cool water to cover and 1/4 c salt. Cover and bring to boil. Turn heat down to maintain a simmer and cook until potatoes are just tender when pierced with a fork, 12-15 minutes. Drain and transfer to a baking sheet to cool slightly, about 20 minutes. Peel. (I left the skin on my potatoes, only because they were too soft to peel.)

Put sugar in a Dutch oven over med-low heat and let it melt, stirring occasionally, about 6 minutes; it will be a medium amber color. Stir in the butter and 1/2 tsp salt until foam from the butter begins to subside, 1-2 minutes. The butter and caramel will be separate at this point.

Add potatoes and stir once to coat. the caramel will seize and become stringy, but that's OK. Use the spatula to push any hard bits of caramel to the bottom of the skillet so they can melt again; as the potatoes cook, the caramel will smooth out into a homogenous sauce. Adjust the heat to keep the caramel at a simmer and cook, occasionally turning the potatoes, until the caramel thickens and begins to coat them, about 20 minutes. Gently and constantly turn the potatoes until they are coated layer by layer with the caramel, 5-10 minutes more; there will still be a thin layer of caramel in the bottom of the pot. Remove any potatoes that fall apart as you stir. Serve the potatoes with the caramel.




Sugar cooking...






Sugar slowly turning amber...






Sugar turned amber color...






Potatoes added...






Sauce finally melting down...






Enjoy!...






**Note**

I made this recipe again for Easter this year and they turned out way different and way better! I bought 12 small red potatoes, peeled them and cut them into 4 pieces. I cooked them in boiling water until just fork-tender, about 3-5 minutes. I let them cool overnight and while I was cooking the caramel, I diced them into smaller pieces. I also think I didn't use the right amount of butter the first time around-1/2 c butter is actually one stick and I think I only used a 1/2 stick. The caramel melted down perfectly with the butter and with the potatoes diced small, they adhered to the sauce so much better! There were no big chunks of hardened caramel and they just tasted better all around. Below is a picture of what they should look like!