Baby Potatoes with Lime and Parsley

Serves 4 Preparation Time: 5 minutes Cooking Time: 25 minutes Potatoes can be boiled a day ahead, covered, and refrigerated

This is one of my favorite ways to eat potatoes, simmered until just tender and then finished off in a skillet. You wind up with a dry crispy coating and a smooth creaminess inside. Lightly seasoned with a dash of salty Maggi or soy sauce and a squeeze of lime, they fly off the serving platter.

• 1 pound baby red potatoes
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons Maggi sauce (see the sidebar) or soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
• ¼ teaspoon kosher or coarse sea salt, or to taste
• Pinch of freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley

1. Bring a medium saucepan of salted water to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the potatoes, reduce the heat slightly, and cook at a medium simmer for 12 minutes, or until the potatoes are just cooked through and the tip of a knife can pierce them easily; they shouldn’t be falling apart. Drain thoroughly.
2. Heat the oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat until hot but not smoking. Add the potatoes and cook for 5 to 6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle with the Maggi, Worcestershire, lime juice, salt, and pepper and toss as the potatoes continue to brown on all sides, 6 to 8 more minutes.
3. Sprinkle with the parsley, give it another stir, and serve.

MEXICAN COOK’S TRICK: Don’t let the potatoes overcook in the water, or the skins will split and the insides will become mushy.

Maggi Sauce Open the cupboard in any Mexican kitchen, and you will find a bottle of Maggi seasoning sauce front and center. Though Swiss in origin, it is completely entrenched in our cuisine. An almost-black liquid-vegetable extract, Maggi tastes like a combination of soy sauce and beef bouillon. It provides umami, the fifth taste people talk about so much.

Mexican cooks use Maggi to flavor everything from marinades to salsas to vinaigrettes, and it is a crucial ingredient in many famous drinks, including Michelada, Mexican-style beer.

You can find Maggi in Latin stores as well as the international aisles of supermarkets. If you need a substitute, try a Japanese soy sauce like Kikkoman.