Crispy potatoes with kefir and summer vegetables

I interviewed Zuza Zak about her gorgeous new cookbook, Amber & Rye: A Baltic Food Journey (affiliate link). I confess I didn’t remember where the Baltic states were (across the Baltic Sea from Sweden and Norway), which countries were included (Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia), or how their food differed from Eastern European food. So I loved reading this cookbook which educated me on all three counts, while inspiring me to combine ingredients I hadn’t used before, like kefir + fresh dill.

I enjoyed talking to Zak, who is Polish by birth, lives in London, and brings a breadth of experience to her cooking and her recipes. Her first cookbook, Polska, brought a fresh take to Polish food. Watch our episode below.

I chose this recipe—Greta’s Gran’s potatoes with kefir and summer vegetables—for its warm + chilled combination, the fresh dill, and the zingy combination of kefir, a fermented milk product. My tip: Quarter the potatoes before frying to get more crispy surfaces, and keep the summer vegetables and the potatoes separate until serving, preferably to individual plates.

Crispy new potatoes, served warm, are topped with cucumbers, tomatoes, and radishes dressed with tangy kefir and dill

4 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 20

Cook Time 35

Cooling time 15

Total Time 1 10

Course Dinner, Lunch

Cuisine Baltic

Servings

Ingredients

18 ounces potatoes baby or new
0.75 ounce dill (fresh) or a handful if you are growing it, divided use
2-1/2 tbsp grapeseed oil or other neutral oil
1/4 tsp sea salt omit for low-sodium diet, add more to water for boiling potatoes
8 cherry tomatoes or 2 ripe summer tomatoes, halved or sliced into wedges
2 onions (green) thinly sliced
1/2 cucumbers English or 1-2 Persian, diced
3 radishes thinly sliced
2/3 cup kefir thick milk kefir or kefir yogurt (plain yogurt could be substituted)

Instructions

Bring a large saucepan of water to a rolling boil, adding salt if desired. Boil potatoes for 13 minutes, until they are just fork-tender.
Drain the potatoes and let cool.
Quarter the potatoes and mix with half the dill.
Pour the oil into a large non-stick or cast-iron frying pan and heat over medium heat until shimmering. Fry the potatoes until browned and crispy, sprinkling with 1/8 teaspoon salt, about 13 minutes.
In a bowl, combine the remaining ingredients, reserving some dill for garnish.
Serve potatoes onto plate then top with some of the salad and garnish with dill.