Wrinkles are not always a bad thing

It is the New Year, making me think of new things, new foods and specifically new potatoes. Which leads me nicely to my newest new potato experience, namely Canarian Wrinkled Potatoes or – much more poetically – Papas Arrugadas.

I am not long back from a (mostly vain) effort to seek warmth in the Canary Islands.  My mistake may have been to spend most of my time in the surprisingly beautiful mountains of Northern Tenerife where the terrain is as wrinkled as the potatoes and, with the waves crashing relentlessly against the shore, the spray-filled air is almost as salty.

Papas Arrugadas can be made a few different ways but the truest to their island roots has to be simply boiling new potatoes in seawater and letting the water boil dry (keep an eye out!) at the end so that their skins shrivel and are left caked in dry salt. I ate my Papas with Mojo Rojo, the red sauce made from peppers that is another characteristic food of these islands. Basic eating but oh so good.