Baby Potatoes with Cipolline and Dill

Are you ready for a sumptuous side dish that tastes so delicious, and is so tremendously easy, that surely your mind will blow? Wait until you hear about this. Onions and potatoes. Nothing new you say?  How about Dutch Baby Potatoes and Cipolline Onions?  Sound more interesting? Whether it does or whether it doesn't, two men in my life who would happily pass up potatoes, both stuffed themselves with these to their surprise and to mine. Mr. O-P, a notorious hater of potatoes tried them only because I had dazzled him the week before with this recipe. He loved them!  My dad didn't get his short ribs and potato dinner until the following day. I'd given him enough meat and potatoes for two meals. He said the potatoes and onions were so good that he kept going back for more and eventually ate them all!

When I spotted this recipe in an old issue of Bon Appetit, I laughed at how boring it appeared. No way, I told myself, could butter, onions, and potatoes, in any combination, come together to make a dish that tasted anything other than mundane. Boy, was I wrong. 

I blanched and peeled the onions ahead of time, and made this dish during the first three innings of the ballgame. Now if you know me and baseball, you know that I wasn't paying one bit of attention to these potatoes. I had short ribs in the crockpot (tremendously good - short ribs, a packet of onion soup, and a cup and a half to Chianti, cooked on “low” all the live long day), a salad at the ready, and these potatoes. What a perfect pairing. On my busiest of days, this is going to be my “go to” meal. Company's coming?  Great!  They'll love them too.  

Baby Potatoes with Cipolline and Dill

Bon Appétit, November 1998

1 pound Melissa’s Cipolline onions
3 tablespoons butter
2 pounds Melissa’s Baby Dutch Yellow potatoes (each about 1 to 1 1/4 inches in diameter)
3 tablespoons minced fresh dill

Cook cipolline in medium saucepan of boiling water 3 minutes. Drain; rinse with cold water and peel. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in large skillet over medium heat. Add potatoes; stir to coat. Cover skillet; cook potatoes until golden and almost tender, stirring occasionally, about 25 minutes. Mix in cipolline. Cover; cook until cipolline and potatoes are tender and golden, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes longer. Mix in dill and 1 tablespoon butter. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to bowl.

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