Küchenkinder Potatoes

This piece first posted on October of last year.  Due to popular demand (friends have been asking for the kinder kartoffeln recipe), the article's been reposted. Whether it's for you or your tiny tots, enjoy!

With the first heat coming through last night, I looked forward to sleeping a full 8 hours and waking up to a white, warm, silent fuzziness with the occasional hissing from the radiators.  Instead, at 5 am,  I was alarmed by a clattering, explosive noise.

My first thought was that some pipe had burst and pieces of it had shattered to the floor.  Sensing it was pre-dawn I wondered what time would be appropriate to call the Super as I turned on the light.

Thankfully, it wasn't a pipe.  A porcelain teapot had fallen off the counter.  After sitting on the exact same spot for over a week without a complaint, the teapot decided to leap to the wooden floor.  If this was my old place in San Diego, I would have suspected an earthquake. 

It's a küchenkoller day, I thought.  Anna and Bernhard Blume captures this possessed kitchen phenom quite well in their gelatin silver prints like the one above. 

A great word - Küchenkoller.  It sounds nice to say, but it's a terrible thing.  It's when the furies of Vesta descend upon one's kitchen and wreaks havoc.

For example.  The pressure-cooker lid shoots up to the sky.  Or the evil fridge freezes all your greens.  And the blender somehow throws up the beets and splatters your cabinets with blood.

Or maybe everything is spinning around the salad-spinner except for the spinner.  Blame it on küchenkoller.

Küchen, I am sure means kitchen.  Koller means frenzy or tantrum.  Why koller would come to mean tantrum is interesting.  Maybe there was a man named Koller who often had meltdowns.

When I sense a full-blown küchenkoller episode coming on, I stay away from complicated dishes and approach the kitchen like a child at play.  I keep it very simple but fun.  I call this küchenkinder.  Not sure if this is a true German term or if I'd just made it up.

But I figure it appropriate as "kinder" means children.  Think Kinder Happy Hippo.  I frequently visited one grocer that had the only Kinder Happy Hippo with whole hazelnuts in each bump.

So today's dinner will be an easy kiddie dish that adults can enjoy.  I call it Küchenkinder Potatoes.  First, you will need to buy bite-sized potatoes.  I like the ones from Tasteful Selections that can be had at Whole Foods. 

Just to give you an idea of their size, these have been placed in a small ramekin for 1 serving.

Küchenkinder Potatoes Recipe   (1 serving)

 Ingredients
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of olive oil
1 ramekin-full of bite-sized potatoes
1 to 2 teaspoons of Sriracha

Instructions
Turn on oven to 450 degrees.  Meanwhile, cut each potato in half.  Coat the potato halves with the salt and oil by hand in a roomy bowl.

Put the glossy potato-halves onto a non-stick oven pan.  Place in the oven for 30 minutes.

Pull out pan, wearing a mitt.  Slide the potatoes onto a dish.

Squeeze out the Sriracha on the side for dipping.  You really don't need much as it is pretty strong.  1 to 2 teaspoons would be enough.  It's also a great condiment for dieting.  There's so much flavor,  satiety is reached pretty quickly.

If this is to feed real children, hold the Sriracha and substitute with a little ketchup.  If ketchup is not allowed,  then use mustard or Greek yogurt as alternatives.

It's a pretty assortment of red, yellow, and blue mini potatoes made with the least effort.  And the Sriracha on the side takes potatoes to another level.

A small cherry tomato has been placed on the plate to show how small these baby potatoes are.  Yes, they are wee little things.  And yet, these 'kinder' potatoes can really satisfy the 'erwachsene' for supper.

Happy Küchenkoller ~e