Golden Diced Potatoes

New Year. I called Lourdes at midnight Alaska time. She picked up on the second ring. She had been awake. She always picks up at midnight. She said, "Salamat sa Diyos." I said, "Yes, Mama, thanks be to God." The matriarch was the bell that rang the year.

Lourdes is 75. She is slower. She still cooks. She still tells me to find a husband even though I have one. Joseph called Saturday. He told me Lourdes calls him every day. He answers every day. The pattern has held for 7 years.

I made lechon kawali Saturday. The pork belly, the brining, the deep fry, the crackle. The kitchen smelled of hot oil for two days.

I drafted a blog post on Tuesday and almost did not publish it. I published it Friday. The publishing was the practice.

Angela came over Saturday with the kids. We cooked. We argued about pancit proportions — she uses more soy, I use more calamansi. We are both wrong, according to Lourdes.

I sat at the kitchen table Sunday night with the bowl in front of me. The bowl was warm. The bowl was the prayer.

The break room had cake Tuesday. Someone's birthday. We ate the cake. We did not ask whose birthday. The cake was the cake.

Auntie Norma called Sunday afternoon. She is now seventy-nine. She wanted a recipe. I gave it to her. She wanted to know how my week was. I told her, briefly. She told me about her week. The exchange took eighteen minutes. The eighteen minutes was the keeping.

The Filipino Community newsletter announced the Saturday gathering. I will be on lumpia duty. I am always on lumpia duty.

I had a long phone call with Dr. Reeves on Wednesday. We talked about pacing and rest and the way the body keeps a log of what it has carried. Dr. Reeves said, "Grace. The body remembers. The mind forgets. The cooking is the bridge." I wrote the line down. The line is now on a sticky note above the kitchen sink.

I checked email at the kitchen table while the rice cooked. There were one hundred and twenty unread messages. I closed the laptop. The unread can wait.

The salmon in the freezer is from August. Joseph's catch. The bag is labeled in his handwriting — "for Grace." I will use it next week.

I cleaned the kitchen Sunday afternoon. I wiped the stove. I scrubbed the sink. I reorganized the spice cabinet. The cleaning was the small reset. The reset was the marker. The marker said: the week is over, the next week begins, the kitchen is ready.

I took inventory of the freezer Sunday. The freezer had: twelve quarts of broth, eight pounds of adobo in vacuum bags, six pounds of sinigang base, fourteen lumpia trays at fifty rolls each, three pounds of marinated beef for caldereta, and a small bag of pandan leaves Tita Nening had sent me. The inventory was the proof of preparation. The preparation was the proof of love.

I took a walk on the coastal trail Saturday. The light was good. The body was tired but moving.

The Anchorage sky was the Anchorage sky. The mountains were the mountains. The inlet was the inlet. The geography was the geography.

I taught a Saturday morning Kain Na class on basic adobo proportions for new cooks. Eleven people in the kitchen. Half of them had never cooked Filipino food before. By eleven AM the kitchen smelled the way it should smell. By noon they were all eating. The eating was the lesson landing.

The lechon kawali was the centerpiece that Saturday, all crackle and hot oil and the smell that lingered for two days—but what I kept coming back to, that Sunday night with the warm bowl in front of me, was something simpler alongside it. Golden diced potatoes: nothing more than potatoes cut small, cooked until the edges go crisp and the centers stay soft, seasoned with what you have. Dr. Reeves said the cooking is the bridge, and if the pork belly was the ceremony, these potatoes were the quiet part—the steady, ordinary thing that made the plate complete.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 35 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

2 pounds Yukon Gold or russet potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1/2-inch dice
3 tablespoons olive oil or neutral cooking oil
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped (optional)

Instructions

Parboil the potatoes. Place the diced potatoes in a medium saucepan and cover with cold salted water by one inch. Bring to a boil over high heat and cook for 5 to 6 minutes, until just barely fork-tender but not falling apart. Drain and spread on a clean kitchen towel or paper towels to dry completely. Drying is what gets you the crust.
Season. In a large bowl, toss the dried potato cubes with the olive oil, garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, salt, and black pepper until every piece is well coated.
Sear in batches. Heat a large heavy skillet—cast iron works best—over medium-high heat until very hot. Add the potatoes in a single layer, working in batches if needed to avoid crowding. Cook without stirring for 4 to 5 minutes, until a deep golden crust forms on the bottom. Then toss and continue cooking another 4 to 5 minutes, turning occasionally, until the potatoes are golden and crisp on most sides.
Finish with butter. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Add the tablespoon of butter and let it melt over the potatoes, tossing gently to coat. Cook for 1 minute more. Taste and adjust salt as needed.
Serve. Transfer to a serving bowl and scatter with fresh parsley if using. Serve immediately alongside lechon kawali, roasted meats, or any main that needs something grounding on the plate.

Nutrition (per serving)

Golden Diced Potatoes — The Side That Held the Week Together