Puré de Patatas amb Cansalada
Region: Spain, Catalonia
Category: Vegetables
Season: Any
Difficulty: Easy
In the Middle Ages spices were never used for preserving. They were too expensive for that purpose and, besides, there already existed a perfectly fine way to preserve meats, namely salting. One often encounters salted meat in medieval documents as carnsalada or vaca salada. Documents in the municipal archives of Perpignan in French Catalonia describe the use and sale of carnsalada (literally, salted meat) in 1276. Today, it's called cansalada in Catalonia and it refers to this very old form of salted pork fat back used abundantly in Catalan home cooking, especially in preparations where bland food is flavored.
This recipe is adapted from Montse Contreras who, when describing to me how to make it, warned me several times that this potato dish is very, very good (because of the fat), and I would have a hard time not eating it all. She's right. This dish is a version of a very well known Catalonian dish called trinxat, which means "chopped." It is also known in the tiny principality of Andorra.
[photo: Clifford A. Wright] 
Yield: Makes 6 servings
Preparation Time: 1:30 hours
1/2 pound Swiss chard leaves
1/2 pound pork fatback, rind removed and saved for flavoring a stew, fat sliced into strips
2 1/2 pounds potatoes (any kind), peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup hot milk
1. Place the Swiss chard leaves in a large saucepan with only the water adhering to it from its last rinsing. Turn the heat to high, cover, and cook until wilted, turning a few times, about 5 minutes. Drain well and chop.
2. Place the pork fatback in a large nonstick skillet (11-inches wide or more) and cook over a medium heat until they are crispy brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the rendered pork fatback strips with a slotted spoon, leaving the fat in the pan. Finely chop the pork strips and set aside.
3. Place the potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with 1 inch of cold water. Turn the heat to medium. Once the water begins to boil gently, about 20 minutes, cook until the potatoes are easily pierced by a skewer, about another 20 minutes. Drain the potatoes immediately and pass through a food mill or strainer back into the saucepan they were cooked in. If you don't have a food mill it is better to mash by hand with a potato masher rather than an electric mixer or food processor, which will make the potatoes gummy. Beat in the butter and milk a little at a time with a wooden spoon until you have the consistency you like. Stir the chopped crispy fat back and chopped Swiss chard into the mashed potatoes.
4. Turn the heat to medium under the fat left in the nonstick skillet. When it is hot, flatten the mashed potatoes into the skillet carefully so you don't splash any hot oil on yourself. Cook the potatoes until the bottom is crispy brown, about 15 to 20 minutes. Serve crispy side on top.
Variation: Chopped cooked spinach or more Swiss chard can
be stirred into the mashed potatoes before frying them. Kale can be used too.
Posted: 01/17/2008
