Potatoes Yahni

Potatoes Yahni is a traditional Greek dish, often referred to as a stew. Potatoes are cooked in a flavorful tomato sauce until fork tender. Perfect side dish for any dinner.

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This dish couldn’t be any more simpler to make. Using only a handful of ingredients and minimal prep, Potatoes Yahni can be a great addition to a fancy dinner or a simple weeknight dinner. I love to top mine with Feta cheese before serving.

Ingredients for Potatoes Yahni

• 4 Potatoes (Yukon Gold work perfectly for this dish), peeled and cubed

1/3 Cup, good quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 onion, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 Tablespoons, tomato paste

2 ounces, dry red wine

1 Teaspoon Each, smoked paprika (regular is fine), dill and salt

1/4 Teaspoon, pepper

1 Cup, vegetable broth

1 Cup, water

Feta cheese, optional

Potatoes Yahni was always on my Yia Yia’s kitchen table. She would sometimes place the potatoes around a boneless leg of lamb and use the juices from it to even further enhance the flavor. There is something to be said about Greeks and potatoes. I have never and I truly mean never, had a bad potato dish when a Greek prepares them. And if you are ever so lucky to travel to Naxos, Greece, you will get to experience the best potatoes ever known to man kind.

Preparation

In no time you will have your Potato Yahnis on the stove simmering away. Start by cubing up your potatoes. I find that if I cut the potatoes in half, lengthwise, then again for each half finally cutting them into thirds.

By cutting them this way, you can make relatively equal size cubes. What you don’t want is small cubed potatoes because they will turn into mush. Next dice your onion and mince the garlic.

Grab a large stockpot and heat up the Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Once you see the oil starting to shimmer, go ahead and add your potatoes being careful not to splash hot oil on yourself. The goal here is to give the potatoes a little color. Not to cook them.

If you want to do Potatoes Yahni justice, you should do this step in 2 batches. Why? Well, because if you put all the cut potatoes in at once not all will get browned. It won’t be the end of the world if you choose just to do this in one step. I’ll let you in on a little secret. For this post, I only did this in one step and they came out amazing but I encourage you to do it in 2. See below.

Once you have a bit of color on your potatoes, remove them to a dish. Go ahead and add in the onions and with the heat on low to medium, sauté them until translucent, about 8 minutes or so and then add the tomato paste. Stir until onions are coated.

Potatoes Yahni Broth

Potatoes Yahni is just about to come together. Go ahead and add in the wine, scraping any bits of potato that stuck to the bottom. After this, pour in the remaining liquids along with the spices. Stir until the ingredients are combined and, last but not least, add the potatoes.

Make sure you get (most) of the potatoes submerged in the tomato broth. As these beauties cook, they will absorb that liquid and that’s exactly what you want! Cover the Potatoes Yahni and cook on low (you want a slow simmer) for 45 minutes. Please check on them after 15 minutes or so and stir so they don’t stick to the bottom. Start checking for doneness around the 40 minute mark. You might have to add some more liquid if the potatoes are not fork tender.

Once they are done and most of the liquid has been absorbed remove to a plate and top with some parsley. If you want, you can add some feta cheese and even Kalamata olives.

I like to serve mine alongside my Moussaka or Greek Meatloaf. Potatoes Yahni can be served at room temperature making it very versatile for any meal. Please enjoy. ~Christina