Purple Potatoes with Caramelized Onions and Shiitake Mushrooms

Start caramelizing the onions: In a small sauté pan heat one tablespoon of olive oil over a low heat. Add the sliced onions in one even layer, after five minutes add 1/2 tablespoon of butter, stir and add a pinch of kosher salt. While rendering your bacon and cooking your mushrooms in the next steps, make sure to stir the onions every few minutes and remove once they are evenly browned. This should take around 30 minutes, remove from heat when finished and reserve. Cook the bacon: While the onions are slowly cooking slice the bacon in small batonettes (1/8-inch crosswise strips) on your cutting board. Heat up a larger sauté pan on medium and when your pan is hot add the sliced bacon. Slowly sauté the bacon until slightly crispy and remove from the pan onto a paper towel-lined plate, reserve for later. Cook mushrooms in rendered bacon fat: Julienne the shiitake mushrooms and then add them to the pan which now has the rendered bacon fat. Add a pinch of salt and fresh cracked pepper to the Shiitake mushrooms, don’t shake the pan but let the mushrooms brown evenly on one side. Once browned, flip the mushrooms delicately and remove from pan onto a smaller plate, reserve. Brown the purple potatoes: Add 2 Tablespoons of olive oil in the pan and add the evenly sliced potatoes to the hot pan in a single layer; make sure not to crowd the pan. Add a pinch of red pepper flakes and a good pinch of salt to the potatoes. Don’t move the pan, this is very important so that the potatoes can evenly brown. After 3-5 minutes, when they are browned flip potatoes and brown the other side, turn down the heat to medium low to evenly cook the potatoes. Add capers, onions, mushrooms, bacon: Once the potatoes are thoroughly cooked, add the capers and let crisp up for a minute. Then combine the caramelized onions, mushrooms, and bacon to the large sauté pan with the browned potatoes. Re-warm over low heat. When hot, turn the heat off and garnish with a sprinkle of fresh picked tarragon.