It was the early 1990s when Nan McEvoy fell for a quiet stretch of rolling hills outside Petaluma, Calif. The 550-acre property had been a dairy farm and it was still zoned for agriculture, which meant she had to grow something. Friends suggested she keep it simple — maybe plant a few trees and leave it at that, but Nan was not a simple-project sort of person.
The fingerling potato doesn’t look like much at first. Small and knobby, it tends to get overlooked in favor of bigger, more familiar spuds. Once you start incorporating them in your own cooking, it becomes clear why farmers have been growing these elongated heritage varieties for centuries.
There's something about eating outside that makes everything taste better. Maybe it's the sun, maybe it's the company, or maybe it's a change of scenery. Whatever it is, a good picnic doesn't require much, just a little planning and the right things in your bag.
