The first potatoes of the season arrived in our CSA box this week. They were decidedly low-key about their entrance, showing up inside a damp, torn, and wrinkled brown paper bag. There was no fanfare when they tumbled out onto the kitchen counter. Their only accompaniment was a Pigpen-esque cloud of dirt (a rather large one at that) that ended up all over the counter and flew up in the air, making me sneeze. Honestly, I was a little taken aback by just how filthy these puppies were. Potatoes are nothing if not humble-looking vegetables. They spend their life underground, hidden away from judgmental eyes, free to grow into any odd, lumpen shape they please. But it was quite clear that these gnarly, dusty All Blue potatoes had only been in the above-ground world for a matter of hours, so it was especially satisfying to turn them into a dish that ended up being the most stunning part of a meal.After a few washes of cold water, the potatoes were clean, but sat on the counter looking like a collection of bruises–spotty, mishaped, deep purple orbs. I decided to make oven fries out of them. When I sliced into their nearly black skins, they split open to reveal their bright violet flesh, shot through with striking white veins. They looked almost tie-dyed.I tossed the potato wedges in oil, with lots of salt and pepper. Next they went onto a well-greased baking sheet, then into a 450-degree oven. I roasted them for half an hour, flipping them once, then tossed them with some chopped fresh parsley and rosemary. The oven fries were awesome–crackly crust, creamy insides, dreamy hue–and even manged to upstage the burgers they were served along side of. I am not one to get weepy over tubers, but I was a little moved thinking about how these blue beauties were a far cry from the sad, soiled humps I’d been looking at just a few hours before.