Garlicky Smashed Potatoes

We need to lighten things up a bit around here, so I'm going to throw in a food post that will hopefully make everyone who tries it as happy as it made us here. We love potatoes in this household, and I enjoy trying out new recipes whenever possible. I bought a 5 pound bag of red potatoes recently, and after looking at something similar from Ree Drummond (also known as The Pioneer Woman), I decided to give it a try. 




First things first, mise en place:

You'll need a large pot, tongs, a potato masher, and a large baking sheet to make these.

Ingredients
7-10 red potatoes (depending on size/# of people you're feeding)
Olive oil
Kosher salt (or regular - whatever blows your hair back)
Pepper
3-4 chopped garlic cloves
Parsley (fresh or dried)
Thyme (fresh or dried)
Any other herbs you like (fresh or, yes, dried)

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.

1. Place your potatoes in an even layer in your large pot, and cover completely with cold water, maybe to about an inch of water over the top of the potatoes. This helps your potatoes cook a bit more evenly. It also helps to use potatoes that are similar in size. You can definitely add your potatoes to boiling water, but the outside of the potato will then cook more quickly, and you may also see some splitting of the outside, as well. Just for the sake of even cooking, I always start with cold water. 

2. Bring the water to a boil and cook until fork tender, which was somewhere around 20 minutes for these, but they might have even been ready a bit earlier than that. I couldn't tell you, I was busy chopping onions and taking selfies and making fish faces.

I know how good I look here. You don't have to tell me.

3. Meanwhile, coat the bottom of your baking sheet with a good amount of olive oil. This will help brown the bottoms of the potatoes and also will keep them from sticking to the pan. A healthier alternative would be cooking spray, or you could also use a Misto to get a lighter, even layer on the pan. 

4. Once your potatoes are done, place them on the pan and use your potato masher (or the bottom of a glass or a can) to smoosh the potatoes (hence the smashed part of the recipe). I had some issues with mine sticking to the masher, and would likely just use a glass next time, or perhaps spray the masher with cooking spray to alleviate the issue.

5. Next, sprinkle on your salt, pepper, parsley, thyme, and chopped garlic. Drizzle again with olive oil, use a Misto, or a brush to somewhat evenly coat the tops of the potatoes. 

6. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, until the potatoes are browned and have a nice crust going. They should look something like this, although Lord knows that I've been pretty bad lately at capturing a good "after" photo...this was "after" I'd already taken most of the potatoes off of the pan and placed them onto our plates...they were a bit more browned than this picture shows, which led to a lovely crunchy texture that contrasted well with the middle "baked potato" part.

Although it might be hard to believe from the photos, these are pretty amazing and even taste good the next day, although of course they are best right out of the oven. Definitely one we'll be keeping in the rotation, as it seems to go with just about anything. 

Until next time...