Smashed Potatoes

Life is hard; food doesn't have to be #130 [vol4, 5.1]

Before the mercury rises and it’s too hot to have the oven on, make these smashed potatoes! Crispy and creamy all in the same bite

These could have used 5 more minutes in the oven for absolute perfection but my people were ready for dinner.

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What kind of potatoes?

I paid more for this bag of tiny potatoes for convenience. But also quartered some red potatoes for testing purposes. Both work great. I liked best the texture of the yukon gold. Any potato will do, I promise.

The Little Duos are about the size of a ping pong.

When you get the potatoes out, start preheating your oven to 400* or 425* if you’re feeling feisty.

How to boil?

Seems like a ridiculous question - but here’s the thing - a few specifics can make a difference.

1. Start with cold water covering the potatoes.

2. Add enough salt for the water to taste like the ocean. The amount depends on how much water you’re using. The salt helps keep the minerals in the potatoes instead of leaching into the water and going down the drain. Plus taste. Salt amplifies the taste of our food!

3. Bring to a boil until you can easily pierce the potato with a fork or knife. If the metal doesn’t slide easily it will be difficult to smash. Drain water.

4. You can boil the potatoes a few days in advance. Of course refrigerate afterwards if not roasting. I smash just before roasting.

Smashing

I love parchment paper and line my sheet pans with it for easy clean up. Add boiled potatoes to your pan and use a mason jar to smash them flat-ish. You could use a coffee cup, a drinking glass, spatula…anything with a flat surface.

Aim to have them all a similar level of smashy.

With the quartered potatoes I think it was less messy to smash with skin towards the jar.

Roasting

Next drizzle with oil (I used avocado oil; olive oil works too. I don’t have vegetable oil in my kitchen because it causes inflammation and made with GMO crops.)

Then sprinkle generously with sea salt. I used 18x13 sheet pan and probably a teaspoon of salt on EACH SIDE of the potatoes.

If using a spoon to sprinkle or a pinch from your fingers, hold the salt high above your food so that all the salt doesn’t land in a concentrated space. Or use a salt shaker - but that is a lot of shaking!

Make sure to have oil and salt on both sides of the potatoes otherwise you won’t achieve the yummy goodness your mouth wants.

How long?

For planning purposes, this process takes at least a solid hour start to finish. Maybe more like 90 minutes if you’re interrupted and not laser focused. Boiling water isn’t fast. And the brown crispy goodness cannot be hurried (believe me, I’ve tried.)

These potatoes are not hard and there is lots of hands off time. Please make these!

How long in the oven?

I didn’t time it because it depends on your oven, the pan, and did you boil the potatoes the night before and they’re cold from the fridge?

Roast at 400 for at least 20 minutes then flip. If they are perfectly golden, set a timer for 20 minutes for the other side. If they look soggy then set a timer for more time. If they look close to burned, less.

Stay in the kitchen and use your nose! Keep the light on in the oven and check on them occasionally. You want them to have color on them — you know that golden brown that you can’t wait to crunch?

Please be patient and let them get golden. The best.

Life is hard, food doesn’t have to be,

Julie