Crispy Smashed Potatoes

At the Saturday PSU Portland Farmers Market, this month there has been lots of beautiful displays of autumn bounty. And, the crowds have thinned quite a bit now that the rainy weather is back in Portland, leaving more room to enjoy the market since you can chat with the vendors now that it isn’t bustling, and for that same reason is why you should brave the sprinkles and go visit the market and support them as they stand for hours under their tents for you after coming in and setting up while it’s still dark outside! Be a rainy day friend.

When I saw all these little potatoes, I knew exactly what I wanted to make: smashed potatoes. Little potatoes are perfect for smashing! I bought half and half of both kinds you see here, the Pendolini di Roma and the German Butterball. The recipe below yields enough for two people comfortably as a meal, or 4 people as side dishes.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pounds of little potatoes, each should be only a few inches in diameter, or if you use slightly larger try cutting them to this size
• 1/2 teaspoon and another pinch later of sea salt
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon chopped rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon chopped thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon chopped parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Directions:

1. Step 1: Boiling Potatoes, first round of cooking the potatoes. Put the potatoes in a large pot and add water to cover by ~1 inch of water. Season the water with salt. Bring to a boil over high heat, and then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork. Make sure they are cooked but not overcooked, around 30 minutes for me, but keep checking.
2. Step 2: Drain and Cool. Drain the water from the potatoes in a colander. Transfer the potatoes to a towel-lined baking sheet and let cool to room temperature. If you wish, you can do the prep work to here and do the rest of the cooking later (such as say, working on other dishes for your holiday dinner…)
   
3. Step 3: Smashing! Begin heating the oven to 450 degrees F. Remove the towels from under the potatoes and switch out the baking pan lining with a sheet of aluminum foil and put a sheet of parchment on top of the foil, spritz with olive oil if you have it, gently tilting the pan to spread the oil. Now using another baking pan, press down on your potato on a cutting board/workspace using the baking pan on one potato to smash it flat to a thickness of about 1/2 inch. Using a spatula, replace the potatoes back on the newly lined baking sheet. Repeat with all the potatoes.
   
4. Step 4: Seasoning. Pour the olive oil over them. Lift the potatoes gently with the spatula to make sure some of the oil goes underneath them so both sides have been coated if you didn’t spritz the parchment paper earlier. Sprinkle in the herbs, pinch of salt and ground pepper.
   
5. Step 5: Final cooking. Roast the potatoes until they’re crispy and deep brown around the edges. This should take about 30 minutes, turning once gently with the spatula halfway through cooking.

Final Step: Eating! If you’d like, garnish and enjoy with a dollop of sour cream. In addition, I took the opportunity to also oven roast broccoli with red pepper flakes with the potatoes.

I’ve made these many times with leftover potatoes from a bag after making mashed potatoes or some other dish. They are always good – you can season them with anything you’d like – even though I have that combination I shared above, I have also just sprinkled in whatever leftover fresh herbs I may have and dry herbs and it’s never gone wrong in terms of combinations. Make sure you are patient enough to wait for them to get crispy, and you can have them for breakfast, lunch or dinner!