BAKED, SMASHED POTATOES

"What I say is that, if a man really likes potatoes, he must be a pretty decent sort of fellow." A.A. Milne

There's nothing I like more than a simple recipe which with minimal effort gives me maximum deliciousness. The reason this recipe is one of my all time favourites is because it is so simple it's silly, it would actually take effort to get it wrong and potatoes are yum. Smash a potato today and you'll never see things the same way....

 

Number of people it'll serve will depend on how many potatoes

Recipe and photo adapted from the Pioneer Woman

 

What you’ll need:

 Small round potatoes (as many as you like)

Generous quantities of olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Herbs (of your choosing, I picked basil and oregano this time)

How to:

1. Boil potatoes in a container with water and lots of salt. Remove once tender, you should be able to stick a fork into the potato easily. Pop potatoes out.

2. Grease a baking dish with a generous helping of olive oil. Pour on a good layer so your potatoes don’t stick to the dish post-baking.

Note: For all greasing purposes I use a nice wide paint brush. Dip and paint in broad strokes. It works perfectly!

3. Preheat oven to 200° Celsius.

4. Drop your potatoes on the baking dish and squish them down with a potato masher or any other hard flat object you can lay your hands on. This is my favorite step!

 5. Find your brush and brush on a good amount of olive oil on your smashed potato. Sprinkle salt (again don’t skimp because starch will SOAK salt), nice spicey freshly ground pepper and whichever chopped up herbs you’ve chosen.

6. Slide the potatoes in the oven and wait 20 -25 minutes till they’re nicely browned and crispy.

Foodnotes:

Whenever baking its best to use fresh herbs, the problem with baking a dried herb is that it will burn on the surface of the potato and not lend much flavor. Fresh rosemary, thyme or basil will add some moisture and bake well with the potatoes.