Sunday, February 14, 2010

Rosemary Roasted Potatoes

I have been roasting potatoes for a while. Get a few Idaho baking potatoes, dice them up, give 'em a toss in some oil and sprinkle with any combination of herbs and spices. Super easy and pretty delicious. But, when I came across the cute little container of baby gold (Yukon Gold) potatoes in the produce section I was inspired to put a twist on the old staple. Gold potatoes have a distinctly creamy, buttery flavor that other starchy and waxy potatoes lack, and the cute little baby ones are sweeter too. Try them, try them Sam I am! (Dr. Suess' b-day is just around the corner.)
Rosemary Roasted Potatoes
barely adapted from Ina Garten

I whisk the olive oil and spices together in a bowl before prepping the potatoes. This way the garlic and rosemary can begin to infuse the oil with their flavor. I would definitely recommend doing this if you use dried rosemary, as I did. The addition of the red pepper flakes gives it just a hint of heat.

1 1/2 pounds baby gold potatoes
2 Tbsp. good olive oil
3/4 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbsp. minced garlic (3 cloves)
2 Tbsp. minced fresh rosemary leaves or 2 tsp. dried
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes

1. Preheat the oven to 400 °F.
2. Cut the potatoes in half or quarters and place in a bowl with the olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic and rosemary; toss until the potatoes are well coated. Dump the potatoes on a baking sheet and spread out into 1 layer; roast in the oven for at least 1 hour, or until browned and crisp. Flip twice with a spatula during cooking to ensure even browning.
3. Remove the potatoes from the oven, season to taste, and serve. 

Besides using baby golds, I am pretty sure these taters came out better than any previous batches because I never cooked them long enough and I used to use a glass 13" x 9" pan. Roasting in a glass pan? I know, I know...

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