Smashed Potatoes

This is one of my husbands favorite things to eat ever. ever. ever. ever. Like my daughter, he has 'texture issues'. He eats foods based on texture first, taste second. I think he's tactile defensive. So a lot of the cooking I do for my fam is done with texture in mind.

And this little recipe has it all for him. Four stars for texture & four for taste as well.

I ran across this at The Pioneer Woman and thought 'ah-ha! yes! Never will love this!' and I was right! It's ingenious, really. Back in the day, when Never still ate meat, I made chicken thighs dang near exactly like this & he loved those. So when I saw the same thing done, but vegetarian style I was psyched.

I'm awfully fond of these too, so I usually make it every weekend. And I cannot tell you how amazingly wonderful they are. You're just going to have to experience them for your self.

Ingredients:

Red Potatoes
A lot of olive oil
Garlic Powder
Fresh Rosemary
Kosher Salt. (regular salt will NOT do)
Cracked Black Pepper

And as an added bonus, they're really easy.

1. Boil red potatoes until the are soft. Drain them.

2. While they are boiling, you'll want to prepare the pan. In a large baking dish/cookie sheet / caserolle dish / whathaveyou / whatever you use line with aluminum foil. With a pastry brush, coat the foil with a healthy layer of olive oil. This is so that when you put the potatoes down on them, they won't stick to the pan after they've been cooked. After they're done cooking place them on the prepared pan.

3. Using a masher or slotted spoon of preference, slightly squash down the tops of the potatoes so they split like above. It usually takes two smashing per potato to get them just right. Then let them cool. While they are cooling, chop up enough fresh rosemary to cover the amount of potatoes you cooked.

4. After the potatoes have cooled, use the pastry brush and liberally coat each potato with olive oil. Then sprinkle with garlic powder, then the kosher salt, the pepper and rosemary to taste.

Personally, I love all of these things so I lay it on thick.

5. Bake in the oven at 450 until golden and crispy. Usually about 20-40 mins depending upon your oven & the size of the potatoes.

And Voila
For non-vegetarians, I suppose this would be a side dish, but for my household, it's the main course and they usually don't last long enough to get cold.

Enjoy!