Smashed & Roasted Baked Potatoes
Feeling a little aggravated? Having trouble with some built up tension? Take your hostility out on these smashed and roasted baked potatoes and turn that anger into a delightfully happy and easy side. Once you taste the crispy creaminess of these spuds the only fighting instinct you'll feel is a propensity to arm wrestle anyone who goes for the last crunchy little bites! They're truly amazing and kinda worth putting up your dukes for!
There's really nothing that mind boggling about these except of course that they're mind boggling in all respects, which I know sounds like a contradiction but once you taste them you'll understand what I mean.
You start with ordinary baked potatoes that get literally smashed by having a heavy pan crush down on them. They're then salted, peppered and anointed with olive oil and returned to the oven to roast and get amazingly crunchy crusts while the insides of the potato remain creamy.
Little bits of the smashed potatoes fall off and get extra crunchy and these are so sought after that there will be surprising offers to clean up after dinner so that certain people can have better access to those little pieces of heaven that stick to the pan!
So kill two birds with one stone tonight, release some of that stress and make a side that everyone will love! Smashed and Roasted Baked Potatoes=happiness and family harmony (at least in my house, but then again, we're easy to please!!)
Smashed & Roasted Baked Potatoes
Makes 5-6 servings (double this if you're serving teenage boys!)
Prep Time: 5 minutes; Bake Time: 1 hour to bake potatoes, 40-45 minutes more to roast them
Ingredients
2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes (try to get them as much the same size as possible)
1-2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4-1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided,
The Recipe
1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Wrap each potato separately in foil and place on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake for about 1 hour, until softened. Turn the oven up to 500ºF.
2. Let the potatoes cool a bit and unwrap them, leaving them on the baking sheet. Cover with another rimmed baking sheet, rimmed side up, and press down to smash the potatoes gently, without breaking them apart too much. Sprinkle them with salt and pepper and half of the oil turning well to coat the potatoes.
3. Roast the potatoes for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, pour on the rest of the oil again turning the potatoes to coat them well and return the pan to the oven for another 20-25 minutes to let the potatoes get all crispy and browned. Serve immediately.
Enjoy!
Note: Recipe adapted from a 2012 issue of Bon Appetit Magazine.
