Crispy Smashed Tri Color New Potatoes

ROASTED smashed potatoes!

I always thank Jamie Oliver when it comes to roasted smashed potatoes. I adore the crispy little guys that fall somewhere between roast potatoes and steak fries. Im sure somebody made them before Jamie, history is long and we have been eating potatoes for several hundred years. In Peru, way longer than that. I wonder if the early people of Peru ate their potatoes smashed and roasted. It is possible. 

I remember way back when Jamie Oliver was kinda new on the food seen as the Naked Chef, well I was a big fan, he is adorable. But these potatoes stuck in my head, just lodged themselves there. Like it was so obvious, that boiled+smashed+salt and olive oil coated+hot roasted-crispy new potatoes- would be the best thing in the world. Crispy roast new potatoes used to be the best thing in the world. By smashing them you get all this extra surface area to be crispy. And the flat part on the pan gets cooked really well. 

Not sure why I don't make these every single day, really.

I used a mix of red, golden, and blue potatoes, very romantic. And the mix was nice- the colors and the textures are all a little different. 

SMASHED potatoes!

Crispy Smashed Tri Color New Potatoes

1 pound new potatoes, various types

1 pot boiling water

many drizzles of olive oil

flakey sea salt and fresh ground pepper

Put the potatoes into a pot, cover with cool water. Bring to a boil on high heat. Preheat the oven to 400°.

Boil the potatoes for about 10-15 minutes, until the new potatoes are just cooked through. Just when the fork slides to the middle, drain them through a colander before they get too mushy! 

Drizzle some olive oil into a roasting pan which can accommodate all the potatoes when smashed. Toss in the hot potatoes. Grab a flat bottomed dish, or a drinking glass works well. Use this to stamp down on each potato, smash it so it splits, yet still holds together as one. Mine are about 1/2" tall after smashing. 

Drizzle more olive oil generously on top. And a good scatter of flakey sea salt and pepper too. Place into the preheated 400° oven for 40 minutes. They are finished when crispy, golden brown, and your kitchen will smell like heaven.

* It is super simple to throw some fresh or dried herbs in the pan when they go in the oven, like rosemary, sage or thyme. Or sometimes I use a spice blend, but today I put that on my salmon steaks, so I kept the potatoes simple. 

** They are wicked good with sour cream on top!

Smashed Potatoes with Salmon Steak and Greens