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06 October 2009

FANCY PANTS POTATOES



Who says you can't play with your food?

I was roasting a chicken recently, and I wanted to roast some potatoes along with it. Normally I just cut them in pieces and parboil them about 5 minutes then just throw them in with the chicken. They’re always delicious!


The other day I thought I’d do something a little different. Something a little fancy.


I cut two large potatoes in slices and then cut out star shapes. I boiled them in salted water, wiped them with olive oil and put them in a roasting pan in the oven with the chicken for the last 30 minutes or so of cooking. The last time I basted the chicken I also basted the potato stars. Not too much, I didn’t want them swimming in the juice, but enough to moisten them and make them sizzle a little.


For a change, I timed it just right: the potatoes were done when the chicken was done. I sprinkled them with a little finishing salt and VOILA! They were wonderful--crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. The basting didn’t keep them from being crispy, it just added some of the chicken flavor to the potatoes.



YESSSSSS! I’d serve these to company!






Fancy Pants Potatoes


4-6 large potatoes

3-4 Tablespoons salt

approx. 2 Tablespoons Olive oil

Finishing salt

Cookie cutters in whatever shapes you like





Preheat oven to 200 C / 400 F. Wash the potatoes and cut them in slices about 1 cm / 1/2 in thick. Cut out shapes with the cookie cutters. Bring a large pot of water to boil and add the salt. Yes, all of it. Boil the potato pieces in the salted water for approximately 5 - 6 minutes. Drain and rub with the olive oil. Put in a single layer in a large, shallow oven pan, and bake for 30 minutes. Check them from time to time and shake them around a little. Turn them if necessary to brown all sides. Make sure that they’re in a single layer-don’t pile them on top of one another or they won’t brown properly. Sprinkle with finishing salt to serve.


Serves 4 if they like it and 10 if they don’t.



P.S. I put the potato pieces left over from cutting out the stars in the pan with the chicken. They were good too, just not very fancy. They could also be cooked separately and mashed.




Variations:


  • Sprinkle potatoes with crushed rosemary before roasting.
  • Use flavored olive oil: garlic, hot pepper, herb
  • You can also do these on the stove top in a non-stick pan. Boil them about 10 minutes in salted water (to cook them through) and drain them. Heat some olive oil in a non-stick skillet and put the potatoes in the pan over medium high heat. Let them brown on one side and then turn them to brown the other side. This should take about 15 minutes total. Sprinkle with finishing salt and serve. I’d probably add some freshly chopped rosemary to the olive oil before I added the potatoes. (Of course, the sides won’t be browned with this method)




22 comments:

Bob said...

Heh, that's awesome. They look wicked tasty too, great color.

La Table De Nana said...

What a great idea! I have done beets and small carrots..never a potato and we eat so many~ Bonne Idée..Géniale!

food with style said...

oh i love love love this! i too have done other veggies, but never potatoes, cute cute cute!

Mardi Michels said...

Kate - WELL - I thought my roast potatoes from the Keep it Local challenge Meal (4) were pretty good but yours are in pretty SHAPES!!!! You win - these rock!

Chocolate Shavings said...

Those are just too cute!

grace said...

kate! this is outstanding! even if they weren't stellarly star-shaped, they'd look scrumptious. thank the good lord for potatoes. :)

Regnald @ CeramicCanvas said...

Yum!

These look so delish...

crispy and tasty.

BTW, great site.

Cheers!

Puszedli said...

What a great idea.. Must make it for my family!

Hungry Dog said...

These are so pretty--you are so creative! I might just have to steal your recipe! ;)

Kate at Serendipity said...

Bob, they were VERY tasty. I only wish I'd made more.

Monique, merci! Ils etaient vraiment géniale. Et tellement facile!

Jain, Thanks. We loved them too. We'll do this again.

Mardi, I loved the look of your roast potatoes. FWIW, these potatoes were grown about 25 km from here. Local!

Chocolate, thanks!

Grace, I agree. Potatoes are a staple around here. We're both Irish. :-)

Regnald, thanks. I hope you come back!

Puszedli, let me know how it turns out, ok?

Hungry dog, you CAN'T steal it--I give it to you! Let me know how they turn out, ok?

Thanks for all the lovely comments. Dan and I really enjoyed these potatoes. I'm trying to figure out how to make them for Thanksgiving. I don't know how to fit them in my small oven with the turkey...any ideas?

Barbara said...

Gosh, those look great! Such fun to do a roasted potato shaped like that.....nice and crunchy too!

Sam Hoffer / My Carolina Kitchen said...

What a clever idea. I'm definitely going to give these babies a try. I just discovered your lovely blog. Where in the world have I been? Lots of good things here to see and taste.
Sam

SavoringTime in the Kitchen said...

Thank you for your visit and kind words :) I've enjoying browing around your blog and reading about your life in Europe! I love your cute fancy pants potatoes.

Velva said...

What a creative idea! Perfect! Thanks for sharing. This is something that I am going to do in the future too.

Barbara said...

Thanks for visiting my blog, Kate. And yes, you could easily make risotto with fregola.
I agree- I love farro too, have some right now in my pantry and have been wanting to try it in a 3 cheese dish I found. Will let you know how it turns out.

~~louise~~ said...

Just popped in from Moveable Feasts and boy oh boy I sure am glad I did. Those potatoes are "darling." What a great way to get kids to eat their sweets:)

Thanks for sharing, Kate
P.S. I love the word Serendipity too!!!

Carol at Serendipity said...

Potatoes are wonderful. I might have to hearts for Valentine's Day!

Thanks for joining my blog!

Carol (the other Serendipity)

Kate at Serendipity said...

You know that Belgium is the world capital of Fries. Every kitchen (except mine, of course) has a friteuse, or deep fat fryer to make fries. One of my Belgian friends asked why I bothered with the oven--why not just fry these? Duh! Of course you could. If you had a friteuse.

Hearts would be darling. Also flowers. Pumpkins. Numbers. Letters. Dogs. I'd love to see what you all do with this! Enjoy....

Divina Pe said...

What a brilliant idea. Even if you don't have a friteuse, at least you're doing a healthier version. Thanks for the idea.

Chats the Comfy Cook said...

This is a great idea. I love to fancy the plate up a bit and this would do it and if there are children, at the table, I can only imagine the excitement.

Zurin said...

I saw this on food with style and I thought they looked so delicious and pretty!:)what a great idea.thanks for sharing.

Pam said...

What a brilliant idea. I'm impressed! The pics are beautiful also! Pam