Smashed Potatoes: Marble potatoes tossed with garlic and herbs then roasted until just soft. Slightly smashed with a fork and lightly crisped in hot oil.
Smashed Potatoes
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Dear reader, in this post you will see awesome smashed potatoes pictures that if you have smell-vision, will make your mouth water; you have been warned.
In this post you will also get the recipe for these amazing smashed potatoes AND get the awesome story of when I almost became a smashed potato.
Really though, it was scary. So if you’re in no mood for a horror experience, please skip to the bottom of this post. I promise you won’t miss any great cooking tips in the in-between…
Smashed Potato Juli
Over Christmas break we went on vacation to Playa Del Carmen and it was glorious! You can read more about that here.
However, we almost didn’t make it on that vacation.
{Dear reader, this is the part where scary music starts playing. You may want to read this next part out loud.}
It all started on a dark and dreary morning in small town Texas. A frosty chill had swept in during the night.
{Now you can go back to reading your head.}
Our driver missed his alarm and slept until we were almost late. We were driving along the freeway at what may have been illegal speeds when the god of weather saw fit to let us know he doesn’t like people with a lead foot. And let loose with rains like those found in a southern movie.
The Notebook
*** Must take a small break from his story to have a “blah blah blah Juli moment!”—
Hey reader, have you ever seen the movie “The Notebook“?
Well, you know the part where they’re having a great time in the little boat and then it starts raining out of nowhere? And not a small California drizzle like rain, but a rip roarin’ Thor-is-having-a-temper-tantrum storm…
{During which Allie yells at Noah for not writing when she waited for him for seven years because it wasn’t over for her, and then Ryan Gosling makes every girl in the whole wide world fall in love with him…
“It wasn’t over. It still isn’t over.”
ending with a (totally non-cliche) kiss in the rain… sigh.}
Yeah, that kind of storm is real life! (not the love and kissing part, just the rain part). Happens like that here in Texas! Once I almost got struck by lightening because I was in a field with my kids when one of those storms came out of nowhere. It missed. Thanks Thor!
Thank Heavens!
Anyway…
So it started raining. Texas raining.
The fella driving the car had a rare moment of driving smartness and slowed his speed to five below the limit.
Dear reader, you’re about to see why that was extremely fortuitous and why we were very blessed that no one else was on our stretch of the freeway.
Apparently I need new tires?
Quite suddenly our car was spinning. In circles. At 70 MPH. Across all three lanes of the freeway in the rain!
Reader you’re gonna have to excuse it because there is nothing for it- I think in movies.
So you know in movies how dramatic moments are oftentimes in slow motion? Well that’s real life too!
Seriously y’all, we started spinning and either my brain started thinking in fast motion or our life really was in slow motion. Either way, my life passed before my eyes, some big decisions were made and cemented in my mind, and 4 prayers were said in my head all before I started screaming.
We were blessed. After three full circles, our car suddenly stopped: mere inches from the center divider. I thought for sure I was about to become a smashed potato! Instead I just lost about ten pounds in ten seconds (and may have forgot thirty years of being potty trained in that ten seconds as well).
And that dear reader is the story of how I almost became a Juli Smashed Potato but instead went on vacation. The End.
Tips for your Smashed Potatoes
A couple tips for your smashed potatoes:
- Switch out the herbs you’re cooking with! You can change these up with every dish to match whatever you may be eating.
- If trying to cut back on calories or oil consumption or whatever: These smashed potatoes taste fantastic before crisping them in the oil, so that step is not necessary.
Recipe for Garlic Smashed Potatoes:
Save RecipeIngredients
- 3 pounds Small golden or Marble Potatoes
- Canola Oil
- Dash of Red Pepper Flakes
- 6 sprigs Fresh Thyme
- 2 small sprigs Rosemary (optional)*
- 3-6 cloves Garlic
- Salt
- 2 TBS Butter
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375F degrees.
- In a large bowl, toss the potatoes and garlic cloves with a little bit of canola oil until lightly coated. Add salt and Thyme and toss around a bit more.
- Spread the potatoes into an ovenproof pan or cookie sheet.
- *Add Rosemary Sprigs if you want them.
- Roast in uncovered in oven for 25 to 35 minutes, or until completely tender when poked with a fork.
- Allow the potatoes to cool enough to handle.
- Using a fork or the flat side of knife, lightly smash each potato. You just want their sides to split but the potato to stay whole.
- Heat about 1 TBS Canola oil and 2 TBS butter in a frying pan with dash of red pepper flakes over med-high-high heat.
- Add the Potatoes and sauté, flipping partway through to brown both sides.
- Sprinkle with salt to taste.
- Serve immediately.
- Enjoy!
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