Thanksgiving Idea #4: Potatoes!

Roasted Potatoes (double-method)

Take some baby Yukon golds, cut into quarters/eighths/halves, whatever size you desire. Put to the side for now.

Pre-heat your oven (or counter top toaster oven, depending on the quantity of potatoes you'll be preparing) to a scorching 400 degrees. While that heats up...

Grab a nice 12 - 14" skillet, get it heated up to medium-high/high, drizzle in some olive oil, and toss in those waiting potatoes you cut up earlier. Shake in some salt and some black pepper (or your seasonings of choice) and start to toss the skillet, looking to coat each potato piece with that hot oil and seasonings.

Once they hit a nice skillet-brown color, grab one and test it for texture. It should be mildly raw, almost done and soft. Remove from heat, pour skillet onto cookie sheet (non-stick, if you please, but you can always use a raised rack or parchment paper to line the pan with), and throw potatoes into that waiting 400 degree oven. Let them roast for about 10 - 15 minutes or so, keeping an eye on them. Times will vary, so be attentive.

Using this double-method, your potatoes will start off being a bit oily from the skillet, but will dry up some in that hot oven, giving them a unique texture and quasi-crunch.

Roasted Potatoes (single-method)

So simple.

Cut up your baby Yukon golds, put them into a large enough bowl to fit them all, and spray them down with organic canola spray in a can. Then add your salt/pepper/granulated garlic/etc., and toss them to get them happy and glistening.

Pour them out onto a cookie sheet, as in above method, and roast them off at 400 degrees, paying attention to their doneness with regular peeks through the oven glass. I have found that by using a canola spray, the potatoes actually have a lighter feel to them, almost delicate.

When all done, put onto shallow oval platter with a slotted spoon to serve.

Smashed Potatoes

I try not to make proper mashed potatoes, whipped and creamy and smooth, for Thanksgiving, and instead opt for a more rustic/primitive "smashed potato" recipe.

Get some Yukon gold potatoes, perfect for this recipe, and give them a proper washing under cold water, using a scrub pad to remove surface and microscopic dirt from potatoes. Then grab a stock pot and fill it 3/4 of the way with cold water, putting it onto your stove top without turning on any heat. Just get the stock pot ready with water for now, and add a good amount of salt to it.

Now that your taters are cleaned, go ahead and peel them roughly, peeling them about 3/4 of the way, leaving some peel on the potatoes. Do not try to peel them fully. We want some potato skin remaining for this recipe. Cut them into quarters so they will cook through evenly when we go to boil them.

Put quarterd potatoe pieces into waiting pot of salted water, turn on heat to HIGH, and wait. Just wait. Wait for the water to hit a rapid boil, so the potatoes are spinning and turning in the boiling water. Let them boil for a good 20 minutes, testing them often for their doneness. You want them soft enough to literally goo into paste just by squeezing them with your fingers. Or fork.

When potatoes are ready, turn pot into colander, shock the taters quickly with cold tap water (but do not cool them down fully...you want them hot but a manageable hot), and put them back into pot you just boiled them in.

Now to these taters, add some unsalted organic butter, about 1/2 of a stick, cutting it into smallish cubes. Then add some salt to taste. Then some black pepper, but not a lot! Just enough to put some black specks here and there. Pour in some milk, eyeballing it, as I have no exact measurement to offer. Add some granulated garlic for aroma. And then, using a fork, start to smash that potato mixture, holding the pot on an angle and using the sides of the pot as your backing to give the fork some resistance. When this mix becomes slightly creamy, go ahead and grab a spatula and fold it over and over onto itself. Taste it and adjust your seasonings or butter or milk as needed. You want it to be primitively smashed and not smooth and creamy. Keep it rustic. You'll see those peels and the black flecks of pepper, and the garlic will add a certain hunger-promoting aroma that will make your mouth water. Put this all into a serving bowl and get ready to chow down.

Some unique add-ins: chopped up parsley, onion powder, scorched corn kernels, and peas. Have fun and be creative. You have to eat this, I don't. :)

Adventurous Roasted/Smashed Potatoes

Now this recipe is one I made up because I needed to come up with something unique. I think you'll like it.

Basically you will roast off some baby Yukon gold potatoes according to the above recipes. No problem. However, where this recipe deviates is that when you have roasted the potatoes to your liking, take them and smash them in a large bowl, adding butter, heavy cream, chopped-up green onions, some mayo, and some deli mustard.

When you are done you have just created a warm potato salad hybrid. Congrats. :)

NOTE: Bacon goes great with that last recipe. Just sayin'.