Hello, potato lovers! Serve these delicious rosemary smashed potatoes for an easy Sunday lunch. Creamy and fluffy on the inside, crispy on the outside, coated in olive oil along with sweet roasted garlic and rosemary, they are a wonderful crowd-pleaser.
Each time, I make a super simple recipe, I have doubts either to publish it or not. However, even though this dish almost doesn’t need a recipe (in other words, I am almost embarrassed at how easy it is), I decided to share it with you. The epic potato has never and will never disappoint! And so it is with rosemary smashed potatoes as well.
Baked, mashed, fried or boiled potatoes, you name it. They all make a wonderful meal. Having said that, rosemary smashed potatoes are a great alternative to all of those and at the same time, they are all of those together. Wink. True. They are boiled, baked, smashed and roasted again to the crispy perfection. This is an ideal and easy yet fancy dish to serve for dinner or lunch to your family and friends.
These rosemary smashed potatoes are a great addition to meat, poultry, fish or salads. Of course, they can be a wonderful meal just like that; maybe with a lovely dip on a side (such as aioli or a tasty avocado mayonnaise).
But, if you are looking for something to serve the potatoes to, check out this classic meatloaf, the wonderful and simple radicchio salad, the delicious beef aubergine goulash or the simple beef asparagus rolls.
Choose a starchy potato
But which potato to choose? There are so many types nowadays, which is confusing when staring at 10 different potatoes. Wink. However, for this recipe, the best potatoes are the ones with high-starch content. In fact, they are great for baking, mashing and frying. Just perfect for our potato recipe. Therefore, I would suggest choosing potatoes like Yukon gold, Russet or Idaho or any other starchy potato.
Additionally, when picking them, try to buy them more or less of the same size. As a result, they will all be cooked at the same time, without any need of cutting them in half.
Cook, shake, bake
Moreover, cooking the potatoes before baking them is important, because it makes their inside get really fluffy. Therefore, first cook and then bake.
Another important step, which shouldn’t be skipped, is shaking the potatoes while still in the pan or colander, in order to get rid of the smooth edges. Consequently, more surface is exposed in the oven and you’ll get a more crispy crust. Yummy!
I used rosemary to give the aromatic flavour to the potatoes. However, you can swap it with thyme or sage as well. I love rosemary, either fresh or roasted. In fact, when roasted, it gets really crispy and a bit darker yet it still keeps all of the flavour.
When it comes to roasting garlic, I like to either roast whole single cloves or to cut the whole bulb in half. But, always keep the skin as this will protect the garlic from the direct heat. It will also hold the oil you’ll drizzle over it and at the same time, it will make it easier to pop it out at the end. I love roasted garlic. You might also check out this stunning stuffed roasted chicken or these pork chops with sweet peaches, which go great with sweet roasted garlic.
This recipe serves either two portions as a main dish or 4-6 portions as a side dish.
Ingredients for rosemary smashed potatoes:
- 600 g starchy potatoes (peeled)
- olive oil
- 4 small chunks of butter (optional)
- 1 garlic bulb (whole cloves or the bulb cut crosswise)
- 4 rosemary stems
- salt and pepper
Start with peeling and washing the potatoes. Then, put all of them in a pot, cover with cold water and put to boil for 12 minutes. After that, drain them, either using a colander or simply holding a lid to the pot.
Let them steam dry for a couple of minutes. As a result, they will absorb the oil and develop a lovely crispy skin during baking. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 190º C and drizzle a baking dish with some olive oil. Also, make sure the baking dish is large enough to keep all the potatoes in one single layer. Additionally, if you are not vegan and you love butter (like I do), add also a couple of small chunks of butter to the baking dish.
Shake and smash the potatoes
Furthermore, gently shake the pan or colander with the potatoes in it. As a result, the potatoes will get a little smashed around the edges and consequently, they will get crispier when baked. Transfer the potatoes into the baking dish, spreading them around in one single layer.
Then, add the garlic cloves (with skin on) or the whole garlic bulb cut in half (crosswise, cut side up) to the potatoes, drizzle it with some olive oil, sprinkle some sea salt and pepper over the potatoes and put to bake for 40 minutes. After that, take the baking dish out of the oven and carefully, using a potato masher or something flat, smash the potatoes, so that they fill up space between them.
Last but not least, add the aromatic rosemary “leaves”. Simply hold the top of the stem with one hand and with the other hand pull down and remove all of the leaves. Put the baking dish back in the oven for another 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and crispy.
Finally, the moment to serve the superb rosemary smashed potatoes has arrived. You can serve them directly in the baking dish or by dividing them onto plates. They make a wonderful main dish, especially for potato lovers. However, you can serve them along with meat and salads, too.
Enjoy!
PS
If you like the recipe, if you make the recipe or if you have any new ideas how to improve or change it, let me know in the comments section below or alternatively share your photos and reactions with me on Instagram (@Passionspoon), Facebook or Twitter (@PassionSpoon1). Simply use the hashtag #passionspoonrecipes in your posts. I would love to see them! (wink)
