Sunday, May 9, 2010

It's In The Bag..Perfect Potatoes In 45 minutes..No, Really!


As most food bloggers, I'm always searching for the glamour shot. Not for myself mind you, that coal barge sailed a long time ago. I'm looking for sexy food. I'm looking for the glimmer on a tomato, the flash of a fishes' scales, the beady dew drop on some innocent vegetable. You know who I'm talking about, Gorgeous. I'm looking for my prize potato. I think I found it last night.
I threw a going away dinner for two good friends last night. They're off to visit family and in-laws in Japan in a couple of days. One of them has cast a lot of my (and everyone elses) favorite movies, so I wanted the food to be picture perfect.
I must confess I experiment on this guy and his wife a lot with Indian food, but I decided to do a dinner that involved a lot less chopping last night. I decided to go Tuscan.
  I'm going to be posting the various dishes in the next few days but I thought I'd start off with these little baby roast potatoes.
    This is fast, easy, and I was able to do it on our Weber gas grill while everything else was in and on the stove.
  Here's how it goes.
   Get 24 little potatoes, white, red, yellow. Yukon or fingerlings, it doesn't matter just so long as they're small. Petitness is the operative word here.
  Wash and dry the potatoes. When they are dry, wrap them in parchment paper making a loose bag or sack. Don't wrap them too tightly, just make sure the paper is sealed so they roast properly. You can also use tin foil but the parchment paper makes a prettier presentation.
 Before sealing them in the bag, dot them with about 4 Tbs of unsalted butter
1 Tbs of finely chopped rosemary
1 Tbs of finely chopped thyme
 A scattering of sea salt to taste
 A grind of pepper.
 Pop the parchment paper sack  on a cookie sheet and place it in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. That's it. Honest. Really.
  Don't open the sack until it's been brought to the table. Then go all dramatic, peel back the layers for an aromatic glistening surprise. Roll the potatoes a bit in the herbs and juices and they'll take on a lovely russet color.

 I love doing potatoes this way, for one thing they're out of the way once they're tucked in their little parchment package. Secondly, anything that makes this dramatic an entrance on the table is always welcome around here.

12 comments :

  1. I love this idea! I will have to try it next weekend when we grill out.

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  2. This sounds new and interesting, have to try this out soon.

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  3. i tried something similar, on sunday, but i halved it, it is a great pleasure to have potatoes like this...

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  4. OMG... that looks awesome. I can see myself eating a bag.

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  5. @jeroxie,
    you are so right these little beauties are truly addictive!

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  6. The bag of potatoes is really really dramatic.....i am going to make it for sure for the drama associated with it...i make similar flavors but this is something very special.

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  7. I love everything about this including the coal train. I'm making these little beauties tonight.

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  8. Yay! No fuss potatoes. Gotta love this, especially for the summer.

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  9. These look simple and delicious. I have to try this. I think a few of this would be good for me before I go for sports. Thanks for sharing, Kathy.

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  10. Witha salad and dinner's done. These look great.

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  11. These potatoes look delicious! Plus, any food, particularly delicious food, served with a side of drama is always fun :)

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  12. Thanks for this post about perfect potatoes in 45 minutes. They sound (and look!) wonderful.

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