Rosemary Smashed Potatoes

Our mild winters in North Carolina are very kind to our outdoor rosemary plant. With rosemary on hand year round, we serve a lot of rosemary roasted potatoes at Josmo’s Café to accompany steaks and pork chops.

I was glad to find an interesting variation in the April 25, 2016 issue of People Magazine. This is my slightly adapted version of a recipe created by Pati Jinich author of Mexican Today.

1 ½ pounds baby red potatoes or if larger, cut into 1 ½ inch pieces

¾ cup olive oil plus extra for baking sheet

2 crushed garlic cloves

2 T fresh rosemary – chopped

½ tsp chili powder

1 tsp kosher salt

½ cup Parmesan cheese – finely grated fresh

1. Cook potatoes in salted water about 20 minutes until tender.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
3. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. Drizzle with olive oil until lightly coated.
4. Drain potatoes when done.
5. While potatoes are hot, place them one at a time on the baking sheet. Using the back of a spoon, press down on the potatoes being careful not to break the potato apart.
6. Stir together olive oil, garlic, rosemary chili powder, and salt. Drizzle over potatoes.
7. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese.
8. Bake potatoes until golden and slightly crisp on the bottom about 25-30 minutes.