Smashed and Roasted

I’m sharing my obsession with two different vegetable preparations – Crispy Smashed Potatoes and Roasted Kale Chips. I’ve hesitated to post them because in my commitment to give you a main dish recipe, I hate to take a weekly post with a side dish. The other reason is that cauliflower is supposed to be this year’s vegetable darling.  So although I like to stay ahead of the food trends I am thinking of your best interest in good eating, too.

If you haven’t made kale chips, it’s time. They taste good and they’re a different way to serve a vegetable.  And doesn’t everybody like something crunchy and a little salty? And they’re healthy. I’m repeating myself here, but for any of you not aware of this kale is rated as one of the top vegetables in terms of nutritional nutrients. What’s not to love about that?

To make the kale preparation easier I have posted multiple photos so you can get a visual of how to roast them. I use the flat leaf style “Tuscan” kale that is also referred to as “Lacinato”, “Black leaf” or “Dinosaur” kale because I like how the leaves are a little tender and I think the flavor is a little less bitter. You can also use the curly leaf kale that is more readily available at almost all grocery stores. The three most important things to remember are to remove the center rib from each leaf, dry the leaves after washing and to make sure the olive oil is rubbed lightly into the leaves before roasting. The seasoning is up to you. You can sprinkle on soy sauce, seasoning salt, sesame seeds or any other seasoning that sounds good to you.

Tuscan Kale Leaves

 

Small Red Potatoes

Now onto the potatoes… I have to admit I am in love with these Smashed Potatoes. I had them for the first time when my husband ordered them in a restaurant while we were on vacation and I was hooked. The combination of their creamy, light texture smashed to a thickness that takes on the flavor of the olive oil, the crispness from frying and the caramelizing from roasting is just too good. They smell like French fries when they are cooking, even though you are not using buckets of oil to fry them.

And relatively speaking this preparation is healthy, especially when compared to so many other potato dishes like mashed potatoes, gratin potatoes or even baked potatoes that most of us load up with butter and sour cream to make more enticing. These don’t need anything except the salt, pepper and olive oil because they rely on the natural flavor of the potato. So be sure to pick your potatoes wisely. I like to choose the smaller ones and organic if you can find them.

After you have tried them as a side dish for grilled chicken or a steak or something like that, try them as an amazing little appetizer. After you have roasted them, sprinkle on grated cheese, bacon, sour cream or minced green onions. Or drizzle on a vinaigrette dressing or pesto. Or whatever you like to eat with potatoes and line them up on a platter and watch them disappear.