About this Recipe

This was one of the hardest recipes to choose a great ‘beauty’ shot of. If you scroll down you will see why. They ALL look delicious. But really, what potato recipe doesn’t look tasty? This one has some extra points though with the texture being similar to a mixture of a mashed and baked potato, the flavor just oozing with butter and garlic and the smell that is created in the house is nothing short of perfection. The potato recipe can be made with any kind of potatoes and can be served with just about any dish. You can take big fat potatoes and just make a couple, or a bunch of baby potatoes and make a whole army of these bite sized potato miracles.

Miracle too big of a word for you? Not in our kitchen. We learned long ago that one of the greatest gifts in life is delicious food and people to share it with. Oh - and the art of savoring your meals. Making every bite count. Making every drop of flavor and texture be the most interesting thing in the world as you are eating is not only a key to portion control, but also a sneaky key for life. We like to practice the art of mindful and appreciative eating at the dinner table where are there are so many old habits of rushing through, not even tasting our food, feeling the sensations of our tastebuds and bellies rather than watching TV while we eat. This yummy potato recipe is an easy place to start practicing appreciation and mindfulness because it is just simply that good!

Grandmother's Kitchen Tips for Smashed Potatoes:

1. Cook your potatoes just long enough that if you pierce them with a knife it will easily go in, but if you overcook they will break apart and not be usable for this recipe.

2. Lining with parchment paper makes for easy clean up after the recipe.

3. Did you know you can re-use parchment paper? Just give it a wash by hand, let dry and re-use.

4. Don't over smash the potato before baking, you want to keep the potato still looking like a potato.

5. A pastry brush is a great tool for spreading your butter before baking.

It’s never pleasant to find mold on your food, especially when you’re right about to use it to make a recipe. Potatoes can be especially prone to growing mold since you may store them outside of the fridge, in a dark cabinet or in the pantry out of sight. So you may not notice mold growing on them until it’s too late. While certain molds like mold growing on cheese are okay to slice off and then use the rest of the cheese, mold growing on other food has mycotoxins that can be harmful for your health. So sadly, it’s best just to throw away any food that has mold growing on it. To prevent mold from growing, use any food before it has the chance to grow mold, so within 3 to 5 days of buying it. Or store it in the fridge.

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Ingredients

(Print)

Makes: 8 servings

8 potatoes - we used Albert Bartlett rooster baby red potatoes

2-4 garlic cloves - we used 2 cloves Russian red as they are very large

3 Tablespoons butter melted

salt and pepper to taste, we used about 1/2 teaspoon of each

olive oil to grease the parchment paper

chopped parsley to garnish - optional but adds extra flavor and looks so good!

Directions

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and grease the paper with a little olive oil.

2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Place the potatoes into the boiling water and set the timer for 20 minutes or until tender. Don't cook to the point where they fall apart. Cook long enough that when you pierce them with a knife it will easily go in. If you overcook, the potatoes will break apart and not be usable for this recipe. When potatoes are ready remove from the boiling pot and set onto a plate so they can cool down. Set aside.

3. Melt the butter and set aside.

4. Put the garlic through a garlic press then stir into the melted butter with a whisk.

5. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

6. Place the boiled potatoes onto the prepared baking sheet and gently smash them with a potato masher. Don't over smash, you want to keep the potato still looking like a potato.

7. Once you have smashed all the potatoes, use a pastry brush and spoon to put the smashed garlic on top of each potato along with the melted butter. Reserve just a tiny bit of the butter for the end. Be sure to get all the smashed garlic spooned onto the potatoes as it tastes so wonderful when it is roasted.

8. Place into the preheated oven and bake 20-25 minutes until or until you see some nice light browning on the potatoes. Remove from oven when ready and use the pastry brush to glaze the remaining butter onto the potatoes.

9. Sprinkle on the fresh chopped parsley and serve.

These potatoes are going to be a 'smashing' hit!

ENJOY!

Return to this Crispy Garlic Smashed Potatoes recipe or check out more recipes at Grandmother's Kitchen

These potatoes are one of the different ways to cook potatoes instead of boiling and mashing them the regular way. There are all sorts of different types of potato dishes, but many of them like potatoes gratin or scalloped potatoes tend to take a bit longer to make.

Even mashed potato recipes can take a bit longer to make because you have to peel, boil and then mash the potatoes until they are creamy and smooth. These smashed potatoes will have all of the flavours of mashed potatoes, but they don't take quite as long to make. Plus, they also have a bit of crispiness to them as well which adds to the flavour and texture.

The other nice thing about this potato recipe is that unlike other types of potato dishes, you leave the skin on for this potato recipe. That means that you're going to have a different texture to the finished potatoes, but it also means that you're going to get more of the potato nutrients as well because there are actually a lot of nutrients in the potato peel. The flesh of the potato also contains vital nutrients as well which makes eating the whole potato even better for you.

When you're making these potatoes you'll want to use smaller potatoes since they're easier to smash once they've been cooked long enough. You can use baby potatoes or just some smaller red potatoes that are about the size of a golf ball.

After you’re finished making your recipes, it’s important to do a good thorough clean of your entire work surface including your kitchen countertops. To learn how to clean kitchen countertops all you need is some natural kitchen cleaners like vinegar mixed in water or your favorite natural kitchen cleaner and a clean cloth.

This is how to clean kitchen countertops the easiest and most efficient way. Remove everything from the countertop and spray it well with kitchen cleaner. Then take your cloth and wipe down the counter well drying it as best as you can. Do this after every time you prepare food and your kitchen will stay cleaner than ever.