Oven Roasted Potatoes

Since initially posting this recipe for roasted tri color potatoes, I've found myself making them on an almost weekly basis. They're simple, inexpensive, and satisfying. To make things more interesting, I've tried a few variations - some were successful, others not. I'll start with the misses, then give you the hits.

MISS: soaking the potatoes in beer.

 This ended up being a waste of good beer, as neither Nick nor I thought it added any extra flavor. I also didn't notice any difference in texture.

MISS: infusing the oil with garlic

I tried this after seeing the idea in a cook book.  While the potatoes soaked in cold water, I put the oil in a skillet over low-medium heat and added two cloves of garlic, thinly sliced.  I let it heat until the garlic sizzled and turned golden, then strained out the garlic and just added the oil to the potatoes before cooking.  I didn't think it made much difference in the final taste - the garlic was weak at best.  I was hoping for something much stronger.

A note about this technique: it's necessary to infuse the oil with garlic, rather than adding garlic to the potatoes and then roasting, because garlic burns so easily.  If I minced garlic cloves and cooked them with the potatoes, the potatoes would just taste like burnt garlic, in all probability (full disclosure: I haven't tried this, mostly because I'm so sure the result would be inedible).

HIT: Spice rub

I used this moroccan mint spice rub on the potatoes, and it was delicious. I just stirred the spice rub in with the oil before tossing the potatoes with the oil.  I think a lot of other spice rubs would work too - just keep an eye out for things that burn easily, like garlic.

HIT: different shapes

You can cut the potatoes into more traditional "french fry" shapes if you like - it works just as well.  Just keep an eye out for the thickness; you need uniform thickness for even cooking.  We ate these with elk burgers topped with Roquefort cheese - amazing.


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