Smashed Potatoes with Pesto

I've been traveling a good amount and spent 5 days in Portland recently, followed by a crippling sickness so I'm finally getting back into the swing of cooking again. My good friend Chris was coming over for dinner, and I was planning on making salmon, broccolini and quinoa (a meal I eat about 2 times a week myself) but I wanted to switch it up a bit.  I went to Trader Joe's yesterday and passed by the potato section which I usually skip over. But for some reason, the fingerling potatoes were calling my name. My mom used to make them when I was younger and I knew I could come up with a more interesting way to eat them other than boiling them.

I've always wanted to make these crispy puppies and now I can say that I have. They are SO easy, so satisfying and perfect for a small side when you want some starch. They could also be a great starter or appetizer if you're having other sides with your main. I find it really hard to crisp up potatoes over the stove, so I think one of the secrets to these is to have patience.

I also love that you can incorporate these into breakfast, lunch, or dinner. If I were to be using these for breakfast, I'd probably chop them up and turn it into a hash. Nummers! For this recipe, I decided to just add a dollop of pesto on each piece and then we ended up just smothering our salmon and potatoes in it. I like the Basil Pesto Genovese from Trader Joe's but of course, I'd prefer to have a homemade arugula pesto, so I'll do that next time.

Ingredients:

10 to 15 fingerling potatoes
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 tablespoons pesto

Directions:

1. Place the potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with at least an inch of salted water.  Bring the water to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook the potatoes until they are completely tender and can easily be pierced with a fork. The cooking should take roughly 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 450.

2. Drain and place the potatoes on a cutting board. With a paper towel, individually smash each potato with your palm. It will make a very satisfying crunch - but make sure to not smash it so hard that it falls apart. You'll want it flattened to a thickness of roughly 1/2 inch.

3. Place potatoes on a baking dish and drizzle with olive oil and salt. Bake for 30 minutes, flipping potatoes at the 15 minute mark to bake both sides until golden brown.

4. When potatoes are done, dollop a 1/2 teaspoon of pesto on each piece. Enjoyyyy!