Alison Roman’s Smashed Potatoes

Here I am, cruisin’ down Rt. 91 on my way home from Easter at my parents – a time for new sundresses and a refreshing spring thaw – and it’s snowing. Again. On April 2nd.

I’m wearing a light rain jacket and white Converse sneakers, because I’m a fool who packed too optimistically. And now I’m on a bus and so I can’t make the breakfast I made for myself the last time it snowed. Life’s so hard, guys.

If you follow the New York Time’s cooking section, you know that they’ve been on a big Alison Roman kick lately. If you look at Instagram at all, you probably know someone who’s made her now internet-famous chocolate chip shortbread hybrid cookies. I mean, you all follow me, right??? So you’ve definitely seen her cookies, right??? Because I made them, and you all follow me. Right?! Not being needy…just checking…

Anyway, Alison Roman came out with a new cookbook, Dining In: Highly Cookable Recipes, in the fall, and people simply adore it. Search #diningincookbook on Instagram and you’ll see. Or, just follow Alison Roman herself (@alisoneroman) and she’ll show you! But, for anyone out there who isn’t as social media savvy as that, she’s also a contributing editor to the New York Times cooking section and you can get a lot of her recipes there.

That’s initially where I saw her recipe for smashed potatoes with onions and parsley, which I’ve now made four times in the past two weeks. They’re, uhhhh, realllllly good.

And! They’re not just for dinner. They’re also for breakfast on slow, snowy mornings. With bacon and fried eggs.

I truly hope nobody has that specific occasion to make this breakfast until next winter, but ya know, I’m sure it’s also just as delicious in the other seasons. Anything will taste delicious when we’re all basking in the sun, in like three months, or whenever winter ends.

Until then, we’ll eat egg drop soup and tomato soup and stewed white beans and we’ll dream of eating beer can chicken and tomato and cucumber crostini and roasted potato salad.

Crispy Smashed Potatoes with Fried Onions and Parsley

By Alison Roman, by way of the NYT

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

1 ½ pounds baby potatoes (I used fingerlings cut into smaller pieces)

⅓ cup chicken fat, bacon fat (which I used), or olive oil

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced into rings

¼ cup roughly chopped parsley

Flakey sea salt, such as Maldon, to finish (optional)

Instructions:

1. Steam (8-10 minutes) or boil (12-15 minutes) potatoes until cooked through and fork tender. You may need to pull smaller potatoes out earlier. You don’t want them to be falling apart. Let them cool almost completely.
2. Using the bottom or a cup or the heel of your hand, smash the potatoes until they’re crushed and the insides are exposed, but you want them to still be intact.
3. Heat the chicken fat, bacon fat, or olive oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet. Add potatoes in a single layer, working in batches if needed, and season with salt and pepper. Cook until crispy and browned, about 5 minutes per side. Removed the potatoes to a serving plate with a slotted spoon or spatula.
4. Add the butter to the skillet. Once the butter is melted and foamy, add the onion rings. Season with salt and pepper. Cook, swirling the pan every so often, until the onions have begun to brown and crisp, about 5 minutes.
5. Pour the onions and any residual cooking fat over the potatoes. Top with a smattering of parsley and flaky sea salt. If appropriate, go hide under a duvet and go to town!