Simple Roasted Potatoes: Less is always more

I really do enjoy eating at fancy restaurants.  As a treat, Husband takes me on my birthday and on our anniversary (when we are actually in the same country - 6 out of 8 anniversaries we were not) somewhere really wonderful and deluxe.  I always sit in the restaurant, enjoying the ambiance, enjoying seeing my husband across the table, and enjoy eating without three children asking me to get up and get something that is needed at the table.  I sit and stare at my food, trying to figure out what went into it, trying to decode its ingredients so that perhaps I could make the dish at home in the near future.

The reality is that no dish I have ever eaten in a fancy restaurant has ever been recreated in my home.  I don't have time to cook that way.  I instead really try and focus on good ingredients prepared well so that Son and Daughter enjoy their food and eat it up.  The goal, really, is minimal complaints from Kids between bites of food, and a quiet meal filled with silence of food being consumed. Not that food consumption in my house is ever silent.  But you get the idea.

For Son and Daughter, and for many other kids I've noticed, they don't generally want a lot of frills. They like food that looks like what they know.  They also prefer the simpler seasonings instead of complex flavor profiles.  Although I would like to cook some fancypants food for them (since I enjoy eating it) they actually want me to cook simply, with good ingredients and good clean flavors.

These potatoes are simply a lesson in less is more.  I usually toss them with rosemary or some other herb to give it a depth of flavor, but Son and Daughter love them with the simple toss with olive oil and salt and pepper.  I roast them in the oven for a long while (I've even been known to go pick up kids while this is in the oven) and they come out, crispy, golden and oh-so-good.  They do take a bit of time in the oven, but they just sit there and you don't have to stir them or do anything to them.  Just let them cook. 

Son loves getting a bowl of these and pops them into his mouth, one after the other, with no pauses and just sheer focus on getting them from the bowl into his mouth. 

Simple Roasted Potatoes
Serves 4 (my family completely eats through this amount every single time)

1 lb of red rose potatoes, skin on, washed and scrubbed
3-4 tablespoons of olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375. Cut potatoes into 1 1/2 inch dice.  Toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Pour potatoes onto a cookie sheet, making sure that they are in a single layer.

Bake for 50 minutes to 70 minutes, until potatoes are delicious and golden.  Check seasonings one more time and add more salt and pepper if necessary.  Serve.

Printable recipe

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