Smashed Red Potatoes with Parmesan Herb Butter
Last week I had read Kitchen Belleicious’ recipe for Smashed Yukons and I knew I wanted to make something similar with the three red potatoes I had waiting for me to creatively abuse. I am confident that the hardy root vegetable can take it. After all, mashing, smashing, smothering, and frying are all quite “abusive” things to do to a potato! Frying might be a little more abusive to your heart than the potato so I am going for the other terms like smashing and smothering. A little less abusvie on your heart- good for your soul. Here is my own spin on the yukon recipe this weekend…
"It's gettin hot in hurrr..."
Parmesan Herb Butter
Preparing to Smash
Smashed and Smothered
Smashed Red Potato with Parmesan Herb Butter
Ingredients (Serves 2)
- 3-4 red potatoes
- 2 teaspoons butter
- 1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese
- 2 teaspoons dried seasoning mix (Tastefully Simple Spinach Herb Mix)
- or substitute fresh chives, parsley, garlic powder and basil (if you are not fending off a Hurricane!)
Preparation:
Boil potatoes in a pot of water until fork tender. This took ~ 25 minutes for my 3 medium sized reds. While they boil, mix butter, herbs, and Parmesan in a small bowl until well blended. Tip: I used the heat of the boiling potatoes to soften the butter to room temperature, which allowed a little easier blending. Preheat oven to Broil.
When potatoes are fork tender, remove from water and allow to cool slightly. Using a masher, gently press through 1/2 way of each potato. Top with 1 large teaspoon of cheesy herb butter. Broil for ~ 5 minutes.
Being Healthier:
This was a great recipe to make for however many mouths you need to fill. Just add another potato if you need to feed one more, etc.! The potatoes that I chose were good ones for boiling but not all are. Red and yukon are great choices, I probably would not choose a sweet potato because it would be quite mushy post boil. Potatoes are mainly starch but the skins actually boast a good dose of Iron so leave those skins on! Their starch is actually “resistant starch”, which essentially works like fiber to aid in your digestion ( helps keep you full, helps keep things moving in your GI tract). There are also phytochemicals, vitamins, and minerals in the grand ol Potato.
Bites of History:
Did you know that China is now the world’s largest potato producing country? Small potatoes were referred to as Spuds (c 1440) but the origin of the name is really unknown. Potatoes were first planted in Idaho in 1893 and are grown in every province in Canada ( it is Canada’s most important crop). Thank you Wikipedia for your endless source of interesting tidbits.
