Better than Plain Roasted Potatoes

   Roasted Potatoes. What's not to love, right? They're the perfect side dish and they go with anything and everything. So lets talk about 'em for a quick sec, want to?
  At the very base, roasted potatoes are just that.... potatoes that are often peeled and diced, seasoned, tossed with a little oil, and roasted in the oven. Fabulous. Can't go wrong. But there are a couple things I like to do to make them a little easier, and definitely better than plain.
 For one thing, I like to use baby potatoes. Red, gold, any color you like. The point is that they're small, they require minimum prep, and the skins are tender so they don't need to be peeled. All you need to do is cut them in half and they're good to go.
Now lets talk about seasoning. You can't go wrong with just your basic salt and pepper. But the thing about this one is that you need more salt and pepper than you think you do. My friends always rave about my potatoes, why? Because I aggressively season them! It really does make the world of difference. You can use other seasonings too.. Old Bay is a personal fave.. or you could even do curry or cumin, depending on which direction you'd like to go. Love it. You could even use herbs to flavor your potatoes. Just be sure to use herbs that can hold up to the roasting. Thyme and rosemary would be fabulous. I'm a HUGE fan of rosemary roasted potatoes with a nice roast beast. Yum.
Next... the other thing that I feel is a MUST with roasting potatoes is the addition of onions. Potatoes and onions are a match made in culinary heaven. Even when I'm out at a diner and ordering a fabulous breakfast, I always ask them to add onions to my home fries. The same applies here. Yes, you could just peel and chop up an onion and toss it with the potatoes or do the favorite Onion Soup Mix potatoes. YUM. But this time, I made it easy and just chopped up some scallions. No onion-peeling necessary, and you still get delicious onion flavor and the bonus of a nice pop of green. Easy!
 The only thing left to talk about is fat. You need some kind of fat to coat them for roasting. Usually, I just go with your basic vegetable oil. It's simple and does the job. Sometimes, if I happen to have some saved bacon fat, I'll use that (which is FABULOUS btw). You could also use olive oil, but that's a little more expensive. The one thing you don't want to use is butter. Why not? Usually you think of butter on potatoes.. perfect, right? Wrong! If you toss your potatoes in melted butter and then roast them, you run the risk of burning the milk solids that are in the butter. I suppose you could use clarified butter to eliminate that risk, but that adds more work. I'll just stick with vegetable oil, thank you very much. If you want buttery flavor, you can always toss the already-roasted potatoes with a little butter just before serving.
 So there we have it. Everything you need to know about roasted potatoes. Make a ton for dinner, and then serve the leftovers at breakfast the next day. SO good. You really can't go wrong!

 Even though I never really think about this as a recipe... this is how I do it..

2-3 lbs baby potatoes, rinsed, dried, halved or quartered
3 or 4 large scallions, sliced
kosher salt and black pepper, or other seasonings, if desired
vegetable oil or rendered bacon fat to coat

Heat oven to 400ºF.
Place all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Toss until well coated.
Pour all onto a parchment lined baking sheet and spread into one even layer.
Roast in oven for 45 minutes until fork tender. Garnish with fresh chopped scallions.


Tips:
One of the great things about this is that you can cook these potatoes while you have something else in the oven, even though it may be at a different temperature. If you're roasting a chicken or a roast beast, you could place the potatoes in the same pan, and then baste them with the juices, or just roast them as directed on a lower rack in the oven. The lower temperature will just mean that the potatoes might take a little longer.
When you arrange them on your baking sheet, be sure to spread them out into one even layer. It really helps everything too cook evenly and aids in roasting instead of steaming. Also, arrange them so they're cut side down for best results. Also, I like to turn them about half way through the cooking. I just use a flat edged spatula to flip them over, like you're turning over a pancake. Helps to brown everything evenly, and also makes sure the potatoes aren't stuck to the pan!