Buttery Spudlets!

The following post first appeared over at Southside Kitchen Collective, a collaborative (and fairly sporadic) project on families and food that I ran for a little while. As we prepare for our move away from Southside Virginia, I’ve imported a few SKC posts into Coffee in the Woodshed — the more personal ones I wrote, about our experiences cooking and eating with our young son. I think they belong here as well.

Doesn’t that sound like something quaint to say when you’ve knocked over a bag of flour or grazed your knuckle because you were daydreaming about pie instead of paying attention to the cheese grater?

But for real: this is just some easy delicious food, and you should make some.

I suppose they look rather unassuming up there, piled on the plate next to a green salad. The list of ingredients is equally humble: potatoes, butter, salt, pepper, herbs-if-you-have-them-but-don’t-let-not-having-them-stop-you-from-making-these-for-dinner-tonight.

Don’t be fooled: underneath their plain Jane exterior, these potatoes are very exciting indeed. We’ve been making them for years, and we think the trick is in the dual cooking method: you start them in some sizzling butter on the stovetop and then slide them into the oven for a spell, where the skins get gorgeously browned and the insides go all light and fluffy and perfect. It’s really something.

Buttery Spudlets
adapted only slightly from The Passionate Vegetarian by Crescent Dragonwagon

A few quick notes … the original recipe calls for tiny new potatoes, and while the pictures in this post might look like new potatoes, in truth they are it’s-the-very-end-of-the-farm-season-and-this-is-what-we-could-scrape-up-from-the-bottom-of-the-potato-bin potatoes. But you can use plain old baking potatoes as well; just cut them into rough 1-inch chunks. This is what we usually do and I think we even prefer them that way! You can also substitute sweet potatoes for some of the regular potatoes – delicious. These potatoes seem to be the perfect side dish to just about everything. But they are also divine on their own with a fried egg on top and that is a perfectly respectable supper. We’re just sayin’.

2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 lbs or so potatoes cut into 1-inch chunks (or small new potatoes)
1 teaspoon fresh herbs, chopped fine, if you have them (rosemary is really really good, and thyme is nice too)
salt and black pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Melt the butter in an oven-safe skillet (you’ll need a lid too in a sec) over medium heat. Add the potatoes and cook for about 5 minutes, shaking the skillet once or twice.

Cover the skillet and slide it into the oven. Bake for 20 minutes.

Carefully remove the lid. Add the salt and pepper and herbs if you’re using them. Shake the skillet to mix everything up. Cook uncovered for 15 more minutes, giving the skillet a good shake every 5 minutes.

Eat up!

3 thoughts on “Buttery Spudlets!

  1. Renee

    Hi! I just found your blog from beauythatmoves blog and had to come check it out. I also noticed you talk about the farm in Virginia…. I’m in Roanoke! It’s a small world. 🙂 I really enjoy your blo (keybor not workin….. 🙁 )
    Renee

    Reply
    1. Lisa

      Hi Renee! So happy to hear from you. Roanoke is less than two hours from us and so I’m embarrassed to admit we haven’t visited yet since moving here three years ago.

      Reply
      1. Renee

        Well,at lest my keyboard is working now. 🙂 We’ve only been to Lynchburg once and Blacksburg twice. We moved here two years ago….. I don’t really like it here at all, but after seeing your photos, maybe I’d be happy on a farm. They do have some beautiful country in Virginia….maybe I just don’t like being so close to people.Who knows. I am really looking forward to more posts from you but at least I have older posts to skim through until then. 🙂 We love cooking from scratch in our house and we have definitely had some failures but my youngest has posted on her blog, two or three of the things she has made from scratch…she has done a lot more but getting her to take photos of it can sometimes be a chore in itself. 😉 Her blog is: http://myblythedollsarepretty.blogspot.com She has a cooking section tab. 🙂 Stop by and say hi….she’s always thrilled to get a comment! 🙂 Thanks for replying and have a great weekend!!

        Reply

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