Roasted Fingerling Potatoes with Sage - Cathy

I learned to make these simple, delectable roasted potatoes from a friend, Alice Lappé, who is a wonderful cook and one of the most gracious hostesses I know.  I watched her make these at her house and the flavor and crispness of the potatoes and the sage was fabulous.  I have made these many, many times since, always thinking of the many relaxed, wonderful meals we have enjoyed at the Lappé home.  It just occurred to me that this may not be her exact method because I may or may not have been talking and drinking wine, and perhaps not paying as close attention as I would have liked, but this is pretty much the method.  Apologies to Alice if it's not quite right.

We are lucky enough to have Farmer Kevin growing our very own organic potatoes out in the North 40 (actually more like the West).  Even though this past summer our marauding band of deer attacked a bunch of our potato plants (we'd never seen that one before), the plants recovered enough to provide us with a bumper crop of gorgeous, multi-colored fingerling and many other kinds of potatoes.  

The sage is from plants that I started many years ago and that I have to cut back very drastically every year to keep from taking over my entire herb garden.  This is a great way to use up a bunch of those leaves.  It may seem like an awful lot of sage, but it really mellows out tremendously as it roasts, and becomes crispy and so very delicious, so don't be afraid to use a ton. 

This is delicious with any roasted or grilled dinner.  We tend to serve it with our prime rib for Christmas dinner, roasted chicken, grilled salmon, and it would be very wonderful with Caity's Grilled Rib Eye Steak with Crisp Herbs for Valentine's Dinner.   

One year ago: Orange Creamsicle Cookies, Quick Spinach and Tortellini Soup

Two years ago: Balsamic Asparagus with Parmesan, Paprika Shrimp Pasta

what you will need:

Fingerling potatoes, cut into roughly equal sizes if needed

Olive oil, good quality 

Fresh sage leaves, lots!

Kosher salt or a nice flaky salt, like Maldon sea salt

Freshly ground pepper 

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Or so.  Nice and hot.  

In a roasting pan large enough to hold the potatoes in a single layer without crowding, lay out the sage leaves.  On top of that, lay out the potatoes.  

Drizzle generously with olive oil, then sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.   Toss around a bit to coat everything some, then put into the oven.   

Roast for about 30-45 minutes, tossing gently once about halfway through if you want.  Or not.  Not much if you do because you don't want to break up those beautiful crisp sage leaves.  It's done when the potatoes are nicely browned and tender. 

One year ago: Orange Creamsicle Cookies, Quick Spinach and Tortellini Soup

Two years ago: Balsamic Asparagus with Parmesan, Paprika Shrimp Pasta