Time for a food post.

I love this woman. LOVE. HER. I want her house, her ranch, her husband (OH. EMM. GEE. I didn't know they made 'em so handsome), and - holy crap - her love story (minus the excessive sweat and weird skin breakout on her wedding day).

I also want every single one of her recipes, and lucky for me, she wants the whole world to have her recipes too.

That's how I came about the following recipe which has quickly become one of my favorite things to make for lunch. It's cheap, it's simple, it's super tasty and I could eat it every day. Sometimes I do. And best of all, it's a single-serving-friendly recipe, which is great for all the lonely souls like me out there! Hooray!

First, let's start with a potato:
Boil the potato in lightly-salted water 'until its "fork-tender" as the recipe says, but I'm gonna give you a little tip that I learned the hard way - it takes a LONG ASS TIME for a potato to boil to "fork-tender" point. Yeah. Did not know that. The first time I tried this recipe, I took the potato out after 15 minutes or so, tried smashing it with a glass (one of the next steps), and instead of gently collapsing underneath the pressure, it went flying across the room and hit the adjacent wall. Turns out it takes more along the lines of a half hour (at the very least) to get the potato soft enough. Who knew?

Next, while the potato is boiling, pour some olive oil onto a cookie sheet. Don't skimp on this step, lest the potato be forever stuck (and it will). And since this step doesn't take as long as it takes the potato to boil, spend the remaining 29 minutes and 55 seconds checking e-mail, spending time with your loved ones, curing the common cold...whatever you feel like. Make this recipe your own.

8 days later, after the potato has finally softened an adequate amount from all the boiling, place it on the cookie sheet and smash it with a potato masher. Or if you're a backwoods hillbilly like me who does not possess such a totally commonplace and necessary kitchen utensil such as the potato masher, the bottom of a glass seems to work just fine.

And now it looks like this.


Next, use a pastry brush to generously spread some more olive oil on the top.

Next, sprinkle some Kosher Salt on top. Not regular salt. Kosher salt. This is very important because I it is important that food be as ethnically and religiously as diverse as possible. Like our President. Also, because there is a difference in taste. TRUST ME. Do not, oh foolish mortal, use the unclean salt on thine here taters. (Well, that was a mish mosh of grammatical personalities, wasn't it?)


And don't skimp on the salt either. It really makes or breaks the potato.


Now, Ree's recipe calls for just salt and fresh ground pepper as far as I can remember, which I DID use, but whenever I see the words, "season with salt and pepper," my brain takes that as, "season to taste," and I throw whatever the hell else I feel like on it. Here I'm sprinkling some Oregano. By the way, shaking your one hand vigorously apparently causes your entire body to shake as well, as seen by the blurriness of the photo.

(Just checked the original recipe and I see that Ree also uses fresh chives. Not something I typically carry in the house, which is why I make up my own substitute. I'll have to try the chives thing sometime though, and I'll let you know how it goes)


Now, this particular time, I also used some sort of creole seasoning. I know - creole and oregano? REALLY, Natalie? But that's just how I am - I am a LOOSE CANON when it comes to herbs and spices. Take it or leave it. Normally for this recipe, I use some sort of steak seasoning that we have laying around, but the creole seasoning was just a culinary whim I decided to go with, and while it was still tasty, I do prefer it my "usual" way.

Next, bake on the top rack of a super-hot 450-degree oven for 20-25 minutes. Make the edges black and crispy because therein lies the flavor. Observe:

Oh yeah.


Now, Ree leaves it here. And I'm sure they're perfectly delectable just as is. But when have I EVER shied away from the option to use cheese and sour cream? NEVER. Never, ever, EVER.

Which is why my version always looks like this:


And there you have it. Great as a side, or if you eat like a bird (as I do), it's filling enough for a whole meal. Try it. Taste it. Love it.

The end.