Roasted Fingerling Potatoes with Garlic and Thyme

Just a few weeks ago, Mark and I decided to celebrate Valentine's Day at home. I had parent/teacher conferences that evening, so we were going to have a late dinner. We had already settled on steaks, I just needed a good, easy potato dish to go with it. And quick. As I perused the produce department, I discovered a bag of fingerling potatoes. I don't know that I have ever eaten them but I have seen them on menus at restaurants. Even better, there was a recipe on the back of the bag. Perfect! Quick and easy.

Somehow I didn't realize that this would be such a colorful bag of potatoes. I was a bit surprised when I started washing the potatoes, especially on the purple ones. And the green ones...since I tend to be leery of green potatoes.

Having made them twice now, I can say they will be in our regular rotation. They are fun to look at and yummy to eat. And they cook quickly. I am all for quick.

This is the recipe I used (straight from the bag) with a few of my sidenotes...

Roasted Fingerling Potatoes with Garlic and Thyme
1 1/2 pounds Fingerling Potatoes (the brand I used was Melissa's) It says cut into bite size pieces, but honestly, they are so little (making them hard to scrub) that I didn't cut them at all.

2 Tbsp olive oil (it calls for extra virgin, I just used the olive oil I had)

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper (this was new for us...we have always used plain black pepper. There is something very chef-like though of grounding my own with the help of the dispenser of course :)

18 cloves of garlic, chopped. Okay, 18 seems excessive to me. And I am a garlic fan. I just used the cloves from one head, clove, bulb of garlic...whatever you want to call it. I thought that was plenty.

6 sprigs of fresh thyme, minced- The first time I made them, I found a package of a "single serving" of thyme. This time I couldn't find it, so I just sprinkled dried thyme on it. I prefer the fresh. I just don't want to buy a whole big bunch of it.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Combine all of the ingredients in a baking dish and mix well.

Bake (uncovered) for about 10-15 minutes or until potatoes are browned and tender. Stir once or twice during cooking.

I actually cooked them for closer to 30 minutes to make sure they were all tender. Some colors cook faster than others.

Enjoy.

My kids were skeptical about the colors but they ended up liking them (all except the one die hard anti potato eater).

I love them. Yum.

Enjoy!

Happy cooking,
Reba