Nurturing my inner... root rut rescue

Roasting potatoes is a great way to chase away the baked potato doldrums. Or avoid mashed potato reruns. Nobody likes a dud spud.

While working my way around the Harris Teeter, because I don't go there very often and am unfamiliar with the territory, I stumbled upon these tiny fingerling potatoes.  And by tiny, I mean itty bitty.  (And by itty bitty, I mean it looks like they had been normal potatoes that were zapped with a shrink ray.)  They were the size of grapes!  (Ridiculously cute!)  Smaller than any other potato I've ever seen.  I like to eat the skin on potatoes, because of the wonderful texture they add (and fiber!), so I decided I would roast these whole.

Roasted Fingerling Potatoes with Rosemary and Garlic

A couple heaping handfuls of extra small fingerling potatoes
2 twigs of fresh rosemary
6 large whole cloves of garlic, peeled
2 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
A sprinkle of sea salt

So cute, they fit in a salad bowl.
Just darling!

I washed the potatoes, dried them off, then landed them on a baking sheet along with the garlic cloves.  I like to leave the cloves whole because they get so tender on the inside as they caramelize.  I drizzled olive oil on them, sprinkled some freshly rosemary around, then added a dash of salt.

So few ingredients, but very sturdy ones.

A quick toss about with my hands to make sure the potatoes were well coated with the olive oil and that was about all the effort that was needed from me.

You can also mix this in a bowl if it makes you
feel any better. Or less messy.

Place in a 400 degree oven for 35 - 40 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender.  (Note: I did shake them up a little half way through.)

They wrinkle up a bit and the garlic toasts and
mellows in flavor.

Either put them in a bowl for proper, classy serving or dish them straight off the baking sheet directly onto a plate.  (Guess which I do from the picture above.)  I prefer them along side of a pork tenderloin or a filet mignon, but they work well with any strong meat that needs a tender companion.  Whatever you match your garlic and rosemary roasted potatoes up with, it will be guaranteed love at first bite.