Lori’s Smashed Skillet Potatoes
This smashed skillet potato recipe makes delicious, golden-crusted potatoes. With a bit of prep you can boil them off (pre-cook) the night before. They come together in just a few minutes just as you are ready to serve the rest of your breakfast or brunch.
These smashed skillet potatoes were inspired by a weekend get-away to the backwoods of Mendocino County, California. Let me emphasize that when I say backwoods, I'm not kidding. Imagine - a few miles off the nearest paved road where a high-clearance 4x4 is a necessity. Past numerous cleverly-rigged hydroponic hippie buses (this is clearly where old buses go to die). Beyond a pack of car-chasing, fang-toothed guard dogs, and eventually down into the riverside sanctuary that is my friend Lori Narlock's cabin.
Before I get into the details of our weekend, I'll just say (feeling more than a bit guilty), I hardly lifted a finger all weekend - Lori cooked for our cabin of six females, meal after delicious meal. Today I'm going to feature her smashed skillet potato recipe. First, because they were delicious. Second, to demonstrate how equal part thoughtfulness, experience, and prep work can culminate in delicious meals, even under rustic conditions.
How rustic you might ask? As I was packing this was exactly the question I kept asking myself as well. I had a few clues based on the flurry of pre-trip emails - including snippets of information like this:
"The cabin is very rustic. There are two bedrooms with one bed each and then two-single beds in the living room....There is no real electricity. We mostly read, play scrabble, drink copious amounts of beer and wine and gab by day and lantern."
And then:
"Please bring clogs or other slip on shoes for using at night if you need to
get up and use the loo--there have been a few creepy crawlers show up every now and then."
I later found out that creepy crawlers=scorpions. Lori's sister Lisa also chimed in with the following:
"Let me please add that this is not a "Tahoe" cabin, and any slippers or such that you wear around the cabin may very well get filthy - so I would leave your favorite white slippers at home."
So, if your imagination is prone to run amuck like mine does - I was preparing for a weekend in the rain, in a shack (moon through the slats in the roof, spiders through the gaps in the floorboard), huddled by a stove in a Kaczynski-style shelter. Something along the lines of an overgrown outhouse. I was completely up for it. I mean, there was no tent involved, so this was going to be an upgrade for me any way you look at it. You can imagine my surprise (and delight!) when I walked into this....
The cabin sits on a huge plot of land owned for generations now by the Narlock family. The cabin was built by hand, and an amazing amount of love has gone into it. Pictures of the family line the walls, as well as artifacts various family members have contributed. It's the kind of place you're immediately comfortable - complete with wood-burning fireplace, the sound of the river in the backdrop - and the stove! Can you believe the beautiful stove?
Lori put this family treasure to good use over the course of the weekend, but before I get into that, let me back up a bit and say - it's great to have a host who also happens to be a food writer. I'm sure many of you are familiar with Lori's work on books like The Food Lover's Companion to the Napa Valley, The Wine Lover's Guide to the Wine Country, Smoothies, The Niman Ranch Cookbook , and Cocktail Food. She's fantastic and talented on every front. Watching the way she pulled together meals for us in the cabin (no electricity, water that takes an hour to boil) was fascinating - and it gave me all sorts of cooking/prep ideas for future "rustic/camping outings"....in part because she was so smart about how and what she prepped before she even got to the cabin.
The Smashed Skillet Potatoes
Lori's meals were coming together with barely a bead of sweat from her brow (or at least she made it look that way). So I started asking her about some of her tricks for cooking at the cabin. The skillet smashed potatoes were a great example. She pre-boiled the potatoes and brought them that way - In the morning, just before breakfast she smashed them into a big skillet with some olive oil and salt - in a few minutes they were crispy and brown on the outside, hot on the inside, and the perfect complement to the frittata she threw together.
I also have to mention the pasta she made for dinner later that night - outrageous amounts of garlic (in a good way), tons of shredded zucchini, and grated cheese. She'd boiled off the noodles the night before we got the cabin. Do you know how many times I've struggled boiling noodles over a camp stove? SO many. Her pasta was delicious - the noodles weren't mushy or sticky at all. Lori had all sorts of great shortcuts like this that never compromised the end dish.
So, here's how she made her smashed skillet potatoes. Imagine all the things you could drizzle or sprinkle on them. Thanks for the recipe and the great weekend Lori! I'll sleep with the scorpions any time...
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Lori's Smashed Skillet Potatoes
The great thing about these potatoes is that you can boil them off (pre-cook) the night before. they come together in just a few minutes just as you are ready to serve the rest of your breakfast or brunch.
- one small bag of small potatoes (yukon golds, fingerlings, or something similar)
- salt & pepper
- 1 - 2 tablespoons olive oil
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Start by placing the potatoes in a large saucepan. Add a teaspoon of salt and cover with water. Don't peel the potatoes, because the skin helps keep the potatoes together. Bring the water to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat and cook at a low boil until they are tender enough to slide a knife in easily. It is important not to over-boil them, for golf ball size potatoes about 10 minutes or a little less. Drain the potatoes and refrigerate until you are ready to brown them in a large skillet.
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Heat the olive in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Keep in mind it needs to be big enough to hold the potatoes, which double in size when they are smashed.
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Smash each potato with a masher or the bottom of a heavy glass. Season with salt and pepper and cook until crisp, and them turn and cook the other side. Sprinkle with chives, fresh herbs, whatever and serve.
Serves about 4.
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First time posting as well... seconding Liz's compliments! I get so excited every time a new recipe pops up at the top of my Gmail page. These potatoes look delicious! I can't wait to play with this recipe. Just out of curiosity, what was the main dish? Thanks for your delicious recipes, beautiful pictures and inspiring stories!
What a wonderful post, lovely read, gorgeous cabin and yummy potatoes! And thirding (is that a word?) request for pasta & zucchini recipe. And seconding Liz's comments about your website. Just a smashing place!
First time posting... Seconding the demand for the pasta&zucchini recipe! The concept sounds interesting/good enough to experiment with now, but it's always nice to see structured recipes for further inspiration. Ms. Swanson, I really enjoy the way you talk about food and making it. Other websites I've seen compared to yours are almost strictly recipes, and, almost needless to say, I don't frequent them nearly as often as I show up here looking for ideas. You're doing a wonderful job, and it is appreciated. Thank you.
The potatoes are great, but more than anything I love that cabin!!!
Those smashed potatoes look gorgeous! What a great cabin! Cheers, Rosa
When camping, substitute rice noodles for normal pasta. Easy enough to soak in a bowl of hot water to "cook" them... If you want regular pasta simply cook it until it is al dente (if you take a piece of pasta out of the water and it is cooked on the outside with a little core of white in the middle when you bite off the end, it is al dente). The pasta will store MUCH longer this way and will be perfectly cooked when you reheat it (which, when camping can be done by throwing it into some boiling water for a few seconds or, more easily, by mixing it with the sauce or garnish over the heat for a while).
Loved your story and those great images. I could almost smell the food cooking and feel the fun that transpired. What a day brightener! Thanks.
Why wait till zuke season? Pester her now for the pasta recipe so no one forgets to mention it later! Do you suppose she just cooks the pasta to the point that only another minute is needed for al dente? That way it finishes cooking and gets hot in one move. Wow on the potatoes. I know these are yum. It's what we used to do with leftover new potatoes. Just never thought of cooking them to do this on purpose. Yes!
What a lovely resourcing week-end you had. Your friend has a nice cabin and her potatoes looks great!
I know the backwoods, off roads of Mendocino well and they are enchanting and scary all at once. This cabin certainly looks like luxury up there. The feeling of the place, as well as the smashed potatoes, evokes so many good feelings. Thanks for sharing that~ jeni
That was the weekend we were in San Francisco! I remember because we missed the chance to see you this time. Then again, now that I see the cabin (ay carumba, I'd go there any time!), I don't feel bad anymore. And thanks for labeling this gluten-free!
I was not nearly as interested in the recipe as I was in the stove-I have almost (mine does not have the side oven-but everything else-including the Wedgwood label) the exact one in my house!! I thought it was joke and continued to read to see if someone I knew had sent it to me! Crazy small world!
Interesting and atractive In My country, Colombia we have "papas criollas" small yellow tender potatoes that grow faster than the ones you are familiar with. Those are made almost in the same way you have in this recipe and when they are too small are just fried and served with salt:"Papas Criollas Fritas" Delicious!
Beautiful! The potatoes and the cabin. Sounds like such a great weekend getaway -- my New York City self is very envious!
How absolutely charming!
When you're going so rustic that you're short on stove top space, this recipe also works pretty well by sticking the smashed potatoes in the oven and roasting for a few minutes. No muss, no fuss, and voila - beautiful, golden-crusted potatoes! I like to season with some garlic and dill, for a bit of extra flavor.
I make these all the time. Except I call them Cracked Potatoes!
Yum - Heidi/Lori, these potatoes look great! Brilliant move pre-boiling them. That would be hugely useful for a ski weekend breakfast rather than waiting ages for water to boil on some cruddy stove top! The cabin looks beautiful. Glad you enjoyed!
Dear Heidi, I started reading and let out a howl of laughter! What a crack up to read about our weekend. And then, my eyes filled up with tears. This cabin was my father's second love and this post feels like a tribute to all the hard work he put into it so he and everyone he knew could enjoy it. Thank you for capturing what I never would have been able to. Now, I need to find a kleenex! Thank you, Lori
Rustic!