Simple Lemony Roasted Potatoes

These roasted potatoes are a simple, flavorful side dish. 

It’s been a week. Again. Only this time we are officially stuck at home, as mandated by the City of Houston and Harris County, and that has many of us feeling weirdly antsy. We’re anxious, a little bit claustrophobic, and we’re on top of each other, whether that means little kids wanting to be entertained, big kids wanting to get out, or confused pets wondering why their people are home all day, every day.

If ever there was a time we all needed a nice dinner, that time is tonight. My own inspiration came when my older daughter, loathe to come home from college before she had planned, asked for the one thing she always asks for on her way home: pot roast. That’s the same pot roast that I wrote about here, the one that my family equates with holidays and home. 

I wasn’t sure I wanted to make the grocery store trip for a pot roast, but while I visited on the phone with a friend and watched the line outside Central Market, wondering whether I should brave it, my friend said, “If my child asked for a pot roast, I would be there waiting in line.” So I waited. 

While waiting in line, I made a list. The roast would be delicious with this roasted asparagus. And the whole menu called for potatoes – something to counter the garlicky, roasty meat. Simple Lemony Roasted Potatoes would be the thing. Turns out, everyone loved them, and they were thankfully simple, cooked in the same oven as the roast, once it had finished and was taking a rest. Tossed with olive oil, fresh lemon juice, salt and pepper and perfumed with rosemary and oregano, there’s nothing not to like.

The line was worth the wait, which, you should know, was not long at all, and the store, once inside, was organized and stocked – super-easy. We ended our own dinner with a game of cards. All in all, not a bad way to spend a night stuck in the house.

Simple Lemony Roasted Potatoes

Ingredients:

2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes
2 tablespoons (or so) olive oil
Juice from 1 lemon
Salt 
Fresh ground pepper
1 garlic clove, smashed by hitting the back of a knife with the heel of your hand
2 sprigs fresh rosemary

Recipe directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil. Cut the potatoes, unpeeled, into 1-inch chunks. Add the potatoes to the water, and boil for about 8 minutes or until the tip of a knife slips easily into the potatoes. Drain the potatoes and dry them with a paper towel. Spread them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper, and add the smashed garlic and rosemary sprigs. Toss everything together with your hands, and arrange the potatoes in a single layer, not touching each other, on the baking sheet. Roast the potatoes for 10 minutes and stir them around. Roast for another 10 minutes or until the potatoes are golden and crunchy. Remove the garlic and rosemary sprigs before serving.