Olive Pesto Smashed Potatoes

Name: Olive Pesto Smashed Potatoes
Prep time: 2 h 15 min
Cook time: 2 h 15 min
Total time: 2 h 15 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Global
Ingredients: 2 Tbsps minced flat-leaf parsley; 59 milliliters chopped fresh basil leaves; 2 garlic cloves, minced; 237 milliliters kalamata olives, pitted and patted dry; 59 milliliters extra-virgin olive oil; 59 milliliters freshly grated parmesan cheese; 12 smalls red or Yukon Gold potatoes (2 to 3 in. diameter), well-scrubbed

Olive Pesto Smashed Potatoes might be just the side dish you are searching for. One portion of this dish contains around 16g of protein, 21g of fat, and a total of 492 calories. This recipe covers 34% of your daily requirements of vitamins and minerals. This recipe serves 4. It is a good option if you're following a gluten free diet. From preparation to the plate, this recipe takes around 2 hours and 15 minutes. A mixture of flat-leaf parsley, basil leaves, parmesan cheese, and a handful of other ingredients are all it takes to make this recipe so delicious.

Instructions

Make pesto: Pure garlic and basil in a food processor.

Ingredients you will need

Garlic

Basil

Pesto

Equipment you will use

Food Processor

Add olives and oil and pulse to a smooth, thick paste. Turn into a bowl and stir in cheese.

Ingredients you will need

Cheese

Olives

Cooking Oil

Equipment you will use

Bowl

Put potatoes in a large pot on the stove with generously salted water to cover. Bring almost to a boil and cook until easily pierced with a knife, 15 to 20 minutes.

Ingredients you will need

Potato

Water

Equipment you will use

Knife

Stove

Pot

Drain. When cool enough to handle, press each between your hands until about 3/4 in. thick but still in one piece.

Build a fire and let burn to ashy chunks (see "The DIY Firepit," below).

Spread each potato with 1 heaping tbsp. pesto and press to compact it.

Ingredients you will need

Potato

Spread

Pesto

Heat a cast-iron skillet, then add potatoes. Pan-roast until crisp underneath, 5 minutes. Turn pesto side down and let roast and crisp up. "Roasting the pesto adds umami to the potatoes and an interesting toastiness." Put on a platter, pesto side up, and sprinkle with parsley.

Ingredients you will need

Potato

Parsley

Pesto

Equipment you will use

Frying Pan

Make ahead: Potatoes and pesto, up to 2 days, chilled and covered.

Ingredients you will need

Potato

Pesto

The DIY Firepit

"You can do anything on this. It's a little like camping in the middle of your day," says Napa Valley chef Michael Chiarello. All you need is bricks arranged to fit under your cooking grate and some sand.

Spread a double layer of heavy-duty foil on the ground ("not grass," warns Chiarello, since it may scorch). Make it big enough to extend a foot beyond your cooking grate in all directions. Build a brick rectangle 3 layers high, leaving a couple of bricks out of the top layer on opposite sides, to encourage airflow. (For a standard 21-in. round Weber grate, the rectangle should be 2 bricks by 3 bricks.) Fill with about an inch of sand.

Ingredients you will need

Spread

Equipment you will use

Aluminum Foil

Light the fire: Put several balled-up sheets of newspaper in the center and position kindling into a tipi around it; lean larger kindling and then 5 to 6 small logs (preferably oak). Light the fire. "The tipi lets every bit of flame go up past 3 or 4 logs," says Chiarello, so the fire starts fast. Once the logs have caught, add several larger logs to the perimeter.

Let them burn down to ashy chunks with low flames (1 1/2 to 2 hours). Because there's less smoke and char than cooking over a flaming fire, Chiarello says, "it makes your food taste much cleaner, gives nuanced flavor, and is better for wine."

Ingredients you will need

Wine