Cooking - Lemon Crash Hot Potatoes and My Happy Place

It is I! I have returned! Huzzah! 


Hello? Anyone out there?


Bueller? Bueller?


No? That's ok. I'm not above talking to myself. 


But, in case anyone is out there, I have a recipe for you. And it involves potatoes. Shocked, are you not?


In the middle of my stressful weeks, I was lucky enough to take an actual vacation with my actual husband (and not the fake one I've conjured in my mind that doesn't actually exist in nature.) And, as it turns out, I kinda like my actual husband. Who knew?


We went wine tasting with two other parent-couples and stayed in a gorgeous house on an awesome vineyard. I took lots of pictures but, when I got home, I realized that they were mostly of the lounge chairs on the patio. I think about 48 of my 50 photos were of those chairs. 

I liked them.


Of course, the rest of the place was nice too.

And the wine was quite tasty.

Don't mind my eyes. I'm not possessed. I was just trying to "smile with my eyes" like Tyra Banks told me to on America's Next Top Model. In about 15 minutes though, my eyes will be mostly closed. 


I don't know the guy in the background. But he looks pretty cool. My friends are cooler, though.

Don't mind the new menacing man in the background. That's just Jen's husband, Jeff. He's harmless. Unless you mess with his Rock Band. Then you deserve whatever comes your way. 


Didn't I mention that he brought his PlayStation all the way to Los Olivos so the guys could rock out? No? I didn't make this up. I have proof.

In addition to Rock Band and wine tasting, we also tried olive oil tasting. Which brings me to my recipe for Lemon Crash Hot Potatoes.


It's a riff on Pioneer Woman's crash hot potatoes but with one distinct difference...

I'm in love. It's lemony and rich and smooth. I tasted it and I knew I must have it. And I knew it would be spectacular on my papas. 


So I boiled some baby Yukon golds...

Then drained them and smashed them on a cookie sheet...

Using a pastry brush, I brushed some of that glorious olive oil on the tops of the potatoes and added some herbs, salt and pepper. In this case, I used parsley and some freeze-dried dill that always works in a pinch.

Then I tossed in them in a 425 degree oven for about 30 minutes until they were crispy on top.

Oh yeah, I had some zucchini too so I added them to the cookie sheet and gave them the same olive oil and herb treatment. 


Paired it with my baked chicken breasts and Larry was a happy chickaterian. 

Don't have Meyer lemon olive oil? I guess you could Google it and figure out how to make it. Or take a drive up to Los Olivos and tell them that Michelle sent you. 


Though don't be surprised when they have no idea who you are talking about. They will after I've perfected my smiling eyes.