New Potatoes with Parmesan and Thyme

Hello. Let's not talk about how long it's been, OK? There's no need to go there. Let's just focus on the fact that I'm back.

It's Friday and it's the first day of Fall, despite the weekend forecast of 39 degrees C with the humidity. We're going to pretend it's getting cooler out and we all know what happens when the weather cools off...we want comfort food.

Wednesday and Thursday evenings of this week, we enjoyed two very delicious meals for Rosh Hashonah - the Jewish New Year. It's 5778 this year, in case you were wondering. On Wednesday we went to my brother's house and the menu included apples and honey, challah (and honey), chicken soup with matzah balls (and turnip, parsnip and carrot), crispy chicken, meatballs, Israeli couscous with cranberries, green apples and toasted almonds, carrot ring, mini latke muffins, roasted root vegetables, and a delicious salad. And dessert - honey cake, apple crisp, brownies, and fresh fruit. We were all starving when we left.

Last night we stayed here (it was also the King of Soup's and my 16 year wedding anniversary so it was a double celebration. We had apples and honey, homemade challah (and honey), chicken soup with matzah balls, chicken schnitzel, green beans, roasted cauliflower with caramelized onions, the leftover couscous salad from my sister-in-law's, and these potatoes. These amazing, delicious, easy to make potatoes.

For dessert I made something up to use up some fruit in the fridge that was on its way out. My hopes weren't high, but before I could put away the leftovers I realized the entire pie was gone. Recipe will follow in another blog post - will have to make another one and take photos this time!

Back to the focus of this post - comfort food - which in this case is potatoes.

I had seen this recipe somewhere on the internet - can't remember where, and couldn't recall exact measurements but that's never stopped me before!

Ingredients:

1 bag new potatoes
some dried thyme
some olive oil
some parmesan cheese, freshly grated
some salt
some pepper
some panko bread crumbs

Method:

Drizzle some olive oil on a cookie sheet and use a brush or some wax paper to spread the oil around to cover the bottom of the pan.

Grate the parmesan and sprinkle it over the oil. Crumble your thyme over the cheese and oil, and add some salt and pepper.

Cut the new potatoes in half and place each half, cut side down, onto the cheese mixture. Then sprinkle a handful of panko on top, and add a tad more salt and pepper.

Bake in a 425 F degree oven for 30 minutes. If you need to keep them warm until the rest of your dinner is ready, just turn the oven off and leave them in there. 

When you're ready, take them out of the oven and use a metal spatula to remove them from the pan.

The bottoms will be crispy and cheesy, and the centre will be fluffy and delicious. You won't have any left, I am pretty sure. But if you do, they're great reheated in a frying pan - I like to mash them down into a real hash when I reheat them, so they get even crispier!