Balsamic Roasted Red Potatoes

Gradon has a love affair with balsamic vinegar. I remember him taking me out to a nice italian restaurant back when we were dating and the waiter brought out some beautiful foccacia bread along with a little dish for oil and balsamic vinegar.

Where I come from, we go heavier on the oil, with a few drops of balsamic for flavor. But Gradon proceeded to flood the dish with vinegar until it was black. I remember watching him dunk that dense chunk of bread with pure balsamic vinegar—utterly drenching it. It really threw me for loop watching him down the bread like that.

The great thing about these potatoes is that they have enough balsamic vinegar to pack a punch, without overwhelming the palate. They're smothered in an array of spices as well as onion and garlic. 

These potatoes make for a delicious and pretty side dish. The edges crisp up and deliver a wonderful flavor. They taste fantastic and you will love them!

Balsamic Roasted Red Potatoes

Adapted from The Baking Beauties

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 2 pounds small red potatoes, cut into eighths

• 1 tablespoon yellow onion

• 6 garlic cloves, minced

• 1 teaspoon dried thyme

• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed

• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

• 3/4 teaspoon seasoned salt (or garlic salt)

• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add the potatoes, onion and garlic. Toss to combine. Add the thyme and rosemary, crushing it between your fingers to release the flavor. Add the nutmeg and toss well. Cook, stirring for 3-4 minutes or until potatoes are hot and getting browned a bit. They will also start to smell divine!

Transfer to a baking pan coated with your misto or nonstick cooking spray. I drizzled about ½ to 1 tbsp of olive oil on the baking pan for good measure. Bake your little beauties at 400 degrees F for 25-30 minutes or until potatoes are crisping and almost tender. Take them out of the oven and set them on the stove top for a moment, pouring the vinegar as evenly as you can over the potatoes. Add the salt and pepper, tossing well. Bake an additional 5-8 minutes until tender. 

Happy Birthday to America this month! We feel so blessed to live in this great country and have the freedoms that we enjoy. Grades and I felt extra patriotic this year in spending the 4th in Charlottesville, the home of the man who wrote the Declaration of Independence. Cville residents love their TJ. 

It was so nice to have Wednesday off because Friday came so quickly! We spent a good chunk of it at the downtown mall, eating at Eppie's, tossing around a beach ball, fanning ourselves for relief from the oppressive heat, and enjoying all of the live music. See that guy playing the guitar, the harmonica, a drum AND tinkling a little tambourine with his foot? I was mesmerized. 

 

Other events of note this month include our attempt to fry an egg on the pavement. We've had some gnarly weather around here. Up in the 100s. So we figured it was a good time for that experiment. I don't know what we expected...a little sizzling perhaps? We waited for a few minutes with no change and said we'd check on it later. By that time, it had been run over by a car.