The beauty of this recipe (other than the fact that the potatoes taste good), is that it's a "no fuss" recipe that tastes like you spent a lot of time with it. I use about 1/2 pound potatoes per person, and can do the "hands on" part in about 15 minutes. This works out real well when you're cooking either on the grill outside, or making a more complicated main course. You can set these in the oven and, other than stirring them, pretty much forget about them until you're ready to serve.
I like using either a red skinned potato or a baking potato in this recipe, because they hold their form better when cooked.
I also like to do these for breakfast as home fries. All you've got to do is cut the potatoes into 3/4" chunks instead of the big pieces, and you'll only have to cook them about 1 hour or so.
Don't be concerned about the amount of garlic you're using. They'll turn into REAL dark pieces, that will only have a mild garlic flavor, while adding the flavor of garlic to the whole dish. If you like onions in your home fries, don't cook them in the oven with the potatoes. The moisture in the onions will keep the potatoes from browning. I usually cook them separately then add them to the potatoes after the potatoes are finished cooking.
If you're serving these as part of a main dinner course, a dollop of sour cream placed on top of the potatoes works real well.
Serves 6
1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
2. Wash the potatoes then cut into 1 1/2" chunks and place in an ovenproof pan. I use a 1/2 chafer pan because it fits so well in the oven. This is the same size as the common 9 x 13 pan you probably have hangin' around your kitchen.
3. Add the butter to the potatoes, then place the pan into the oven for about 10 minutes to melt the butter.
4. Take the pan out of the oven, after the butter is melted., and stir it up well with a spatula until you've got all the potatoes coated with the butter. Add the Kosher Salt, Black Pepper, Garlic, and Blacken, and mix well, until all of the potatoes are coated with the spices.
5. Return to the oven and bake for a total time of 1 1/2 hours, stirring them up every 1/2 hour or so. After an hour, you'll notice that they've gotten soft. You could eat them like this, but they're much better when they've cooked the extra half hour, because they'll get crunchy on the outside, while remaining soft textured in the middle.