Mustard and Garlic Roasted Potatoes

The trick to great roasted potatoes is to maximize the surface area that gets exposed to heat. That means both cutting the potatoes into good shapes, and giving them enough room in the pan. This simple strategy will pay off, big time, no matter what you choose to do in terms of flavoring. Feel free to try different herbs, melted butter instead of olive oil, different salts, etc. This combination is one of our favorites, as the mustard gives the potatoes a nice little kick to go with the garlic and smoked salt.

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Wash and scrub the potatoes, but leave the skin on. Cut into quarters, or even smaller wedges if some potatoes are larger than others. Basically, try to have uniformly-sized 1 1/2 to 2 inch pieces, with a lot of sides exposed.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the olive oil, mustard, garlic, salt and a generous grating of pepper. Stir in the potatoes, until completely coated.

Turn into a large roasting pan, much bigger than you think you need. Spread the potatoes out, so they have lots of room.

Roast for 35-40 minutes, without disturbing them, until they are deeply golden brown, salty and crispy on the outside, and melt-in-your-mouth soft on the inside. Serve immediately!