Wednesday, September 21, 2011

For the Love of Potatoes

When the kids and I arrived home around 7:00 pm, I asked Chris what he wanted for dinner. "Deep fried anything, covered with cheese," was his answer.

Obviously I was not going to deep fry anything. I made a basic salad, chicken, and oven fries.

At my house, oven fries are super simple:
1. tiny potatoes washed & quartered
2. into the bowl: oil, powdered garlic, pepper; stir then add quartered potatoes
3. dump onto a rimmed cookie sheet and broil on high, removing every 5-7 minutes to flip (2-4 times)
4. when they are golden and perfect, salt then eat them


I put herbes de provence on the chicken thighs, so I threw some in the potatoes as well. I took those potatoes out to flip them 3 or 4 times, all without incident.

Why is this remarkable, doing something without incident?

I am a klutz. Most of the time, I can get away with it - it's not that obvious, I make it into a joke (usually easy), or no one is around to notice. 

All evening, I had been using an oven mitt that comes up nearly to my elbows, but for this last move with the pan, I used a dish towel instead. 

The potatoes were done, and the rest of dinner was already on the plates. I scooped the golden gems into a large bowl to salt them and in putting the pan down, I squealed in pain.


Please take note that when you use a dishtowel for anything other than its intended purpose, it may not work as you hope, plan, or anticipate.

Also note that when a large rimmed cookie sheet has been in the oven under a broiler that is set on high, if you touch it, it will cook your skin a little.

The burn will continue to intensify over the next hour and a half, regardless of the baggie of frozen peas you use to ice it. Advil will help take down the swelling and let you sleep.

The next morning, your burn may look something like this:


Not bad, it doesn't even hurt anymore... not that I'm going to poke it or anything. The whole thing is a blister now.

All this for the love of potatoes... well, the love of my husband and the love of potatoes.

The spuds, chicken, and salad "hit the spot" he needed them to... and the kids gobbled it all saying with each thing they ate, "The salad is the best! No, the potatoes! No, the chicken!! The best is the chicken! No, the salad! No, the potatoes are the best!! Can I have all this again for lunch tomorrow?!"

Just the way I like them: happy, healthy, and full.

6 comments:

  1. Hey! Margaret here and I love this! You make me laugh!

    I wondered about doing boneless chicken breasts with the Herbs d' Provence (sp?) but I thought it might be weird to just coat the chicken with such large chunks of herbs... Any suggestions about how to use this on boneless? chop it first? dunno...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Margaret - it is actually not weird at all to put ts on boneless chicken as that is what I do. The. Pieces rare quite small and if they seem a little too big for your family, just smash it up either in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder before putting it on the chicken. Lt me know what works and what doesn't!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. My poor friend. I'm sorry you burned yourself. I love the potatoes! Simple and withe the spice switch can go with what ever else your cooking!
    Heather

    ReplyDelete
  4. Heather - thanks!! I have almost healed up!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Next time you get a burn, apply honey immediately to it and it will rehydrate the skin and you won't even get a blister! Honey is used in many burn units in the US and is absolutely miraculous when it comes to healing burns. I havea jar of it on the counter by the oven at all times and we smother the burn in honey and often do a bandage over top (so it doesn't eek honey all over) and if it is a bad burn it will need several more applications before it stops sucking the honey up.
    Sounds awful, but it truly is a miraculous cure :) And we have had some serious burns to try it on (our 2nd born fell on a wood stove and burned the one side of her face and both hands and we applied honey and bandages all immediately before hading to dr. They were nasty but dr said only thing to do was antibiotic ointments and hope the scars were not too bad. We did bandages and honey and ointment (just because LOL) for about 2 weeks and within 1 month she was completely healed and you can't tell she ever had a burn on her face!
    Heather

    ReplyDelete
  6. Heather - I am so sorry to hear about your daughter's accident! HONEY - I have never heard of it being used and am curious to see what happens the next time I need it! I haven't burned myself in a while, but if you find a cure for the careless cuts and scrapes I seem to be collecting, let me know!! :D

    ReplyDelete