I love potatoes—mashed, fried, French fried, au gratin, roasted, boiled and topped with parsley and butter.  The only potato I ever met that I did not like was scalloped.  I think it’s the onion and the fact that as I child, I was forced to sit at the table until I finished a serving.  I dislike them to this day.

One of the best potatoes is a roasted one, and I tried for years to get that perfect crisp on the outside and soft goodness on the inside. My efforts were acceptable at best until I chanced upon a game changer in an antique shop in Delaware: a Guardian aluminum cookie/baking sheet (tip #1). I picked it up for about $10 thinking I could use it for something.  Well that something turned out to be potatoes.  I think it works so well because of the rough texture of the sheet’s surface. I have two of these now.

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  Guardian aluminum baking sheet

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  Rough surface

Once you have a good baking sheet, you need Yukon gold potatoes.  I peel, wash, and cube them—small to medium size.  You can rinse, drain, and then dry them in a clean dish towel, but this is not necessary the way it is for deep frying French fries.  Spray the sheet with Pam and pile the potatoes in the middle of the sheet.  Then drizzle with vegetable oil (tip #2) and sprinkle liberally with the seasonings of your choice. Although I generally cook with olive oil, it will not create crispiness the way vegetable oil does.  Truly any savory seasonings will do, and I usually use some combination of Penzey’s seasonings, Jane’s Crazy Mixed Up Salt, and others.  Stir the potatoes until coated evenly, spread them out on the sheet, and then put them on the top shelf (tip #3) of a 425-435 degree oven. Apparently it gets hotter up there! Keep an eye on them until they start to brown on the top.  When they do, pull them out and turn them over.  Back in the oven to finish baking until a nice golden brown.

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  Suggested seasoning.

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  Drizzle with oil and seasonings.

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  Coat all potatoes and spread them out.

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  Flip when tops are brown.

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  Finished.

For this meal, I gathered fresh ingredients I had from the garden, i.e., “garden surprise” chicken! Ben suggested simply grilling the chicken, but we have too many good veg now for plain old grilling. So I came up with small yellow and red tomatoes, shallot, basil, and lemon and garlic (not from the garden). You could also use summer squash, zucchini, and/or eggplant. The selection this time of year is great.

Ingredients for chicken.

While the potatoes were baking, I coated 2 pounded chicken breasts in flour and placed them in a small non-stick frying pan with butter.  I used salt and pepper on both sides and sauteed until browned.  Then I added the juice of half a lemon, some water (maybe half cup just to make some liquid to deglaze the pan), and half of a shallot and a full garlic clove finely chopped.  I sauteed a few minutes until the

garlic and shallot were soft and then threw in the yellow and red tomato cubes and basil for the last few minutes. I removed the chicken before the tomatoes had the chance to completely disintegrate in the pan. Chicken and potatoes went on the plates with a small side salad of cucumbers, yellow tomatoes, and fresh mint with a bit of vinegar and sugar dressing.

This dinner turned out to be delicious. Summer dining at its best!