Batman Roasted Potatoes

In my quest for a citation in the OED (that’s the Oxford English Dictionary, to the non-English majors among you), I am seeking to appropriate the phrase “to Batman” for the purpose of describing when you totally nail something on the head, you pick it up by the throat and you dangle its feet off the top of the Sears Tower until it begs for mercy, and then you drop it a few floors before rescuing it, just to show it who’s boss. I suspect the entry will read like this:

to Batman, v.

Pronunciation Brit. /’bæt men/, U.S. /’bæt men/

Etymology < originally a character in DC Comics, appearing first in 1939, referring to a superhero who had no innate superheroic features but who became, through application of will and fortitude, the world’s greatest detective, at least within the DC Universe; also known as Bruce Wayne, Batman is his superhero alter-ego. >

A.1. to overcome highest expectations of a particular event.

2. to pwn someone or something in a convincing way.

α

c2012 C. Harris in a text to her husband, I totally Batmanned that audition! Sa-WEET! w00t!

So, as good husbands should do, Hubs has picked up usage of my verb, on occasion. The other night, he proclaimed that I’d Batmanned the roasted potatoes.

I love making roasted potatoes because I can control the added fats better than a baked potato. If I serve a baked potato, it’s just as likely to end up with more butter than a particular husband’s cholesterol can handle, than not. If I serve roasted potatoes, the only added fats are in the olive oil, which gets a light hand – just enough to keep the potatoes from sticking to the baking pan.

Here’s how you Batman roasted potatoes:

1. Scrub the potatoes.
2. Slice ‘em lengthwise one direction.
3. Slice ‘em lengthwise another direction. This will give you potato “fingers,” and you can proceed from this point to make oven fries, or;
4. Turn ‘em around and slice across for a rough chop, large dice, big chunks…whatever you want to call it.
5. Toss the chunks onto a baking pan, sometimes called a cookie sheet.
6. Drizzle olive oil over the potatoes. To be more accurate, I probably use about 1 Tablespoon per pound of potatoes, give or take.
7. Shake a hearty amount of salt on top, though remember that you can always add more but you cannot take it off.
8. Crack some pepper on top.
9. Sprinkle a heartier amount of garlic powder. Not garlic salt, garlic powder.
10. Add a dash or two of Cayenne pepper, curry powder, and a pinch of thyme. You can monkey around with the amounts and the particular spices you use.
    

    Before the Tossing

    

    After the Tossing

11. Using your hands or a spatula (depends on my mood), toss all of this together. That’s right, people, I mix this up right on the pan. Call me lazy (you’d be right, who wants to wash another pan?), but it’s effective. Now, that being said, if I’m making up a large batch, it is easier to do all this in a bowl to ensure your batches are coated evenly with seasonings.
12. Put them on the top rack of an oven at 400-450 degrees F and don’t touch them for AT LEAST 30 minutes.
13. After about 30 minutes, you’ll notice the bottoms are starting to brown nicely. Nudge a couple of pieces with a spatula and see if they release from the pan easily. If so, toss everything around so the flip sides get a turn on the bottom. If not, leave it alone for another 5-10 minutes, then flip.
14. After about an hour, you’ll have nicely browned potatoes: a little crusty on the outside, like a french fry, but still soft and potato-y. All the same, you’re likely to want to dip them in ketchup.

I make these roasted potatoes pretty regularly. And I always make more than we need for one meal because leftovers are just as good cold, microwaved, or rewarmed in the oven. Also, these would be fantastic in a frittata – I’m just saying.