Garlic and Thyme Roasted Potato Stacks

This may well be one of the easiest little side dishes ever... and such a cute presentation!  Let's face it - potatoes are one of our favorite "go to" comfort foods, but they're not all that exciting.  Well hopefully, your family will think these Garlic and Thyme Roasted Potato Stacks are a little more exciting!  The grown ups at the table will love the fresh herbs and subtle garlic notes.  The kids will love that they are buttery soft on the inside and just crispy and crunchy enough on the edges.  

I bet these would be great with sweet potatoes, as well.  I know several of you who really love the juxtaposition of the sweet with the salty. 

                  Click for Printable Recipe

Ingredients: (for 4 servings)

• 1 lb. Russets potatoes
• 2 large cloves of garlic, minced
• 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper
• pepper
• 1 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves, stripped

   Yep, that's it!

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350F/180C.  Prepare a garlic flavored oil by adding garlic to a COLD saute pan.  Add the olive oil, and gently warm them up together.  You do not want to add the garlic to the hot oil for this recipe, as adding the garlic to the cold oil will flavor the oil.  Once the garlic is fragrant (but not brown), remove from heat and set aside the garlic oil.  

Slice the potatoes on the smallest setting on a mandolin.  This will give you super thin potato slices, it's fast and effortless, and the slices will be UNIFORM in thickness - which is going to be really important in the cooking time.  Additionally, these little thin slices will crisp up better.  Who doesn't like crispy when it comes to potatoes?!  They are so thin that you can actually see the edges of the ones below them through the top ones.  I like leaving the skins on the potatoes.  I like the crispy texture, they are healthier, and also I think they are prettier that way.

Brush 8 muffin tins with the garlic oil using a pastry brush.  One by one, brush the potato slices with a thin coating of garlic oil and layer them in the muffin tins.  Keep repeating the layers of garlic oiled potatoes until you have stacked up the potatoes to the top of the muffin tins. (I erroneously chose my super large muffin tins to do these, which was really not necessary.  The standard "cup cake" sized tins will do just fine.)  Season the top of the stacks with salt, pepper, and some freshly stripped thyme leaves.

Bake the potato stacks in the preheated oven for 35-45 minutes or until the potatoes are golden brown and cook through. (I went towards the 45 minutes because I really like the crunchiness.)  Garnish with a little extra fresh thyme and serve these immediately with you main dishes.  Try not to eat them all and hide the evidence.

Step-by-Step:

Preheat the oven to 350F/180C.

Prepare a garlic flavored oil by adding garlic to a COLD saute pan.  Add the olive oil, and gently warm them up together.  You do not want to add the garlic to the hot oil for this recipe, as adding the garlic to the cold oil will flavor the oil.  Once the garlic is fragrant (but not brown), remove from heat and set aside the garlic oil.  

Slice the potatoes on the smallest setting on a mandolin.  This will give you super thin potato slices, it's fast and effortless, and the slices will be UNIFORM in thickness - which is going to be really important in the cooking time.  Additionally, these little thin slices will crisp up better.  Who doesn't like crispy when it comes to potatoes?!  They are so thin that you can actually see the edges of the ones below them through the top ones.  

I like leaving the skins on the potatoes.  I like the crispy texture, they are healthier, and also I think they are prettier that way.

Brush 8 muffin tins with the garlic oil using a pastry brush.

One by one, brush the potato slices with a thin coating of garlic oil and layer them in the muffin tins. 

Keep repeating the layers of garlic oiled potatoes until you have stacked up the potatoes to the top of the muffin tins. (I erroneously chose my super large muffin tins to do these, which was really not necessary.  The standard "cup cake" sized tins will do just fine.)

Season the top of the stacks with salt, pepper, and some freshly stripped thyme leaves.

Bake the potato stacks in the preheated oven for 35-45 minutes or until the potatoes are golden brown and cook through. (I went towards the 45 minutes because I really like the crunchiness.)

Garnish with a little extra fresh thyme and serve these immediately with you main dishes.  Try not to eat them all and hide the evidence. When you think about it, this is similar to making a puff pastry or a dish made from phyllo dough... only using potatoes instead.