Garlic and Thyme Potatoes

  These scrumptious little taters were the result of two needs.  1) I needed to use up the last little handful of potatoes I had left in the bag in my pantry. And 2) I really wanted some potatoes as a side for a 'breakfast for dinner' night.  I just ended up grabbing a few spices, boiled the potatoes and had at it. 

  Maybe they aren't everyone's idea for breakfast potatoes.  Can anyone say McDonald's hash browns?  I'm sure that's what the majority of breakfast people think of when they imagine morning potatoes.  Honestly, these might not even be any healthier (not a nutritionist or dietitian).  But for me, these are a pretty good addition to my omelet (hot sauce too, please).  They also go great with pasta and..well.. it's got garlic in it so you can figure it out. 

Feel free to make substitutions here.  Garlic and Thyme just happen to be one of my favorite combinations. Also, if you want to make it more breakfasty, you can cook your bacon while the potatoes are boiling, and then sub-out equal portions of butter for the grease from your bacon.

Anyway, what you want to do is gather and wash about 12 to 14 red baby potatoes.

  You will also need these things:
Garlic
Thyme leaves
4 Tbsp of Butter
Sea salt
Oregano leaves

Put the potatoes, skin and all, in a pot and cover with water.  Set it to boil until nice and tender.  Be careful enough not to make them too mushy, or else you'll have mashed potatoes instead.  Good stuff, but not quite what we're looking for.

Wanna make some candied carrots while you're at it?

Once the taters are nice and soft, remove them from the heat and strain.  In a cool pan, add your butter and tun the heat on.  As soon as the butter is melted, turn the heat down very low and begin adding your spices.  As to how much, it's entirely up to you.  I add a  generous amount of garlic powder, close to, I'd say, a tablespoon.  Then, a few dashes of thyme, oregano, and your salt. You don't have to guess on how much, just put a little bit on if you aren't sure and add more later.  Let the butter simmer in with the spices for about a minute and turn the heat off.  Don't over cook the butter or else everything will burn, evaporate and taste funny later. 

Let the butter sit in the now hot pan and begin cutting up your potatoes.  I like to leave the skins on, but you can take them off if you don't like them.  Cut them into quarters or halves depending on the size then add them to the pan.

(See, when I took this picture, I hadn't used a cool pan and ended up browning the butter and herbs.  It doesn't taste bad, but try to avoid doing that anyway)

Use a spatula or wooden spoon and mix the potatoes all up, getting them all coated in the butter and herbs.  Turn the heat back on to a low-medium setting.  Cook the potatoes for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to re-coat.  Make sure to taste them now and again as well.  You may want to add more spices.  

With these, I cook to taste.  10 minutes is a bit of an estimate.  Once they start tasting good, you may as well take them off the burner and serve them up.  I usually keep them cooking in the butter until everything else is ready and serve them up hot.  As long as you keep a low flame or other heat setting under the pan, you can keep them going for a good while.  Be careful when stirring, though, you can end up mashing them if you're not careful.

Enjoy!