One of the emails I get most often is from people who want to start eating healthier and cooking more vegetables, but don’t know how to get started. Sometimes I think the term recipe can be intimidating – like it implies you will need an apron, you will make a huge mess, and you will need to know fancy cooking terms. For some recipes, that’s definitely true. But for others, like this one, they should be seen as more of a guide than anything specific.
My favorite way to cook vegetables is by roasting, and I always suggest this to beginner cooks since it brings out so much natural flavor. But when simple salt and pepper gets boring, it’s nice to have a few ways to spruce up simple vegetables into something special.
These potatoes are incredibly easy to make, but seem a little more sophisticated for maybe a dinner party or a holiday. Lemon and capers are one of my favorite combinations, and they compliment these simple fingerlings so well.
Lemon Roasted Parsley Potatoes
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients (2 servings)
- 10 large fingerling potatoes (or 2-3lbs)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon capers
- 1 cup flat-leaf parsley, minced
- pinch of salt
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. One of the things I love about fingerling potatoes is that they are so easy to prepare. Just rinse and roast!
If you prefer to use a different (larger) potato, you can chop into bite size pieces or quarters, and prepare the same way. Add potatoes to a mixing bowl along with olive oil, lemon juice, and capers.
Pull the leaves off of a bunch of flat-leaf parsley – enough to yield a full cup minced. Parsley is a distinct, but mild flavor, and you really can’t use too much here.
Add parsley to the mixing bowl along with a pinch of salt and toss to combine.
Pour the potatoes into a glass baking dish, and use a spatula to scoop excess parsley and capers on top.
Roast for 45 minutes, stirring once (around 20 minutes). The final product is not the most photogenic potato, but what it lacks in visuals it more than makes up for in flavor.
Serve as a side dish with green beans and tofu, or whatever sounds good to you!
The roasted capers and crunchy bits of parsley are my favorite part, and I make sure to scoop up the extras with each bite.
This is a great way to dress up the basic potato into something more fun, and it’s a great side dish to make for a special dinner.
As always, enjoy!
15 Comments so far
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I love that you used fingerlings for this recipe–it gives roasted potatoes a whole new look! A makeover if you will…
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I love vegetables (especially potatoes) and definitely agree that roasting is the best way to prepare them – so much flavor! I actually got a cookbook for Christmas last year that’s all roasted vegetable recipes – The Roasted Vegetable by Andrea Chesman (who has a couple other good vegetable books). :)
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Those look delicious! I love potatoes!
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Am I the only one who fingerling potatoes totally creep me out? They totally look like fingers to me. Ha! But creepy potatoes aside, the flavors look fab!!
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These look so good! I’m on a huge sweet potato kick right now… :) maybe ill try this recipe with them!
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Love anything with capers!
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Those look great! I never thought about roasting capers alongside potatoes before. It’s a great idea. Is it strange that since sounds like a good lunch, one roasted potato opened and warm and with a dollop of cottage cheese and some ketchup on top? Holy cow!
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Meagan Reply:
December 23rd, 2011 at 7:14 am
Oops, delete “since” in my second to last sentence!
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You are so right that the word “recipe” alone is enough to scare people away from cooking. I would absolutely hate cooking too if every time I ever made anything I had to carefully read through a long list of ingredients, shop for them, prep them, measure them precisely and then prepare them in a way that is unfamiliar or intimidating. Simple vegetable roasting is a great basic cooking skill that doesn’t require all that attention and effort and is a great way to show that techniques are more important than recipes. Those wrinkled little roasted fingerlings are gorgeous and I bet they’re so tasty!
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So I know it was just in the background, but I love the bowl full of ornaments! That’s such a good, simple way to decorate for Christmas.
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Is it just me or do they kind of look like little sausages before being roasted? ;) I love the salty bite of capers. These look so simple and amazing.
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This might be a silly question, but what do capers taste like? I don’t think that I’ve ever eaten them.*
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I love roasting veggies and especially love potatoes. This is a great new way to change up the traditional way I roast potatoes.
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That looks delicious! I love the crispy herbs the best when I make potatoes. Yum!
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Something about potatoes and parsley just rocks my socks. I guess the combination is just a match made in heaven!
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