Crash Hot Potatoes

The other day, my sister Jillian was raving to me about the Crash Hot Potatoes she made for her family. She found the recipe on The Pioneer Woman, a recipe originally from Jill Dupleix. I had some some potatoes that needed to be used up, so I thought this would be great as a side dish this weekend. 

They look kind of burnt here, but I swear they weren't at all!

I started by putting the potatoes in a pot, and covering them with water by a couple inches. I cranked the burner up to medium-high (I never put my burners all the way on high - it's not good for non-stick pots and pans.) I put a lid on it, and let them boil until they were soft enough to easily stab with a fork.

Then, I drizzled some olive oil onto a cookie sheet... 

And then brushed it out evenly on the surface, so the potatoes wouldn't stick.

When the potatoes had been boiled enough to be soft, I set them on the cookie sheet and used my potato masher to "crash" them. 

I ended up with two sheets worth. 

I brushed a bit more olive oil on top of each tater...

The original recipes called for herbs, but I didn't have any on hand, so I just sprinkled the potatoes with some of our favorite spices. (I keep kosher salt in that little bowl. I'm obviously still working on my photography skills.)

Then, I popped them into the oven for about 20 minutes at 450 degrees to crisp up. 

Here they are when they came out of the oven!

 They were delightfully crispy and spicy. We ate them with our fingers, like french fries.

I will certainly be making these again! 

What is your favorite potato side dish or snack?