Halloween Roasted Potatoes

Today I'm bringing you a no-nonsense dish, super quick, simple, and impressive! Perfect for celebrating the spookiest night of the year, this Halloween roasted potatoes recipe is going to be a hit!

Potatoes are a great go-to to accompany anything you cook. And if you're setting up a Halloween table, this recipe gives you the edge! Because we're going to turn some simple skin-on roasted potatoes into faces so scary and monstrous that they'll become the most applauded dish of the night.

This tuber has the perfect firmness to cut and hollow out the parts you want and carve a horrifying face, with much less effort than carving a pumpkin. Also, by roasting them unpeeled, we nail it, because the skin around the hollowed parts dries out more than the rest and creates a much more fun effect.

To mark where you'll cut, you can use an awl or just do it directly with the knife you'll use to hollow them out; ideally a vegetable and fruit knife like this one from Opinel, whose sharp, curved blade will work wonderfully. And if you feel capable of creating a masterpiece, you can arm yourself with this complete Westmark Set, which being perfect for decorating pumpkins, can handle anything!

Potatoes ready and tools at the ready, let's get to the recipe!

Ingredients

• One large potato or two medium potatoes per person*
• Extra virgin olive oil.
• Aromatic herbs to taste: rosemary, thyme, oregano, etc.
• A pinch of salt

*As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, this recipe isn't very complicated. But there's one important thing for it to turn out well: choose a good potato variety and try to make the potato sizes as similar as possible so they roast at the same rate.

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 180 °C.
2. Wash all the potatoes well and dry them with a cloth or kitchen paper.
3. Carefully, using a knife, make the nose, eyes and mouth on each potato. To make it easier, you can draw them first by marking them with the tip of the knife and then hollowing out each part little by little.
4. Place the potatoes in a baking dish, with the side where you've drawn the face facing up, and add a little oil, the aromatic herbs and a bit of salt.
5. Put the tray in the oven and roast at 180 °C for 25 to 45 minutes, depending on the size of the potatoes.
6. When you see them golden, they'll be ready to serve. You can poke with a skewer to make sure they're completely cooked.
7. Bring them to the table and enjoy them with your favorite sauces, or with some good melted cheese.

Notes

• If you decide to roast large potatoes, before placing them on the tray you'll bake them on, make two or three holes with a skewer or toothpick in the back to help them roast evenly through and through.
• Roasted potatoes are a top-notch side for any dish. And with melted cheese it's a perfect pairing. Take advantage of preheating the oven to roast the potatoes and also put a cheese baker with a camembert, a little oil and a sprig of rosemary. An exceptional pairing!
• Don't throw away the scraps from cutting the potatoes! You can leave them covered with water in the fridge until the next day and add them to a purée or fry them and put them in an omelet. Or add them in a ramekin on the same oven tray alongside the potatoes, and let them roast (with a bit of salt, pepper, oil and thyme you'll have a snack... that with some spicy sauce or mayo will fly off the table).
• Dress the potatoes however you like. For example, you can add some unpeeled garlic cloves to the same tray as the potatoes and then, at the table, use those roasted garlic cloves to flavor the potatoes. You can also serve them with your favorite sauce or an herb-infused or spicy oil.

Recipe variations!

• If you want to ensure they roast quickly, prefer a bite-sized option rather than a side dish, or serve a very attractive snack, you can slice the potatoes instead of roasting them whole. That way, you'll spend a bit more time "drawing" eyes and mouths because you'll have more to do, but it's easier since the cuts are thin and you'll save a lot of baking time.
• You can also use sweet potato! Roasted sweet potato is delicious, so you can make whole roasted sweet potatoes or slices of monstrous roasted sweet potato for Halloween too... or just to liven up an ordinary day. Kids will love it!