Crash Hot Potatoes and Blue Cheese Red Potato Tart

If you're like me, you ran out of ideas of things to do with all the potatoes we were getting pretty darn quick, and you still have some to use.. Two of my FAVORITE resources to turn to for new recipe ideas are The Pioneer Woman (I also like the Tasty Kitchen section of the site) and Smitten Kitchen. These are two of my roommate and I's favorites.

Crash Hot Potatoes
adapted from The Pioneer Woman

12 (ish) small round potatoes
olive oil
kosher salt
black pepper
herbs for seasoning

Cover potatoes with water and bring to a boil. Cook until fork tender.
While you're waiting for the potatoes, drizzle some olive oil on a baking sheet. This is what's going to keep your potatoes from sticking, so you want a nice thin layer spread out over the pan, not so much oil that your potatoes are swimming in it.
When your potatoes are done in the water, spread them evenly on the baking sheet. Take your potato masher and smush them down, just until it breaks and starts to flatten. Turn your masher 90 degrees and smash again. Repeat for all potatoes. The idea is to get nice little cohesive smashed potatoes that almost look like cookies on the sheet, but mine never turn out that way. Mine end up falling apart when I smash them, every time, without fail. So, I just bunch all the smashed potatoes together in the middle of the sheet and bake them like that. Works out just as tasty.
Drizzle a bit more olive oil over the tops of your smashed potatoes (use the good stuff), sprinkle with a bit of kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper, and season with whatever herbs you have on hand. Most recently I used the lovely rosemary from the delivery. Chop it up fine and sprinkle over the top.
Pop it in a 450 degree oven for 20-25 minutes. The potatoes will get a little crispy, but still be nice and soft inside. I love them with a dollop of sour cream, but I love just about anything with a dollop of sour cream. These will still be quite tasty without it.

Blue Cheese and Red Potato Tart
adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Deb at Smitten Kitchen lists a savory tart shell recipe that sounds delicious, but I use store bought pie crust and a 9" pie plate, and it still turns out yummy. All depends on how adventurous you want to be.

1 9" pie crust
1 lb small red potatoes, cleaned and cut into 1/4" slices
1 c heavy cream
1 egg yolk
1/4 lb crumbled blue cheese (I'm partial to gorgonzola)
1 T finely chopped herbs (my favorite we've tried so far is dill)
sea salt

In a medium sauce pan, lay your potato slices and cover with water. Add another 1-2" of water. Leave uncovered and simmer about 10 minutes, or until tender.
While potatoes are cooking, place your crust in your pan of choice and fit and trim to pan.
Drain potatoes, and if they don't seem dry, pat them dry with towels. Arrange potatoes, overlapping slightly, in circles around the pan. Think of a bullseye - that's the arrangement you should be going for. Once your potatoes are all in the crust, sprinkle your crumbled blue cheese evenly over the top.
Whisk the cream and the egg yolk together and pour over the top. Sprinkle a bit of sea salt and your chopped herbs of choice over the whole shebang.
Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes. This can be served warm or cold - I like it cold the next day for lunch!
Note - This will not set like a custard! While warm, it will still be quite jiggly (for lack of a better word). Don't overbake it!