Breakfast Potatoes

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Last week was one of those weeks.

Those weeks where you have approximately enough energy to get to work, get home, and go to bed. Those weeks when you develop a vicious summer cold and have five (five!) high school graduations to house manage.

Those weeks where the most exciting thing you cook is a pot of spaghetti, which is then scooped hastily into a lidded dish to give the illusion of a balanced lunch.

Do you have those weeks?

Fortunately, this lack of energy didn’t fully hit until after my parents headed home from their visit to North Carolina. And you know what having company means? Breakfast! And not just my normal dish of yogurt. We’re talkin’ hot, homecooked, fills-you-up-until-dinner breakfast.

Baking potatoes are fine and dandy, but the first new potatoes to find themselves suddenly exposed to the sunlight in a shovelful of soil are some of the most fleeting treasures of a summer harvest. Tender, moist, and thin-skinned, new potatoes coupled with a maturing spring onion make for one awesome breakfast.

There are all sorts of fancy things you can add to potatoes, but encourage you to avoid fancy. Onion, a little seasoned salt, some black pepper, and some oil in a hot pan are all you need. It’s amazing what you can create with just a couple of ingredients.

You might say that these look suspiciously like home fries. As a kid I probably would have called them hash browns. Now, for some reason, neither name seems right. So Breakfast Potatoes seems to fit the bill.

But! By no means should you assume that these should be limited to the morning hours. Serve ’em up alongside a steak with some steamed veggies. Or just on their own. They’re tasty like that.

So make some tonight! Or, if you’re having one of those weeks, maybe this weekend. I’ve had my week, but now there is stack of recipes and a fridge full of veggies calling my name.

Breakfast Potatoes

2-3 pounds of potatoes
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
1 tsp seasoned salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1-2 T oil

Scrub potatoes and remove any eyes. Chop potatoes into pieces no more than a half inch thick, leaving the skins on. Toss seasoned salt and pepper over potatoes and stir until seasonings are evenly spread. Set potatoes aside.

Heat oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add onion and saute until onions begin to caramelize. Remove onions to a bowl, leaving as much of the oil in the pan as possible. Add potatoes. Cook covered for 20-25 minutes or until thickets potatoes are tender, stirring occasionally to brown on all sides. Return onion to the pan and cook 5 more minutes.

Serve hot. This also makes awesome leftovers, but you probably won’t have any.