Lori’s Smashed Skillet Potatoes

I made these last night with a slight modification. I threw a few garlic cloves into the water and then kept them in the pan when frying them up. They were fantastic.

Not only do the potatoes sound heavenly, so does the cabin! I'm so jealous! Thanks for sharing this recipe, and I'd love to see the pasta recipe! :)

Thanks for the easy recipe . The flavour of olive oil and pepper are great …appetizing!

Thanks for this easy recipe.The flavour of olive oil and pepper is appetizing .

Mmm potatos always make me happy, and there are so many easy ways to use them to the best advantage! I love the planning ahead of camp cooking and it's wonderful in how simple it would be to simply bring them along and get help smashing them for the pan. No doubt there would be volunteers for that job!

I made these with baby Dutch yellow potatoes on a stove much more rustic than the Wedgewood (but with full electricity and running water, lol), and they came out beautifully. I also used Lawry's instead of salt and pepper, because crass as it might be, Lawry's still marries well with fried potatoes.

that cabin looks amazing!! thanks for sharing your weekend with us.

Your story popped up on top of my gmail and because i love potato's I had to look. The cabin in the woods the food, what's not to like about that. My mother used to cook potato's for nearly every meal. And my personal favorite was sliced thin and fried till crunchy, I like texture and i can see how these smashed potatat's could go over so well. We lived in a rustic cabin up by kyberz when I was young, had a river out our back door. Your story brought back a lot of good memories. Thanks ang happy holidays everyone Mark just100dollarbills.com

How long do you fry scallops before you make them get tuff or brown too much???

It sounds like you had such a fabulous time. I've never had to cook when camping, but I can't imagine what it would be like if I did. It takes me an hour to whip anything up as it is! Pre-prep never even occurred to me. Now, I'm off to the store to pick up some stuff to try some smashed potatoes...

One of my favorite memories as a kid was my grandma's fried potatoes sprinkled with loads of pepper. Nothing like potatoes for comfort food. Thanks for this fantastically easy recipe. It is sure to be a hit with my family!

Oh, if only we could take that beautiful home and put it in the little city I live in. I would love a home like that. And thanks for the easy but (I'm sure) wonderful tasting recipe. It reminds me of how my great grandmother used to cook.

Wonderful story, images that brought tears to my eyes and memories of a stove like it under a different name in the countryside of England. And the recipe seems like one that would be very easy and yummy to do for my young ones! Thanks

Great story and great recipe! Thanks!

I would LOVE to cook in that kitchen. Please let Lori know if she ever needs a house sitter. ;)

My father used to make this for us. He called it Lapskaus (sp?) a German-Czech combination, usually with meat. So leftover potatoes were always something to look forward to...for breakfast lunch or dinner. I always have a a little jar of chopped nuts with spices in the fridge and sometimes for a simple meal all I need is the potatoes(or pasta) with a dusting of this nut mix. Mmm, I'm off to the kitchen to make some.

Oh, Yum! My mother makes these and I never get tired of the crispy, brown outside and the creamy inside. So many wonderful herbs compliment these potatoes but my favs have to be garlic rosemary. Thank you for the beautiful pictures and the wonderful tale of your weekend. Your recipes are always lovely but your writing brings me back every week. The art of telling a good story is so rare today and you have a true knack for evoking images with words. Don't ever let it go.

How wonderful to be pleasantly surprised! Usually when you are surprised by camping accomodations, the surprises are not pleasant! And the potatoes look and sound delicious. Simple food is so great in the wild.

I make these a lot, too. I thought I invented the recipe. :) I add parmesan cheese, a splash of milk and butter (instead of olive oil). They're delicious with meatloaf or chopped steak or anything you'd serve with mashed potatoes.

Seems simple enough!

Indeed, those rustic potatoes look good! Adding a handful of chopped fresh rosemary would be fantastic. And Heidi, great photo, as always. :-) Greetings from Mexico!

Fatastic! I almost always pre-cook potatoes the night before, so they're ready to turn into whatever as soon as I get home from work, but I never thought of smashing them in the skillet! Brillient! (I'm a new blogger, by the way - hi!)

Lovely cabin! Absolutley gorgeous stove! I'd be happy to just sit and watch someone cook on it...esp those potatoes !

These are great indeed! I make them in the oven too and my son calls them Defeated Potatoes because I flatten them with the potato masher before they go in and they look like they've been stomped on by a dinosaur or some other large creature only an 11-year-old boy who aspires to be a comic book artist could dream up.

I spent a whole week in a rustic cabin without running water earlier this fall and cooked to my hearts content (for myself and for my blog), enjoying how methodical and relaxed I had to be about the process. You have no choice but to savor it and then savor the food that results. But you're right in that it's all about the preparation thought you put into it before you even pack the car. Beautiful photos!

As one of the lucky guests for this lovely weekend, I can attest to the delicious-ness of these potatoes! To have these little gems prepared so artfully in such a gorgeous setting - wow! I've tried them myself since with some success - i can never capture that outdoor flavor inside and Lori's touch, but I can imagine...

What a wonderful sounding weekend! Good company, good food, and a relaxing location...what more could you ask for!

These potatoes popped up on my gmail, and I linked straight over. They look beautiful, and a touching story, not least Lori's comment! I make something similar to these with chorizo, garlic and pepperdew peppers added. They're meant to be an accompaniment but often I'll find myself working out what I can eat with them to have them, or just making them on their own! Picture here : http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/762/dsc0320op9.jpg

Gorgeous. Just gorgeous. And that stove... to die for. What a wonderful family treasure to have. I love how food is a part of that living heirloom as well. Thank you for sharing.

Wow...what a kitchen! What...dare I say "Smashing!" potatoes! OK now that I look above, I'm not that clever, it's been said. Oh well, I am writing it anyway!

First time posting as well... seconding Liz's compliments! I get so excited every time a new recipe pops up at the top of my Gmail page. These potatoes look delicious! I can't wait to play with this recipe. Just out of curiosity, what was the main dish? Thanks for your delicious recipes, beautiful pictures and inspiring stories!

What a wonderful post, lovely read, gorgeous cabin and yummy potatoes! And thirding (is that a word?) request for pasta & zucchini recipe. And seconding Liz's comments about your website. Just a smashing place!

First time posting... Seconding the demand for the pasta&zucchini recipe! The concept sounds interesting/good enough to experiment with now, but it's always nice to see structured recipes for further inspiration. Ms. Swanson, I really enjoy the way you talk about food and making it. Other websites I've seen compared to yours are almost strictly recipes, and, almost needless to say, I don't frequent them nearly as often as I show up here looking for ideas. You're doing a wonderful job, and it is appreciated. Thank you.

The potatoes are great, but more than anything I love that cabin!!!

Those smashed potatoes look gorgeous! What a great cabin! Cheers, Rosa

When camping, substitute rice noodles for normal pasta. Easy enough to soak in a bowl of hot water to "cook" them... If you want regular pasta simply cook it until it is al dente (if you take a piece of pasta out of the water and it is cooked on the outside with a little core of white in the middle when you bite off the end, it is al dente). The pasta will store MUCH longer this way and will be perfectly cooked when you reheat it (which, when camping can be done by throwing it into some boiling water for a few seconds or, more easily, by mixing it with the sauce or garnish over the heat for a while).

Loved your story and those great images. I could almost smell the food cooking and feel the fun that transpired. What a day brightener! Thanks.

Why wait till zuke season? Pester her now for the pasta recipe so no one forgets to mention it later! Do you suppose she just cooks the pasta to the point that only another minute is needed for al dente? That way it finishes cooking and gets hot in one move. Wow on the potatoes. I know these are yum. It's what we used to do with leftover new potatoes. Just never thought of cooking them to do this on purpose. Yes!

What a lovely resourcing week-end you had. Your friend has a nice cabin and her potatoes looks great!

I know the backwoods, off roads of Mendocino well and they are enchanting and scary all at once. This cabin certainly looks like luxury up there. The feeling of the place, as well as the smashed potatoes, evokes so many good feelings. Thanks for sharing that~ jeni

That was the weekend we were in San Francisco! I remember because we missed the chance to see you this time. Then again, now that I see the cabin (ay carumba, I'd go there any time!), I don't feel bad anymore. And thanks for labeling this gluten-free!

I was not nearly as interested in the recipe as I was in the stove-I have almost (mine does not have the side oven-but everything else-including the Wedgwood label) the exact one in my house!! I thought it was joke and continued to read to see if someone I knew had sent it to me! Crazy small world!

Interesting and atractive In My country, Colombia we have "papas criollas" small yellow tender potatoes that grow faster than the ones you are familiar with. Those are made almost in the same way you have in this recipe and when they are too small are just fried and served with salt:"Papas Criollas Fritas" Delicious!

Beautiful! The potatoes and the cabin. Sounds like such a great weekend getaway -- my New York City self is very envious!

How absolutely charming!

When you're going so rustic that you're short on stove top space, this recipe also works pretty well by sticking the smashed potatoes in the oven and roasting for a few minutes. No muss, no fuss, and voila - beautiful, golden-crusted potatoes! I like to season with some garlic and dill, for a bit of extra flavor.

I make these all the time. Except I call them Cracked Potatoes!

Yum - Heidi/Lori, these potatoes look great! Brilliant move pre-boiling them. That would be hugely useful for a ski weekend breakfast rather than waiting ages for water to boil on some cruddy stove top! The cabin looks beautiful. Glad you enjoyed!

Dear Heidi, I started reading and let out a howl of laughter! What a crack up to read about our weekend. And then, my eyes filled up with tears. This cabin was my father's second love and this post feels like a tribute to all the hard work he put into it so he and everyone he knew could enjoy it. Thank you for capturing what I never would have been able to. Now, I need to find a kleenex! Thank you, Lori

Rustic!