Multicolored Roast Potatoes

After the crushing complexity of paella and the guilty pleasure of sliders I decided to write today about an old favorite of mine: roast multicolored potatoes. I remember the first time I saw colored potatoes: the lovely wife and I used to have a box of organic fruits and vegetables delivered to us from a coop in Brooklyn when we lived on the East Side many years ago. Although most of the time they seemed to deliver nothing but Swiss Chard, every now and then we would get some potatoes. Although they were usually of the red "boiler" type, one time we got a bag of dark potatoes with a photocopied insert extolling the blueness of the potatoes and also how the blue color was an antioxidant. Although I'm not sure I buy that part it is totally true that the potatoes have blue or purple flesh. They are also known as Peruvian potatoes.

Blue and red fleshed potatoes have become more common over the years. And, although I think the color is great, blue potatoes are a bit starchy for my tastes, and easy to overcook into hardened blue lumps. For this reason, I like to roast them with red skinned and white skinned boiling potatoes. Luckily, Westside Market is now selling a bag of potatoes containing all three types!!! I bought one tonight and proceeded to make the following recipe. Its easy, tasty, and easily serves 6 or more people as a side dish.

INGREDIENTS

One bag of red,white and blue potatoes, all one to two inches in diameter, washed (must have been a bit over 1 1/2 pounds)
Olive Oil
1 tablespoon of one of the following: thyme, oregano, sage, rosemary
Liberal amount of salt

EQUIPMENT YOU WILL NEED

Heavy pan that can easily hold all of the potaotes and cover (I used tin foil, its a fine cover)

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash potatoes and dry them. Place oil at bottom of pan (enough to coat the potatoes) and heat on stove. Add potatoes, spices and salt and mix together so that the potatoes are covered. Keep on flame about five minutes, turning when you remember too. Cover pan and place in oven. It usually takes about 40 minutes to cook potatoes. They are done when they are soft and you can easily stick a skewer in a larger one. If you want, you can put the oven up to 500 degrees and uncover the potatoes for a few minutes at the end to brown them up a bit. Serve with meat for a complete experience.