mint baked potato wedges

Dining out life in Philly and on the Main Line has been getter better and better. We're crazy about the herb spiced grilled octopus served at Dmitri's two Mediterranean/Greek restaurants in the city and recently grilled octopus moved out to the burbs. Lourdas Greek Tavern right in the heart of Bryn Mawr in the space that used to house the business (Print Out Press) that for many years  photocopied the dr bob annual christmas card before it went bust and bob moved on to Kinko's. Okay, the grilled octopus is not quite the same as Dmitri's but like they say: "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush..." or something. Anyway the French fries in this place are addictive—dusted with dried mint flecks and probably too much salt.

This inspired us to try to catch that flavor in our own home baked potato wedges. Potato experts would know which potato is best for wedge baking but we had no clue. We went with the  upscale hype for Yukon Golds, cleaning the spots but leaving most of the skin intact. Then cutting in half lengthwise and then cutting lengthwise triangular wedges. We snagged the potatoes after a 30 minute wait for 3 whole red snappers, cleaned, 12 bucks total, not a deal to be found out on the Main Line. It was the Memorial Day weekend Snow Crab sale at the 69th Street Pathmark, The People's supermarket. $1.99 a pound, 50 cents extra per pound for steaming right there on the spot, regular, mild or spicy. bob waited patiently for the crab crowd. Years of training by Italy seems to have paid off.

ingredients

6 or 7 Yukon gold potatoes, cleaned, spots removed
olive oil
dried mint
salt and pepper
Middle Eastern red pepper (or paprika)

instructions

  1. Prep the potatoes and boil them in salted water about 8 minutes.
  2. Drain and put in a large bowl.
  3. Coat with the spices, all eyeballed to taste, and just enough olive oil to do the job. Mix up so the stuff gets spread around evenly.
  4. Bake in your oven at 350º for long enough to finish the cooking and brown them a bit.

notes

  1. This is all kind of vague, huh? Next time bob will have to take a more hands on involvement in production. But experiment a little. The result was really good, although the fish looked a bit ugly. Must be the fish heads, eh? Go easy on the salt.
mntbpto.htm: 28-may-2002 [what, ME cook? © 1984 dr bob enterprises]