Crispy Parmesan Smashed Potatoes w/ Basil Pesto

Crispy Parmesan Smashed Potatoes w/ Basil Pesto. My basil plant has essentially turned into a bush. It is beautiful & it smells SO good, but I really needed to trim her down. This left me with a gigantic bag of basil. I have been dying to get my classic, basil pesto recipe on the blog. But I wanted to do it in a way that was a LITTLE more fun that pasta. So, I stuck with tasty carbs because, of course. And I landed on crispy, salty, delicious smashed potatoes & parmesan cheese.

The recipe itself is beyond simple. For the basil pesto, you can use any nuts other than pine nuts (walnuts or even pistachios are great). And, I won’t torture you with my diatribe on really good Extra Virgin Olive oil again, but I did link my favorite one here. A little twice baked action is how we get the potatoes crispy and delicious. Bake once, press and smash, drizzle with more olive oil, bake again.

This week has been… interesting. I forgot my camera, and I did a lot of cooking and behind the scenes on my Instagram stories. But I felt crazy without it! And then small little things kept happening. It was one of those “dark cloud” weeks, when you feel like you just won’t get out from under it all. But the plus side? Cooking helps. And if you are having a dark cloud kind of week, cooking can help you too. I throw on Gilmore Girls in the background, chop, sauté, bake, test recipes, and set my mind on just about anything else. What do you do when you need to distract yourself or get your mind off of things?

If you make these smashed potatoes or if you are having a dark cloud kind of week, comment below or tag me on Instagram @quartersoulcrisis! Let’s get each other through it or eat together.

[kindred-recipe id=”3204″ title=”Crispy Parmesan Smashed Potatoes w/ Basil Pesto”]