Naked Potatoes

Kate,

It’s good to hear that you are making food that was a family favorite when I was growing up.  I learned to make them from Grandma Huntriss.  She was the one that called them "Naked Potatoes".  I don’t really know if they have a name.  They are so simple to make and satisfying too.  Just peel and half smallish russet potatoes; toss them veggie oil and salt then arrange them single layer in a baking dish, cut side down. 

Grandma always used a glass rectangle Pyrex baking dish, a clear one not a tinted one.  I know that any baking dish would work but, for some reason they can only be grandma's naked potatoes if they are baked in a glass dish, maybe it's because it the only dish I ever saw grandma use or maybe it is the way that they look as they near their finished state...anyway.  Grandma would drizzle the potatoes with a bit more oil - enough for her to baste them occasionally while they baked.  They were done when they their color was golden brown on the tops, and the bottoms, which became a deep golden brown released from the pan.  

What is so wonderful about these spuds is that, when made with russets, the outside has a crispy, crunchy, bite to them and the insides explode with soft potato essence. I guess they are nothing more than glorified homemade french fries but when served with slices of beef from a pot roast or a meatloaf, green beans and a salad they seem like so much more. 

I remember one time Grandma made these potatoes.  The pot roast was resting on the counter and the potatoes were finishing in the oven.  She was standing over her stove making beef gravy in the black roasting pan, the kind that everyone had, with the white speckles.  There she stood, mixing and stirring the flour and water into the beef dripping.  I was standing next to her, drooling, I'm sure, watching her make the gravy. She wasn't teaching me how to make gravy but I think I was learning through osmosis.  Any way she was humming as always, and asked, "What do you think? Enough?"  I didn't know how to tell her "NO!" More gravy, we need more!  My Mom came in about that time and said to Grandma, "Mom, I think we will need more than that!'  Poor Grandma, I remember her face falling a bit, disappointed that she had failed to calculate the amount of gravy needed ...Suddenly she smiled, and the humming started again, broken by a giggle and she said, "I forgot how to cook for a crowd! It is so good to have family here.  More gravy it is!  Isn't family wonderful?" 

I learned more than how to make gravy and naked potatoes that day.  I learned to sing and hum while cooking…something that my Mom did and I’ve heard you do too.  Isn’t it amazing what we learn in the kitchen?

Love,

Mom