Potato Appetizer Snack Side Deliciousness

Sunday has turned into football watching day.  I don't think it's because anyone particularly likes football but rather the call of "the games on!" has become synonymous with "it's justification for laying around in jammies and not actually doing to help put the house back together even though the walls are all cracking and there is paper hanging from cracks in all the corners and the child's bedroom window is falling out day".

Since I was sick the day before, there's not a snack in the house.  It's amazing how little gets done when I spend a day laying on my bed feeling well and truly sorry for myself.  I mean the dishwasher backup continued, am I the only one who knows how to empty it.  I'm sure I am not, perhaps it's just that I'm the only one who would think about it?  Am I doomed to be the dishwasher backup emptier and reloader supervisor for the rest of my life?  I mean it's sort of like the toilet paper.  I actually walked in the bathroom the other day and there was a new roll of toilet paper balanced precariously on the empty roll of it's predecessor.  Who thinks of that?  I am sure it took more thought, work and mental process to decide to and then execute the opening and balancing of the new roll than simply changing it out.

I'm sorry, I digress.  We are here to talk about little fried rounds of delightful happiness making and I'm ranting about broken houses, dishwashers and toilet paper. We are here, really, to talk about food.

I think snacks are important on football day.  I like to nibble when I'm staring at the big tv cheering on millionaires who play with little balls for a living.  Ok, I'm being facetious but really, grown men?  In any event, this is the best, easiest, yummiest appetizer snack side dish you'll ever make.

The only make ahead is the fact you have to have cooked mini potatoes in your fridge.  So long as that is done, you're laughing. These, by the way, are also fantastic with eggs in the morning, noon, or night.  It's a breakfast dish, it's an anything dish.

Here we go:

Get some cooked mini potatoes
Get a frying pan
Get some sort of hot fat
Sea salt and any herb you love.

Place the potaotes on your counter, squash them with the heel of your hand.  Not to thin that they fall apart but far enough to crack the skin open and expose the potatoey goodness inside that we are about to crisp!

Squash the little darlings and heat up your favorite fat in a large skillet.  I use a non stick for this.  My husband was recently on a business trip to the UK and I had him bring me back a couple of jars of goose fat specifically for frying potatoes.  IF you don't have a business trip husband, feel free to use bacon fat, or lard or olive oil, whatever floats your boat works here.  It's more the method.
 

Get the fat really hot and lay the little squashers in, carefully.  They have to be in a single layer and as much as you want to futz with them, do not futz with them. You can give them a little shake to feel involved but really, just leave them.  You need them more than they need you at this moment in time. You will smell they're frying and you will see a little darkening around the edges, that's when you flip.  Carefully, we really want these to stay in tact.
  

Flip them twice, lay them on a board and sprinkle them with sea salt.  Serve them with your favorite dipping sauce. My son likes to use ranch dressing, I like garlic aoili.  Feel free to cheat here and thin a little mayonnaise with milk and grate some garlic into it, add salt and pepper. 

Sprinkle them with whatever fresh herbs you have.  They make a really cool appetizer and unusual finger food for a cocktail party or just for hanging around.