By I've been making a new video every week and a half or so — not quite weekly, I'm not ready for that pace yet. This week I filmed one on roasting vegetables: how to get them actually caramelized instead of steamed, why the sheet pan matters, the right temperature and spacing, what to do with them once they're done. It took two hours to film and three hours to edit and I'm getting faster each time.
The numbers are hard to understand. The chicken soup video has nearly 8,000 views now. A second video I posted about Dutch oven bread has 4,200. Each time I post, the existing videos get another bump. I don't fully understand how the algorithm works but I can feel it working, the way you can feel weather changing without being able to explain the barometric pressure.
I've started getting emails. Not just comments — people finding my contact info somehow and writing actual emails. Mostly asking questions: can I freeze the bread dough, what if I don't have a Dutch oven, can you do a video about soup for kids who won't eat vegetables. I answer every one. It takes time but it feels important.
The workshops continue on their regular schedule. Two community centers, Debra's pantry once a month now. Ethan drives himself to seminary. Olivia is thirteen and excellent and occasionally furious about things I don't fully understand. Mason turned eleven in September and asked for a cooking class as his birthday gift — I took him to a knife skills class at a kitchen store and he was the youngest person there and held his own completely.
October is here. The kitchen smells like apples and cinnamon and ambition.
The roasting vegetables video I filmed this week kept coming back to one truth: the right technique turns something humble into something you can’t stop eating. These Irish Herbed Potatoes are exactly that kind of recipe — the one I keep coming back to after a long editing session when I want something reliable and deeply satisfying. They follow all the rules I talked about in the video: hot pan, proper spacing, high heat, and a little patience. Mason would absolutely approve.
Irish Herbed Potatoes
Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 35 minutes | Total Time: 45 minutes | Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs baby or small Yukon Gold potatoes, halved
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
- 1 tablespoon fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- Flaky sea salt, for finishing (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven. Heat your oven to 425°F. Place a large rimmed sheet pan inside while the oven heats — a hot pan is key to getting a crispy bottom on the potatoes.
- Season the potatoes. In a large bowl, toss the halved potatoes with olive oil, garlic, rosemary, thyme, salt, and black pepper until evenly coated.
- Roast cut-side down. Carefully remove the hot pan from the oven. Arrange the potatoes in a single layer, cut-side down, with space between each piece. Crowding the pan will cause steaming rather than caramelizing.
- Roast until golden. Return the pan to the oven and roast for 30–35 minutes, without stirring, until the cut sides are deep golden brown and the edges are crispy. Check at 30 minutes — they’re done when a fork slides in easily and the bottoms are caramelized.
- Finish and serve. Transfer to a serving dish, toss with fresh parsley, and finish with a pinch of flaky sea salt if desired. Serve immediately.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 220 | Protein: 3g | Fat: 10g | Carbs: 30g | Fiber: 3g | Sodium: 370mg