Oven Roasted Breakfast Potatoes

Labor Day week, and the holiday arrives in a pandemic year with the muted celebration of a country that is tired and divided and uncertain about what it is celebrating — the end of a summer that was not a summer, the beginning of a fall that will not be a fall, the persistence of a virus that has not read the calendar and does not intend to leave when the season changes.

Robert grilled ribs — his recipe, his contribution, the Blackwood tradition that has survived every disruption this family has endured. He grilled for three: Naomi, Robert, Mama. James was in Columbia. Carrie was in Atlanta. Joy was at Magnolia House. The smallness of the gathering was both pandemic-appropriate and heartbreaking, because Labor Day is supposed to be crowded and loud and full of the people you love getting their hands dirty with barbecue sauce, and instead it was three people on a piazza, one of whom did not know it was Labor Day and who ate ribs with the quiet satisfaction of a woman who does not need to know the occasion to enjoy the food.

I have been writing more in the journal — not just mornings now but evenings too, after Mama is asleep and Robert is reading and the house is quiet enough for words. The words are becoming something. Not the cookbook — not yet — but the architecture of the cookbook, the structure that will hold the recipes and the stories. I can see it now: not a collection of recipes but a memoir in recipe form, each dish a chapter, each chapter a piece of Mama's life, the whole book a portrait of a woman told through the food she made and the family she fed.

The vision is clear. The execution will take years. But the vision is the beginning, and the beginning is the hope, and the hope is enough to carry me from the kitchen table to the bed and back to the kitchen table the next morning, where the journal waits and the pen waits and the words wait for the woman who will write them.

I made potato salad — the Labor Day side, the dish that goes with ribs the way Monday goes with Sunday: inevitably, necessarily, without anyone questioning why. The potato salad was Mama's recipe — the mustardy kind, not the creamy kind, because Mama considers creamy potato salad "a mistake made by people who don't know what potatoes want," and what potatoes want, according to Mama, is mustard and vinegar and the respect of a cook who understands that potatoes have opinions.

Mama’s potato salad was the centerpiece of that quiet Labor Day piazza meal — mustardy and vinegary and entirely certain of itself, the way Mama has always been certain of potatoes. I’ve been thinking about potatoes ever since: how they ask so little and give so much, how they reward a cook who pays attention. These oven roasted potatoes carry that same spirit — simple, direct, unapologetically themselves — and on the mornings after a holiday that felt smaller than it should have, they were the kind of grounding that a quiet kitchen can offer.

Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 35 min | Total Time: 45 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

2 lbs Yukon Gold or red potatoes, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme (optional)
Fresh parsley, chopped, for garnish (optional)

Instructions

Preheat the oven. Heat your oven to 425°F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or foil and set aside.
Prep the potatoes. Scrub the potatoes clean and cut them into 3/4-inch cubes. There is no need to peel them — the skins crisp beautifully and carry flavor.
Season. In a large bowl, toss the potato cubes with olive oil, garlic powder, smoked paprika, onion powder, salt, pepper, and thyme if using. Make sure every piece is well coated.
Arrange and roast. Spread the potatoes in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet, making sure the pieces are not crowded. Crowding steams rather than roasts — give them room. Roast for 20 minutes.
Flip and finish. Using a spatula, flip the potatoes and return the pan to the oven for another 12–15 minutes, until the edges are deeply golden and crispy.
Taste and serve. Taste for salt and adjust. Transfer to a serving dish and scatter fresh parsley over the top if desired. Serve immediately.

Nutrition (per serving)

Oven Roasted Breakfast Potatoes — Because Potatoes Have Opinions