Lately I feel the urge to use a lot of spices in my cooking. In fact, I always use a lot of spices, I’m simply addicted to them, and lately so much more. (For some reason.) I believe that even the most simple dish can turn into the star of the meal – if you only spice it up properly.

For the past 3 years I’ve been planting a number of herbs in the garden of my family, until last year I’ve been also growing plants in my balcony, such as spinach, arugula, various herbs, early-type of green salad, even chilies. I think this year I won’t be doing it because the place we live in has become far too polluted due to the increasing amount of cars passing by, not to mention 3 big constructions taking place in our vicinity. Unfortunately.

Sigh.

I still have lots of spices I dried up last summer, such as basil, parsley, thyme and rosemary, and the other day when I wanted to roast some potatoes for lunch, I grabbed my mortar and pestle and pound these spices together in order to give my potatoes some nice aroma. And what an aroma that was!

You need:
your favorite type of potatoes
good quality olive oil

Spice mix:
thyme
basil
rosemary
parsley
Spanish smoked paprika
coarse sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

1. First, let’s prepare the spice mix. Make sure you got good quality spices. Put thyme, basil, rosemary, and parsley in the mortar and pound them for a few minutes, so that they release their intoxicating aromas. Resist smelling them from too close, or else they will make you sneeze.
2. Transfer the spices into a little bowl, cup or whatever you have around. Add Spanish smoked paprika, salt and pepper and finally, the olive oil. Stir and set aside.
3. While you are preheating your oven (180ªC), peel and slice the potatoes thinly (3-5mm), wash and dry them well, then transfer into a baking dish. Add the spiced oil mix and stir well to coat all the potatoes.
4. Roast until golden brown. Serve directly from the oven.

You can eat these potatoes on their own, with a bowl of salad, or as a side dish to any type of meat/meal.  I guess I don’t need to tell you what a nice smell filled the entire kitchen flat while roasting.  I really liked the smoky touch of Spanish paprika. I’ve prepared these potatoes twice in a week time and now as I’m writing this, I kind of started feeling hungry… Hmmm!

Related posts:

1. Oven roasted peppers
2. Tomato and onion sautéed chickpeas with scrambled egg and rosemary roasted potatoes
3. Seabream with potatoes
4. A Portuguese bean dish
5. Planting spices out of season