Do you have a favorite go-to potato dish? For the past year, mine has been rosemary potatoes. I make them as a side for almost everything and the leftovers are fabulous for breakfast.
Roasting used to be my main preparation method…that is until I fell head over heels for the “crashed” variety (as made popular last summer by The Pioneer Woman Cooks). I just love sinking my teeth through that crispy, salty exterior to get to the soft fluffy goodness on the inside. And with the olive oil and rosemary…so savory and wonderful!
The only slight drawback to these otherwise perfect potatoes is that between the boiling, smashing and roasting it take upwards of an hour to get them on the table. No problem on a weekend, but for a midweek dinner it’s a little more time than many of us can devote. How could I speed up the cooking time while still keeping the outside nice and crisp and the inside nice and soft? Hmmm…
Yeah, I didn’t need to think too hard on that one – the good ol’ panini grill comes to the rescue once again! I still boiled the potatoes first to keep them really soft inside but instead of smashing (crashing) them I very carefully sliced them in half. Then I basted on the olive oil and sprinkled on my coarse salt, freshly ground black pepper and chopped fresh rosemary. Grilled them cut-side down to crisp them up and get those lovely grill marks and voilà! I shaved at least 15 minutes off the cooking time and got the same flavors and nearly the same texture. I’ll call that success!
P.S. I’m entering this recipe into Noble Pig’s Potato Ho Down for February. Check out the roundup of potato recipes on Noble Pig on Wednesday, February 18, 2009.
Grilled Rosemary Potatoes
Serves 4
INGREDIENTS:
4 red potatoes
Olive oil
Coarse sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
Sour cream (optional for garnish)
DIRECTIONS:
Add potatoes and 1 teaspoon of salt to a large pot of cold water. Bring to a boil and cook potatoes until they are fork tender, about 20 to 25 minutes depending on the size of the potatoes.
Preheat the panini grill to high heat.
Carefully slice each potato in half (they will be steaming hot!) and lay them on the cutting board cut-side up. Brush olive oil onto each potato and sprinkle each with salt, pepper and rosemary.
Place each potato cut-side down onto the panini grill. Brush more olive oil onto the skin-sides of the potatoes, sprinkle on more salt and pepper and close the grill lid so that the grates touch the potatoes without compressing them. Grill for 5-7 minutes until the potatoes are crisped and golden grill marks appear. Serve immediately and enjoy!
Panini Happy, online since 2008, is more than just a sandwich blog. Here, you'll find hundreds of my original 
Those are gorgeous!! What is it about grill marks that makes everything look that much more delicious? ;D
awww they look gorgeous! love the grill marks.
Beautiful potatoes! Great idea using the pannini!
What a fantastic idea! It simply would never have occurred to me.
These look tasty! What a great idea! Great site!
It amazes me how far Krysta and Cathy’s Potato Ho Down is still spreading. They’re the best and it’s a fun event.
I just found your blog after I bought a panini maker this past month. Am really enjoying it. 🙂
This is brilliant! What a delicious recipe idea… I’m all for quick and easy and delicious!
These look amazing! Now I know what I’ll do next time I have leftover herbs…I recently threw out some rosemary that was getting brown because I forgot about it! Love these little red potatoes.
Rosemary brings out so much flavor can’t wait to try this. Thanks for sharing.
i’ve decided that rosemary is the perfect herb for potatoes. no other herb will do. these look scrumptious!
What a great idea. They look delicious.
I am a TOTAL HO when it comes to rosemary potatoes… and these look absolutely delicious.
Bet they’re just super with a panini 🙂
These look great! Rosemary is my “go to” herb. I’ve made Pioneer Woman’s crashed potatoes (with rosemary), but like the idea of using the panini press. Going to try these soon.
Definitely with sour cream. Most definitely.
oooh, I love rosemary potatoes. I usually do them in the oven too and then splash them with lemon juice. I’m definitely going to try them panini-fied!
I just made the “crashed” potatoes tonight for dinner. Next time I will have to try them this way. I will say that in order to speed up either of these methods you can microwave the whole potatoes in a microwave steamer bag for 8 min. I only do that in a pinch since I try to avoid the microwave when ever possible. but it works.
Those look great!!
That looks absolutely delicious!
I don’t really have a go to potato dish. But last week I taught one of my co-workers how to make mashed potatoes from scratch 🙂
These look great! The crispy grilled surface looks delicious.
Total noob and neophyte cook here. I made these for my daughter tonight. Couple of pointers the new guys might want to use.
Don’t overcook the potatos prior to putting in the grill.
Lots of EVOO on the potatos prior to putting in the grill.
We both enjoyed this, thanks mucho.
E
These potatoes look awesome!! I love those grill marks. You are really tempting me to buy a panini maker.
You sure can make the humble old spud look amazing!!! Perfect and the photos are stunning too!!
Simple, beautiful and delicious.
Potato and rosemary are so perfect for each other. Delicious.
Cheers,
Elra
Haven’t tried grilling them (yet), but roasted rosemary (and garlic) potatoes are my favorite!
They look absolutely perfect. Love, love love potatoes. Great photos!
Rosemary and potatoes are a natural. Love the grill marks. Makes me hungry.
Here’s a work saver for cleaning the Panini or any other raised rib grill. I went to my local hardware store and purchased a welder’s cleaning brush with one and one half inch stainless steel bristles. It has a 8″ long plastic handle and can be thrown into the dish washer after daily use . Makes a tough job easy and the SS bristles are sanitary.
Potatoes and rosemary are a perfect combo. Well done!
This recipe is a keeper. I love grilled foods!
Oh thank you thank you! My favorite thing in the world used to be the Rosti (LA) rosemary potatoes and I tried for years to replicate… I think this is it!
Ah, I hope this doesn’t s0und stupid, but could I substitute the panini grill with a george forman grill? It’s all I have. 🙂
By the way, I’m just dying to try this out! It looks absolutely divine.
Absolutely! Anything that will allow you to grill. 🙂
Ohhhh those images just absolutely hooked my attention. My husband is the cook in the house and he’s having a potato fix. He cooked potatoes last weekend and he tells me he wants potatoes this weekend again. Maybe next week we can look into grilling and adding rosemary. I imagine that would smell divine 🙂