Simply Delicious (v)--Roasted Fingerling Nuggets

I know...potatoes. How boring. How simple. How non-hedonistic.
Well, I'm sorry. I had intended on regailing you with tales of a delicious feast composed of the best vegetarian meat loaf you'd ever had, stewed kale with cipollini onions, roasted fingerling nuggets, a mixed herb salad with my house vinaigrette (even though I am still apprehensive about giving up my "secret" recipe) and a caramel apple tart finished with fleur de sel. However, the meatloaf was mushy, although it could be due to the fact that I pan-fried it instead of baking it because I was short on time. It was also a little too salty for my taste. The stewed kale with cipollini onions was decent, but lacking something still undetermined. Possibly tomatoes? We shall see. As for the mixed herb salad, it was pretty generic as far as salads go, and I think I need to add the herbs a little more aggressively--it turned out to be only slightly more herbaceous than say...grass. The vinaigrette is still under wraps, I'm having issues with letting it go. The apple tart had more of a run-of-the-mill apple pie taste and was sort of "fast-foody" texture-wise, rather than the sticky caramel apple wrapped in buttery pastry I had imagined. It was also, by the way, a complete waste of fleur de sel. Back to the drawing board I suppose. Hopefully, when we revisit them post-makeover they will be shiny new versions of their former selves ready to take on the world, and your palate. Until then, I have this to offer you, perfectly roasted, little golden brown nuggets of French Fingerling goodness. It's not rocket science, and it hardly requires a recipe, but sometimes people (like me) need to be reminded that some of the best food requires only a handful of (quality)ingredients and minimal preparation.

Roasted Fingerling Potato Nuggets
:
10-12 fingerling potatoes, scrubbed, dried, and sliced into 1" rounds
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 400F. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and toss to evenly coat all potato nuggets. Arrange potatoes cut side down in a single layer on a large cookie sheet or jelly roll pan. Bake in preheated oven for about 30 minutes or until golden brown, stirring potatoes halfway through the cooking time.

Serves about 8, generously; 10-12 reasonably.

Just a thought: you could scoop the flesh out of each nugget somewhat after baking and mix it in a bowl with some sour cream, a little chives, salt, pepper, maybe some cheese (vegan or regular), possibly some bac-uns...and then pipe it back into the shells for a hors d'oeuvre type snack. Just a thought though, I haven't tried it. If you do, let me know how it turns out.

happy eating,
~c