Roasted smashed potatoes with frozen peas, crumbled feta and pesto! This is an easy side dish that comes together on one baking tray using inexpensive ingredients – with incredibly tasty results!
This big heap of messy potato goodness is helping me use up all the potatoes we grew this year, and I am loving it.
I’ve tried the potato pea combo many different ways, and I’d say this version is pretty much perfect. With a mere seven ingredients, it’s really easy to put together. The peas are frozen, the pesto can be pre-prepared so the only thing you really need fresh are potatoes and a lemon (though the lemon is optional, and not a deal breaker).
I love how the sweet juicy peas contrast with the crispy smashed potatoes, the two things feel so right together.
Add in the pesto drizzle, the little feta morsels, fresh chives, it’s really tasty and vibrant and summery (though easily made year round).
What are smashed potatoes exactly?
Smashed potatoes are just roasted baby / new potatoes that have been smushed up a little.
After parboiling, we smush them to break up the skins, creating more surface area and more “nooks and crannies” so that the potatoes cook in a less uniform way. You get lots of crispy outsides including skins and exposed bits, while maintaining soft insides.
Smashed potatoes aren’t any harder to make than normal roast potatoes, because while you do need to go through the smashing process, you don’t need to chop them first, so it evens out.
Recipe Notes – Ingredients & Variations
- I use baby / new potatoes for this recipe, and while the size itself isn’t super important, you want them to be similar in size to each other. Otherwise they don’t cook evenly. If your potatoes are much smaller or larger than mine, you’ll need to adjust the cook time up or down.
- I cooked these potatoes for 30 minutes for a softer result with crispy edges, but another 10 minutes will make them exceptionally brown and crispy. Up to you!
- I use a store bought basil pesto, but I did experiment with different homemade pestos when making this recipe. Avocado pesto, mint and cilantro pesto, all sorts. It all works well, but I didn’t see any reason to go out of your way to make a unique pesto for this recipe. Please feel free to use what you have or what you like.
- I’ve added chives, which are totally optional. Any herbs you have would be welcome, but again optional.
- I’ve used frozen peas because let’s face it, we all have them, most of the time. It’s super easy to just defrost them and then add them to the baking tray. If you’re using fresh, you’ll need to pre boil them to soften them up before adding to the baking tray.
- You’ll note this makes 4 servings. I designed this recipe to fit on a medium baking tray, but you can easily to scale up and down if you want to feed a bigger or smaller group.
These potatoes will make an excellent side dish to any meal you want to throw them at. If you want to make a meal around them, try adding a roasted portobello mushroom, grilled halloumi cheese, or some vegetarian sausages for an easy dinner.
Smashed Potatoes and Peas with Pesto
Ingredients
- 500 g (18 oz) baby potatoes
- 4 Tbsp olive oil
- 160 g (1 cups) frozen peas
- 2 Tbsp feta cheese, crumbled
- 2 Tbsp basil pesto
- 1 lemon
- chopped chives
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 390F / 200C / 180C Fan.
- Boil the potatoes (whole) for 8-10 minutes until just soft enough for a knife to go through easily, but not so soft that the skins are coming away.500 g baby potatoes
- Drain the potatoes and pat them dry. Arrange them on an oiled baking tray and smash the potatoes using a potato masher, or the bottom of a small cup or ramekin. You want them to stay whole, but flat, with the skins broken and some of the flesh exposed.
- Drizzle each potato generously with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.4 Tbsp olive oil
- Place in the oven for 25 minutes, or until they are browned and crisped to your liking.
- Meanwhile, add the frozen peas to a colander or sieve and pour hot water over them for a few moments to start them defrosting. Then place them in a bowl over some paper towel and set aside. This will allow them to continue to defrost and dry out a little.160 g frozen peas
- Once the potatoes are ready, add the peas to the tray with the potatoes. Place back into the oven for about 1 minute, just to heat up the peas.
- Remove from the oven and add a small squeeze of lemon juice over the peas and potatoes.1 lemon
- Drizzle the pesto over the potatoes and peas, and scatter the crumbled feta and chives on top.2 Tbsp feta cheese, 2 Tbsp basil pesto, chopped chives
- Serve immediately.
Notes
- I use baby / new potatoes for this recipe, and while the size itself isn’t super important, you want them to be similar in size to each other. Otherwise they don’t cook evenly. If your potatoes are much smaller or larger than mine, you’ll need to adjust the cook time up or down.
- I cooked these potatoes for 30 minutes for a softer result with crispy edges, but another 10 minutes will make them exceptionally brown and crispy. Up to you!
- I use a store bought basil pesto, but I did experiment with different homemade pestos when making this recipe. Avocado pesto, mint and cilantro pesto, all sorts. It all works well, but I didn’t see any reason to go out of your way to make a unique pesto for this recipe. Please feel free to use what you have or what you like.
- I’ve added chives, which are totally optional. Any herbs you have would be welcome, but again optional.
- I’ve used frozen peas because let’s face it, we all have them, most of the time. It’s super easy to just defrost them and then add them to the baking tray. If you’re using fresh, you’ll need to pre boil them to soften them up before adding to the baking tray.
- You’ll note this makes 4 servings. I designed this recipe to fit on a medium baking tray, but you can easily to scale up and down if you want to feed a bigger or smaller group.
what oven temperature?
Sorry, it’s 200C / 390F and I have added that in now as well as clarifying some of the instruction text.