Even though I would love to tell you that my favorite thing to eat as a garnish is a carrot or a piece of broccoli, well, I would be lying. My favorite type of side dish has to include potatoes. Just check out our Perfectly Spicy Batata Harra recipe, and you will understand why.

Anyway, today is about another great meal made using the beautiful potato. The end result is some incredible crispy and tasty smashed baked potatoes served with some creamy garlic sauce.

Is there anything better out there? I really can't think of anything right now. And truth be told, I can eat this dish as stand-alone and not as garnish. More so, I could eat it for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

I am getting too emotional here, so better let me tell you how to make smashed potatoes and fell in love with them.

• Wash your potatoes, but don't peel them. By peeling the potatoes, you will eliminate the most crispy part of this dish.
• Place them in a pot, cover them with salty water, and boil them until fork tender. This should take around 20 minutes.
• Line an oven-proof tray with parchment paper. When the potatoes are boiled, place them on the tray.

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• Take a big chopping board or another tray and put it on top of your potatoes. Press as hard as you can to smash those potatoes good. If you can't get them all done in one move, smash them each one at a time.
• Drizzle the olive oil on them and salt them with some flaky salt.

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• Bake them in the preheated oven at 220 degrees Celsius (425 F) for somewhere around 30 to 45 minutes or until golden and crispy.
• While they are baking, let's put the garlic in the garlic smashed potatoes.
• Peel the garlic cloves and mince them. Add them to a bowl along with a pinch of salt and sunflower oil. With a spoon, start whisking the garlic until it becomes silky and smooth. It should not take more than a couple of minutes.

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• Add the crème fraîche and stir to combine. Taste and add more salt if need it.
• When the potatoes are all crispy and nice, place them on a garlic sauce bed and garnish with dill if using. Serve immediately.

I don't know who made baked smashed potatoes first, but that person was a genius. Anyhow, today, you can find  so many variations of this dish. From smashed potatoes with cheese to even smashed sweet potatoes (which I am sure will try one of these days), I am sure that there are very few combinations that were not tried.

* You can reduce the amount of garlic if you want, but I should suggest not go below 2 cloves.

** You can replace the sunflower oil with any vegetable oil, but make sure it doesn't have a very pronounced taste.

*** Don't forget to tag us on Instagram if you make our crispy smashed potatoes.