I am the queen of the cooking rut. I find something I dig, and I make it like nine times in a 16 day period.

Recently, it was roast beef. I’ve decided that it’s easy to sear a roast and slap it in the oven for an hour or so on low temp and then serve rare and delicious beef to my appreciative family. And appreciative they are. This lends itself to sides such as baked or mashed potatoes, buttered asparagus, cold Caesar salad and hot rolls. This sort of meal is my husband’s proverbial cup of tea.

And when the feedback is positive, I respond. Like a puppy, I can be trained through praise. “They like it! They really like it!” And back into the oven goes another roast.

But even the most dogged (get it?) praise seeker and rut-dweller gets tired of sameness, so I started looking for ways to change the menu, even just a little.

For example, I recently made a “new” kind of potato. I know, I know, there is nothing new about the potato, glorious as it is. But this variation on the baked potato was met with rave reviews (and even a few late night leftover snackers).

Let’s call it The Smash Baked Potato. You see, we all love a baked potato around here. It’s hard to beat a steaming hot, perfectly baked potato with butter, sour cream, and a hit of salt. But what if we could make it better? Is it possible? I believe it is. You will too, after you try this.

I think it’s best to begin this process with Yukon golds, but I’ll be honest, I did a few russets as well and both were very good. The thin skin on a Yukon gold works well for this, but we work with what we have, right?

Smash Baked Potatoes

6 medium-sized potatoes (preferably Yukon gold, but whatever you have will do)
Olive oil
Garlic powder
Butter
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Boil several medium-sized potatoes until they are fork tender, about 15 minutes.

Removed from the water and pat them dry and place them on a cookie sheet.

With a potato masher, gently nudge the top of each potato until it sort of busts open, but don’t press down all the way. You just want to open the skin and make a larger surface area of the inside of the potato.

Drizzle the tops generously with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and hit each one with a dash of garlic powder if you are into that sort of thing.

Bake for 15 minutes or until the tops of the surfaces start to get brown and crispy.

You can serve them just like this, or dress them up with a little extra butter or melted cheese, bacon, whatever makes your cheeks pink.

The surface area brings so much extra to the party. You have texture, crunch and flavor that a baked potato (in all its admitted glory) cannot provide.

I kept walking past the refrigerator and popping a bit of that crispy goodness into my mouth throughout the evening. You see, my “big diet” begins again April 1, so the time is ripe for potatoes.

Serve this on St. Patrick’s Day to bring the luck of the Irish to your kitchen. And then shortly after, forget you ever met this little beauty, for it is not going to be on the list of approved foods for being swimwear ready by summer.