Published November 1, 2010 in Cook’s Illustrated. Adapted by Crafty Farm Girl 2011.
Serves 4 to 6
This recipe is designed to work with potatoes 1½ to 2 inches in diameter; do not use potatoes any larger, but you can use slightly smaller ones. It is important to thoroughly cook the potatoes so that they will smash easily. Remove the potatoes from the baking sheet as soon as they are done browning—they will toughen if left too long. A potato masher can also be used to “smash” the potatoes.
INGREDIENTS
INSTRUCTIONS
Adjust oven racks to top and bottom positions and heat oven to 500 degrees. Arrange potatoes on rimmed baking sheet, pour ¾ cup water into baking sheet, and wrap tightly with aluminum foil.
Cook on bottom rack until paring knife or skewer slips in and out of potatoes easily (poke through foil to test), 25 to 30 minutes. Remove foil and cool 10 minutes. If any water remains on baking sheet, blot dry with paper towel.
Now here’s where I varied from the recipe.
First I found that the original 6 tablespoons of olive oil was not sufficient, so I’m calling for 8 tablespoons here – you may find you need even more. I think my potatoes were smaller than the ones they used in their recipe. They also rolled the potatoes in the olive oil before smashing them, but I did not see that this was necessary. The way that they “smashed” the potatoes in their recipe was to “space potatoes evenly on baking sheet and place second baking sheet on top; press down firmly on baking sheet, flattening potatoes until 1/3 to 1/2 inch thick”.
I thought that I would have much more control over the “smashing” if I used the flat side of my meat tenderizer. You can use a potato masher or a mallet covered with saran wrap if you don’t have one. I also found that once I smashed the potatoes I needed two parchment-lined baking sheets to fit them all.
I mixed the olive oil and chopped thyme leaves together and drizzled them over the potatoes, then seasoned generously with salt and pepper. 
Change oven rack positions to lower middle and upper middle racks. Roast potatoes for 15 minutes, then rotate pans front to back and switch their positions. Continue to roast until well browned, 20 to 30 minutes longer. Serve immediately. I do think you’re going to need to pay attention to them in the oven, regardless of the timer. A lot of the timing is going to depend on how large the potatoes are and how thick or thin you smashed them.
My kids loved these things and were fighting over them. My husband liked to have roast chicken on Sunday nights. The kids get sick of it so I don’t do it all the time, but this added an exciting new twist to the normal Sunday roast chicken dinner that had everyone happy. You could easily serve these as an appetizer at a party too, although I might throw a little chopped cooked bacon on top of them to just add a little something more.