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Bacon & Parmesan Wedges
When drooling over photos at foodgawker a couple days ago (they must be sick of seeing my photos there: 22 of the 48 ‘most gawked in the last 7 days’ photos were mine. Crazy!) I was inspired by some of the potato photos I saw.
It was 9am on a Monday morning when this recipe popped into my head. Not the best time ever. It hit me totally unexpected. Heck, I was still waiting for that big caffeine rush to kick in! The only coherent thing I usually mumble in the morning is; “Get away from me. Leave me alone. Can’t function… need caffeine“. But, I got a hold of myself and headed over to the kitchen. Just had to try it. My brain works in strange ways.
Oh boy, oh boy. Take everything that is good in life, and turn it into the best darn wedges.
Ingredients:
1 pound potatoes
1 small onion
1 garlic clove
6 bacon rashers
2 tbsp corn starch
2 tbsp Parmesan + extra for sprinkling
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp paprika powder (sweet or smoky, your call)
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp oil
cayenne
pepper
Directions:
A little over one pound potatoes. Give them a really good scrub, cut them in wedges and plunge them in a bowl.
Chop a small onion and throw them in with the potatoes.
Grate one garlic clove.
Mix the garlic with three tbsp oil and pour it over the wedges. Shuffle them around a bit until the oil is evenly distributed.
Cover the bowl with microwave-safe plastic wrap, pop them in the microwave and nuke them for about 8 minutes at full power.
Cook 6 bacon rashers until they’re brown and crispy, and drain them on a paper towel.
Grab a bowl and combine the cornstarch, onion powder, paprika powder, cayenne, salt and pepper with the dried thyme and grated Parmesan. If you like heavily seasoned wedges, you could double these amounts. Be careful with the salt, though.
Tip: You can leave out the salt, and just sprinkle some coarse sea salt on top of the wedges in stead.
Crumble in the bacon. The smaller the crumbles the better they’ll stick, mine were a wee bit on the coarse side. Give everything a good stir.
The wedges will be done by now. Be careful, the steam that comes out is pretty hot.
Transfer the wedges and onions to a baking sheet. I’ve placed baking paper at the bottom, you could also lightly grease the sheet. Sprinkle the seasoning all over the wedges and carefully toss them around a litttle to coat all sides. Sprinkle a little extra grated Parmesan on top just because you can.
Bake them for 25 to 30 minutes at 400F (200C), until they’re brown and crispy. And delicious. And sinful. And addictive. And … and and. Well, you catch my drift, right? If you take to these, you really should give my Parmesan Cottage Potatoes a try sometime! They’re delicious, too.
This is absolutely brilliant!!
You have the best recipes and photos. This looks fabulous. I LOVE your site!!!
Awesome, just what I was looking for.
YUM! Can’t wait to try them:)
…Holy Moly do these ever look good! I haven’t even had breakfast yet and now I want me some of these ‘taters… :o)
…Thanks Kay – Will def’ give these a try!
…Blessings… :o)
I just recently discovered your site, and have really enjoyed reading your recipes and looking at your gorgeous photos.
I do wish though that there were more comments from people who actually try the recipes instead of simply commenting that they “look” good (which they surely do!) I’ve also been struck by the fact that your bacon looks so much “meatier” than that that we get here in the states. I hope to try these potatoes, and when I do, I promise to come back and tell you how well we liked them! Thanks again for a great site.
These looks so incredibly good! Easy too.
@Anna:
I think that’s the problem with a lot of food blogs. They don’t really lend themselves for massive commenting. By the time you see a recipe, you only see the photos and don’t know how it tastes, by the time you’ve cooked it, it slips your mind to provide feedback. Taste is also really subjective. You’ll find lots of postings with feedback, though, also comments from people who say how they tweaked something, what they added and/or subtracted.
Now I have to google American bacon, because I don’t know the difference :)
This is very similar to a potato wedge recipe I learned at a cooking school, The Awaiting Table (www.awaitingtable.com) in the Puglia region of Italy. I take groups to cooking school’s in Italy every year or so and you can read about the trip on my travel journal at http://www.traveljournalbymichele.com. Enjoy!
Oh man, these look just as good as your peanut potatoes. They were a big hit at the BBQ last weekend.
Yum! I do roasted potatoes too, I usually skip the microwave step and just cook them all the way in the oven. The wonderful thing about this recipe is that it lends itself to so many different spice combinations.
Obviously, you always must have garlic and onions… I usually use shallots instead of onions, but onions work too… :-)
You can do touch of cumin, chili powder and cilantro…
Extra Virgin olive oil, and fresh rosemary….
Parsley & thyme….
Or whatever combination suits your fancy… I LOVE that you used bacon in this, genius, my dear. I’m afraid I’ll never make them without, ever again.
@naomig:
Normally I’d toss them in the oven like that, too, but I think the bacon might burn if it’s in the oven for that long. I always go crazy with different combinations! The sky is the limit, really.
I would have never thought of nuking (microwaving) the ‘taters – might have boiled them – so I appreciate this!
I have to say that I have tried about four of your recipes and every single one has been fabulous. I made the applesauce muffins the other day – for Nederlander friends, and they were a huge hit. The only thing I did differently was use Hak brand passionfruit/mango sauce (divine!) The addition of baking soda TO the sauce was an amazing science experiment, and I think really made a difference. THOUGH when I moved to Europe, I was told no one used baking soda, but baking powder (usually doubling the amount of what a recipe called for in baking soda, so to see that you bake with it on a regular basis is a good thing! ‘D I had some mailed to me, before I found someone who carries it. :-))
Thanks for your site!
@elizabethk:
Ohhhh the passionfruit/mango mix, have to try that one, too! The only bummer is you have to eat them the day you bake them or they’ll get dry.
Too bad you can’t use baking soda when you need baking powder, the times I’ve ran out of baking powder while I did 2 boxes of Arm’s & Hammer are numerous :)
Hello Kay, I have been reading your site for a few weeks, and have to say I love it. You motivated me and gave me also inspiration to use photoshop for scrapbooking. I even bought my self a recipe box and make recipe cards for that box. If you would like one to, I bought it here : http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/h285/index.cfm?pkey=xsrd0m1|16|||0|||||||recipe%20box&cm_src=SCH
It’s a bit pricey but to me well worth it :)
Your tuts of Photoshop are great to. There is another thing we have in common to, we are both Dutch :)
The perfect blend!! Looks so great. Great pics as always!!
I made these last night, and they were delicious. Mine didn’t get as brown as Kay’s. The only changes I made to the recipe was to omit the paprika and reduce the bacon to three slices. I’ve noticed that American bacon runs around 12-14 slices/pound, and I thought 1/2 pound of bacon would be too much! I thought they were better room temperature than hot.
@Tracy:
I always use paprika powder to give potatoes a color boost :)
Oh, I should gave goven quantities, I’ve used about 3 oz bacon.
Hi Kay! I’m planning on doing these tonight, but as I’ve no microwave, is there some alternative to that step? Thanks…great recipe as always!
@Carolyn:
I would probably parboil the wedges for a few minutes and lightly sautee the onions and garlic in stead. Mix them in a baking tray and sprinkle the seasoning on top.
Thanks for the quick reply! I just cut the potatoes up, so you’ve saved my evening! :)
Beautiful photos, as usual, and this is such a great idea. Quick enough to make as an afternoon snack for sure!
Oh man…another recipe to try. I should try reading your site when I’m not hungry!!
BTW…what is the purpose of the cornstarch in this recipe?
@Sara:
It will give your wedges a more even coating.
Those wedges look really tasty! The bacon and paprika take them so far beyond basic potato wedges!