Thank goodness for the word “potatoes” at the end of this recipe title – otherwise, you’d think I was writing “A Modest Proposal 2.0”  Ok, enough dark jokes for the day and on to the latest entry in the quest for the perfect weeknight side dish.  Barely a recipe (I love these!), this one graced the table the night my darling husband decided to cook me an anniversary dinner.  Given that I usually rule the roost that is our kitchen, I welcomed the offer excitedly, looking forward to the special menu that he had in mind.  I’d been missing hanger steak a whole lot, which is apparently hard to come by at regular markets here in Phoenix, so he drove to the other side of town to Hobe Meats in search of the beloved butcher’s cut.  He decided to round out the meal with homemade horseradish sauce (*in best Racehl Zoe voice* I die!), creamed spinach and a recipe from this blog, my Summer Salad of Heirloom Tomatoes, String Beans and Fingerlings.  What a treat!

Fast forward to the day in question – after errands in the midst of the sweltering 110° heat, a trip to the always-crowded IKEA for a new office chair (so very necessary), we were in the mood to do nothing.  I brokered a deal where if Dennis put together my new chair for me, I would help him make the dinner.  And by help, that meant scrapping the summer salad for something that would require a lot less effort.  Cue the baby potatoes!  These little gems, the size of grapes, were screaming to be tossed in some good olive oil, herbes des provence and coarse grey sea salt.  In the amount of time that it took him to decipher the cryptic IKEA cartoon drawings for putting together the chair, my potatoes were already crinkly skinned on the outside and buttery soft in the inside.  All in 15 minutes.  Talk about a perfect anniversary, and I say that as I write from my comfy new chair.  Love you, baby!