It’s cold outside and when you’re half German, half Irish, that means one thing: potatoes to warm the soul. My love affair with potatoes is getting serious. I honestly think I could eat potatoes morning, noon, and night. I have tons of favorite ways to prepare potatoes depending on my mood, but this one takes the potato cake for best (and easiest!) bacon recipe.

Cherrywood Smoked Bacon Potatoes
Serves 1 German/Irish gal for dinner or 2 as a sidedish.
2 creamer potatoes
1/2 large white onion
Drizzle olive oil
Pinch garlic sea salt
Thyme, rosemary
3 slices cherrywood smoked bacon (I used Central Market brand)
Generous grating cheese (I used fontina and Welsh cheddar)


1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2) Slice creamer potatoes in half lengthwise, then slice twice lengthwise, rotate, and cut those three slices into cubes. Throw all the potato cubes into a nice enamelware baking dish. Do the same with your onion, taking care to cut your onion into similarly sized cubes so everything cooks evenly. Toss with potatoes.

3) Drizzle potatoes and onions with a bit of good olive oil, just enough to very lightly coat. Now is not the time to go overboard with oil. You’ll see why in a moment!

4) Sprinkle with a gentle pinch of garlic sea salt and a tablespoon or so of fresh thyme.

5) Lay three strips of glorious cherrywood smoked bacon on top of potato-onion mixture. For Heaven’s sake, buy good bacon. I suppose in a pinch, good thick cut will do but you really want the cherrywood flavor. Why? The bacon will crisp up in the oven while lending the sweet drippings to the potatoes. You’ll essentially roasting the potatoes in bacon fat whilst cooking bacon.

6) Roast for 45 minutes in preheated oven. Carefully toss once, halfway through, just to make sure your potatoes aren’t sticking to the bottom of the pan.

7) Grate your cheese while the dish is in the oven. An obnoxious amount of cheese. Baby, it’s cold outside and you need comforting! In reality, I grated probably 2-3 ounces, a mix of fontina and Welsh cheddar. Gruyere would be grand here too.

8) After 45-ish minutes, your potatoes should be golden and your bacon should be cooked through. Sprinkle cheese on top and pop back in the oven for five or so minutes, as long as it takes the cheese to get all warm and cozy with the bacon and potatoes.

9) Top with finely chopped rosemary for a hint of winter love when you pull the dish out of the oven. Serve immediately.

Dine well,
The Rose Table
@therosetable