It's so good, my family ate the whole pan.
In a sea of food and travel shows that have tried, and mostly failed, to capture the post–Anthony Bourdain magic, Stanley Tucci’s Tucci in Italy feels like a rare exception. Maybe it’s the proudly bald head and those ever-so-slightly professorial, owl-like glasses. Maybe it’s the quiet charisma. Tucci makes watching someone eat bowls of pasta and wheels of cheese feel not envy-inducing, but genuinely interesting.
The last time I really clocked Tucci, he was playing Anne Hathaway’s Fairy Godfather in The Devil Wears Prada (and yes, he’s back for round two). Lately, he’s been firmly in his Italian-food era, with a new season of Tucci in Italy dropping May 18. And with Easter coming up, I remembered that Tucci isn’t just a pretty face eating plates of prosciutto; he also cooks. So in celebration of his new show, and mostly because I needed a very easy side to feed my family on Sunday, I decided to test his roasted potato recipe.
These roasted potatoes are a bit like Tucci himself: classic, but with an unexpected oomph of flavor, thanks to roasted garlic and fresh herbs.
And if you’re thinking, wait, isn’t Tucci strictly pasta and prosciutto, consider this your reminder that potatoes absolutely have a place on the Italian table. In Northern regions like Tyrol, they’re a staple, showing up in everything from dumplings to simple roasted sides like this one.
In other words, you can serve these with full confidence.
How I Made Stanley Tucci’s Roasted Potatoes
The recipe is blissfully straightforward: Preheat the oven, then toss peeled, quartered potatoes into a large baking dish. While I followed Tucci’s guidance, my gut said the pieces were a bit too big to get the craggy, crispy edges I’m always chasing in a good roasted potato.
Next, you add what makes this recipe shine: halved garlic cloves and chopped rosemary and oregano. The garlic is left in halves to gently infuse the potatoes rather than deliver that sharper, punchy flavor you’d get from mincing, which feels very on-brand for Tucci.
Top it all with a good glug of olive oil, toss and roast for a solid hour and a half.
A few notes for Tucci, if he’s listening: Even after an hour and a half in the oven, the potato pieces felt a touch too large to get truly crispy. If you’re after that golden, shattery exterior, I’d cut them smaller, about half-thumb-sized.
Also, I accidentally ate a couple of the garlic cloves. My family didn’t mind, but it’s not always the most pleasant bite. Next time, I’d leave the cloves whole and keep them slightly separate from the potatoes to avoid any surprise mouthfuls of mellowed, but still intense, garlic.
Regardless of my notes, my family polished off the entire dish, confirming that the “Tucci Tatoes,” as we’ve dubbed them, deserve a permanent spot on my table.
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