Potatoes Girarrosto-Style

Andrew Carmellini: Urban Italian; Day 6; Recipe 6

I made these potatoes Sunday night with ham and egg english muffins.  They were a disappointment to say the least.  Over a 90-minute period, the potatoes went in the oven, to the stovetop, back to the oven, then the stovetop, then the oven, finally finishing on the stovetop.  And during the entire process the onions never caramelized, the potatoes never browned and crisped properly.  And perhaps all the flavoring was overkill?  there was butter, olive oil, garlic, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, parsley, thyme, and rosemary.  Not only did the potatoes not taste any good, but it took 90 minutes for them turn out so bad.  I couldn't get over how this all could have been done on the stovetop in 20 minutes and with better results.  Sorry, Urban Italian, you have officially failed as a cookbook as far as I am concerned.  I have a couple more recipes that I will try still, just to be fair, but i'll probably be deaccessioning this cookbook from the collection soon.