It’s been a long, difficult week and the weather really hasn’t helped with grey skies and near constant rain. So I reached for on of my favourite comfort foods, roast potatoes. I grew up eating the perfect roast potatoes but it was only once I moved out and started cooking for friends that I realised just how good mum’s roast potatoes really were. If I wanted to impress someone, roast potatoes would often feature in dinner, the first time I cooked for Kenny I’m pretty sure they were there.
The perfect roast potato is crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside, a little salty, and with the perfect balance of the two textures. Once you know what you’re doing, it’s surprisingly easy to accomplish with no special ingredients needed. I know this might be controversial but you don’t need animal fats to make the perfect roast potatoes. In fact, my mother always disapproved of using anything other than vegetable oil. Animals fats like goose and duck (the traditional cooking accompaniments to this dish) often tend to overwhelm the flavour of the potatoes and, more importantly, have too a low smoke point – in other words its far too easy to burn the fat and ruin your potatoes. Keep it simple (and vegan!) and stick to a good basic vegetable oil.
The key basics for your best roast potatoes are simple, so simple you barely need a recipe. Grasp these and you’ll never have bad roast potatoes again.
- Use a floury potato if you can, Maris Piper always works well
- Par boil your potatoes
- Get your oven and oil really hot
- Plenty of salt
- Be patient – don’t be tempted to keep opening the oven to check on them
- Don’t let the potatoes cool when turning
No fancy tricks, no odd ingredients, no flour needed to try to guarantee crispness, just 3 cupboard staples that equal the prefect side dish. You might even need to do more than you think you need, they always have people coming back for seconds!
- Makes: Serves 4
Ingredients
- 1 Kg Potatoes (preferably a floury variety like Maris Piper)
- Vegetable Oil
- Salt (preferably something with large crystals like rock salt or maldon if you're feeling fancy)
Directions
Preheat your oven to 220 Degrees (200 fan/425 F). Grab a large roasting tray and add enough oil to come to about a centimetre up the side of the tray. You want enough oil to cook the potatoes but not drown them. Put the try into the oven while it heats to get the oil nice and hot.
Peel the potatoes and chop into medium chunks, about 2 inches square. Much bigger than this and the inside of your potatoes will cook too slow resulting in a stodgy potato, too small and it’ll be all crunch with no fluffy inside.
Place into a large pan and cover with cold water and a teaspoon of salt. Bring to a boil and simmer until the outside of the potatoes is soft but the inside is still raw, about 5 minutes. Drain the potatoes (don’t rinse them – I’ve seen this tip on some recipes and it’s just craziness!) and tip back into the pan you cooked them in. Put the lid on the the pan and shake lightly until the edges are fluffed up.
You’ll need to work quickly now so have everything you need for the next step laid out ready; salt, somewhere to put the hot roasting pan, and a large spoon. When the oil in the roasting try is really hot, so hot it’s shimmering, take the tray out of the oven and tip in the potatoes (very carefully!). Make sure the potatoes are well spread out and not crowded. Working quickly, coat the potatoes in the hot oil and sprinkle over a really generous coating of salt. Place back into the oven and let the potatoes cook for between 45 minutes and hour. Turn the potatoes every 20 minutes, working quickly so they don’t loose too much heat.
The potatoes are done when they’re a delicious, deep golden brown all over. Remove from the oil and coat in a last layer of salt before serving.
Notes
Allergy Notes; This recipe is vegan, gluten free, soy free, nut free … it’s the perfect allergy safe side dish!
