The Best Roast Potatoes

Name: The Best Roast Potatoes
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 120 min
Total time: 125 min
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: Maris piper or king edward potatoes - however many you or your guests want to eat; Rape seed oil - you don't have to buy expensive fancy rape seed oil I buy the stuff that is about £1.30 from all major UK supermarkets.; Salt and pepper; Optional Rosemary (Fresh) - a few sprigs plus a head of garlic chopped in ½

Over a year ago 2,025 views

Prep: 5 mins

Cook: 120 mins

British Side Dish

Ingredients

Accompaniment

Method

1
Peel and chop your potatoes into reasonable size chunks - not too large and not too small.
2
Place in a pan and bring to the boil.
3
Meanwhile take a roasting pan and cover the bottom with the oil.
4
Don't pour too much in - just to coat the roasting tray plus a little bit - you don't want your spuds floating in oil nor do you want the spuds to roast dry.
5
Place the tray in a preheated oven and turn the oven up to gas mark 7 or 220 degrees C.
6
Put this in as your spuds start to boil.
7
Once your potatoes have come to a boil, simmer for at least 10 further mins.
8
Drain the spuds and let them sit in the colander for a few mins to dry out.
9
Shake them around so they just begin to break up on the outside edges.
10
Now take out the roasting tray and place on a hob ring on full heat.
11
Place your potatoes in the tray and make sure you coat them all over with the hot oil, turning them a few times.
12
If you have some rosemary sprigs then throw this in the tray as well at this point.
13
Now put the tray in the oven for 10 mins.
14
Check the potatoes and turn again so they still have a good coating of oil.
15
Turn down the oven to 200 C and repeat the turning of the spuds after another 20 mins.
16
Now turn down the oven to 180 C and cook until golden brown (this takes at least another 45 mins to an hour but it depends on your oven).
17
If you are using garlic then add the halved garlic to the pan with 45 mins or so to go.
18
Take your spuds out when cooked and coat generously with salt and pepper.
19
If you have some garlic serve this on the plate as well and squeeze out over your meat or on top of the roast spuds.

Chef's Tips

I love great roast potatoes but I am usually disappointed when I have Sunday lunch at peoples houses or eat a Sunday roast at a pub. Rarely are the roasties crispy and crunchy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. Usually you get a bland, tasteless, barely brown, often still white on the outside lump of spud. Try this technique with Rape Seed oil and taste the difference. Or if you want to go the very extra mile try replacing the Rape Seed oil with Goose fat (which you can buy from good supermarkets - it comes in cans).