Ultimate Roast Spuds
We spend a lot of time in our house thinking, talking about and eating potatoes. We love them. Although to be fair, I have a ways to go in my potato adoration apprenticeship compared to my Irishman.
per person
takes: 90 minutes
2-3 medium potatoes
2-3 tablespoons oil or fat
small handful flavourings, optional
1. Scrub yous spuds and halve or quarter so they are around golf ball size.
2. Place in a medium saucepan and cover with cold water. Add salt and bring to a simmer.
3. Simmer for 20-30 minutes or until the potatoes are tender when tested with a knife
4. Drain and allow to sit for a few minutes to evaporate some of the steam.
5. Preheat oven to 250C (480F). Approximately 5 minutes before you are ready to roast, pop your roasting tray in the oven with the oil or fat to preheat.
6. Add the drained spuds to the hot oil and toss to coat. Season generously with sea salt flakes and pepper.
7. Roast for about 30 minutes. Stir. Add flavourings, if using.
8. Continue to cook until lovely and crisp (45 mins – 1 hour total roasting time).
Variations
different varieties – floury potato varieties such as king edward, maris piper or sebago give the lightest, crispest, fluffiest spuds. Waxy spuds like dutch cream, pink fir apple, kipfler, or desiree have lovely flavour but the texture isn’t as good for roasting – better than no spuds though!
peeled potatoes – you can peel but the skins actually add lots of potato flavour, so we tend to leave them on in our house.
oil or fat – duck fat is the ultimate potato roasting vehicle. Beef tallow or lard is also good. Saturdated fat phobes should choose an oil that will withstand the high temperatures. Macadamia or peanut oil would be my pick. Butter tends to burn but if you clarify it by melting and removing the butter oil from the top
flavourings – our favourite is fresh rosemary leaves. Sometimes we also pop in a handful of unpeeled garlic cloves. Occasionally we might use fresh chillies or thyme instead of the garlic, but not very often.
crushed spuds – sometimes we crush the spuds with a fork when we add them to the hot oil. This gives greater surface area and more bits to go lovely and crispy.
More Spud Roasting Tips: Go to:
http://thestonesoup.com/blog/2009/09/the-perfect-spud-how-to-roast-potatoes/
Waste Avoidance Strategy
Keep all ingredients in the pantry.
Leftover Potential?
OK. Better when hot from the oven. Will keep for a few weeks in the fridge. Leftover spuds are great to have on hand to toss in things like omelettes or warm salads.
Problem Solving Guide
burning – you’ve left them in the oven for too long! Next time check sooner and rember to turn after the first 30 minutes.
oily – either too much oil / fat OR not preheating the oil will cause this problem. For now, drain the spuds on paper towel to get rid of the excess oil.
not crispy enough – if the spuds aren’t first boiled for long enough, the surface won’t be rough enough to crisp up in the oven. Your variety of potato will also make a massive difference here. Waxy spuds don’t crisp up so try and track down some floury potatoes. If you’re not sure ask your veggie man or make a trip to the farmers market and ask a potato farmer! Another cause could be crowding in your roasting pan so try cooking less spuds at once.
too bland – be more generous with the salt. Next time leave the skins on. And try a different variety of potato.
Serving Suggestions
Best served HOT.
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Add to my Old Favourite Recipes
Are you sure about boiling for 20-30 minutes or is it a typo? We usually just boil for 5-10 max, then roast – otherwise the potatoes fall apart! Particularly the floury ones that are best for roasties.
I’m glad you asked Isobel – but 20-30 minutes is correct. They don’t fall apart – even floury varieties.
I like to get them completely cooked through before roasting.
But if you have small potatoes I guess you could get away with 10 minutes – if you’re happy with that – keep doing what you’re doing!
Are these types of potatoes available in the states? [king edward, maris piper or sebago give the lightest, crispest, fluffiest spuds. Waxy spuds like dutch cream, pink fir apple, kipfler, or desiree] I don’t see them at the local grocery store, do I need to go to a Whole Foods/Natural Grocers type of place? I only ever see russet and Yukon gold.
Great question Jenny!
Russets are floury – so I’d use them for roasting and
Yukon Gold are waxy – so if you use them the texture will be heavier and they won’t get as crispy – but will still be tasty!
Jx
Something I just learned is that lard (good quality lard) is actually mostly monounsaturated fat, like olive or avocado oil. So it should easily be an acceptable fat for roasting potatoes and all sorts of other uses.
Absolutely Susan! If you can find lard go for it! Yum!
mine are in the oven right now and i have to say i am literally AFRAID of my oven at 480 degrees! i’m sure i’ve NEVER had it up that high – and one of the 3 oven windows shattered last thanksgiving with the turkey in the oven (thank goodness it was in a bag!) – so we’re living with 2 oven windows and hoping for the best. i have the kitchen towel spread out across the handle in case i have an explosion! julies, did you think cooking class could be so pathetic/entertaining?? (: wanted to try this once, tho, altho i try not to be a big potato eater (i cut my carbs where i easily can and god knows i eat enough elsewhere). thank goodness we have the smoke detector circuit switched off right now! (:
My goodness Jody!
Are you still alive? How did the potatoes turn out?
LOVE roasted garlic Stacy!
I know it seems like an extra step to boil the potatoes first but it makes a MASSIVE difference to the texture… try it some time when you’ve got extra time up your sleeve.
We even skip the boiling part… cut into chunks, roll in some walnut oil, sprinkle with sea salt and roast in 400 degree oven for 45-60 minutes. We also sometimes do other veg like this… brussel sprouts, beets, carrots, parsnips, turnips, onions, zucchini, etc. We sometimes like to do whole heads of garlic. When they are done roasting we squeeze them out into a bowl and mix a bit of mayo with it to make a dollop of dip for in the middle of the veg.
Walnut oil is a good alternative to lard/duck fat then? I actually have walnut oil in the cupboard and I’m a vegetarian!
I don’t think walnut oil has a high smoke point Jenny – so it’s not good for cooking. Stick to using it for salads.
For vegerarian roast spuds use coconut oil or olive oil.
Jx