Sunday Roast 3: Roasted Potatoes


As you maybe understood, I am a big fan of some English tv chefs, as Jamie Oliver, Nigella Lawson and the often forgotten Nigel Slater. Nigel had a BBC program (among others), Real Food (even a book), in which he underlined in each episode a single type of food: potatoes, garlic, chicken…
I am a well known potatoes eater, so much that my father, when I was little, nicknamed me potato (in Italian doesn’t exist the neuter gender, so for us potato is a female noun)! I love potatoes in any shape or form: roasted, fried, boiled, steamed, jacked… Give me a potato and I will be an happy woman!
My search for the perfect roasted potatoes is going on since my first attempt of cooking. I read many recipes that were suggesting to shortly boil the potato chunks before to roast them in the oven, but it always sounded like too much fuss for something so simple… But it is not! It is the ONLY way to get a perfect crispy crust and a smooth, tender inside. They were so good! And they were wonderful even reheated in the oven the day after: still crispy!!!

Serves 4

8 potatoes
Duck fat (but you can use olive oil… Sure the taste of duck fat is unique…)
Maldon salt

Preheat the oven at 200° C.
Peel the potatoes and cut them in big chunks. Putt all the chunks in a saucepan full of cold salted water and bring to the boil. Cook for 5 minutes. Drain the potatoes.
In the meanwhile, put enough duck fat to cover with a thin layer the bottom of a big roasting dish. Heat it in the oven. When the fat is sizzling, add the potatoes (be careful with the hot splashes!), coat them with fat and cook in the oven, turning once, for 45 minutes or until golden.
Take them out of the oven, sprinkle with Maldon salt and serve straight away.

5 Comments

  1. Bonnie

    Parboiling is certainly THE best way to do roast potatoes! Another couple of tips I’ve learnt: after boiling, shake for a few minutes in a strainer to loosen the flesh, which will result in brown, crispy bits on the outside! YUM! Preheating the fat, like you did, is also very important. Choice of potato is quite important too… a waxy potato will not do the job – it has to be floury like maris piper!

    Looks like you enjoyed your roast! Can’t wait to hear more…

  2. brazilian soul

    Hi,
    but Nigella said that the BEST fat is goose fat… not duck fat!
    Ducks are not so fatty… well, not fatty as gooses!
    Am I right?

    Potrei anche smetterla con l’inglese, visto che sono italiana…. peraltro adoro le trasmissioni di Nibella e Nigel Slater!
    Scusa per la pedanteria, ma sta cosa del grasso d’oca/papera mi incuriosisce…

    😉

  3. cannella

    Fin qui mi son trattenuta dal commentare, ma oggi con le patatine proprio non resisto…anche a me incuriosisce questa tecnica, quidi per le prossime patate ci provo.
    Baci&abbracci, oh mia fonte d’ispirazione!!!!

  4. Piperita

    @Brazilian soul: assolutmente il grasso d’oca è normalmente considerato più untuoso di quello d’anatra, ma dato che in casa avevamo una quantità non indifferente di grasso d’anatra (dovuta al consumo smodato di confit de canard in scatola che si fa nella mia famiglia…) abbiamo usato quello d’anatra.
    Ma (e qui c’è un ma) io ho seguito la ricetta di Nigel Slater, NON quella di Nigella che prevedeva le patate ricoperte di semolino: la cosa mi lasciava troppo dubbiosa per seguirla…

    @Cannella: prova prova! Non farò mai più patate al forno in maniera diversa… 😉

Comments are closed.