For something that is an essential part of Sunday lunch every weekend, why are roast potatoes so frequently underwhelming? Leathery, chewy and lacking in flavour, you wonder are they worth the carbs? Well, no more! Check out these bad boys…

The Reces are going to give you the secret of perfect roasties – crunchy on the outside, fluffy on the inside, every single time!

The Ultimate Roast Potatoes

Recipe by The Recs SCDCourse: Food

Servings

servings

Carb heaven awaits you with these crispy, fluffy roast potatoes

Ingredients

Potatoes (we go for Maris Pipers for extra fluffiness) – depends on portion size you like and the size of the potatoes themselves – at least 2 per person
Vegetable Oil
Salted Butter
Sea Salt
Three whole sprigs of fresh Rosemary
One sprig of fresh Rosemary – leaves picked and chopped finely
Garlic Granules (optional)
Thyme a small handful of leaves (optional)

Directions

Peel the potatoes, dropping the potatoes into a bowl of cold water so they don’t discolour.
Cut your potatoes into small-medium chunks and return them to your bowl of water – probably about 2″ / 5 cm, but make sure they are all roughly the same size so they all cook at the same time.
Pre-heat your oven to 220ºC (or 200ºC if you have a fan oven)
Fill a pot about two-thirds full of water. Add a decent amount of salt. And bring it to the boil on a high heat on the hob.
Rinse your bowl of potato chunks under a cold tap – to get rid of the starch and sediment
Add the potatoes into the boiling salted water – it’ll probably stop boiling so let the water return to the boil (it took six minutes on our cooker in case that helps with timings). When it’s bubbling away again, turn the temperature down a little and simmer the potatoes for 10 more minutes.
Fill a sturdy baking tin with vegetable oil enough to cover the base with at least a fingernail of liquid. For non-vegans, add two large knobs of salted butter. Then put the tin into the pre-heated oven
After 10 mins of parboiling the potatoes, it’s time to test them. Put a long sharp knife into the biggest chunk you can see. If you feel it resist, they aren’t ready yet so leave them boiling for another two minutes and then test with another potato. If the knife goes in easily with little resistance, then they are ready.
At this point, before you do anything with the potatoes, add two or three whole sprigs of fresh rosemary to the baking tin in the oven.
Drain the potatoes in a colander. Then give them a good shake about in the colander to rough up the edges. Don’t shake so hard that the potatoes disintegrate but also don’t be shy. Those rough edges are the key to super crispy roasties.
Add these fluffed up potatoes to the baking tin – !!! be careful as the oil will be sizzling hot – better to add each potato individually with tongs for safety !!!
Use a tablespoon to cover the top of each of each potato with some oil the hot oil.
Put the baking tin back in the oven for 15 mins and don’t open the door at all.
While they are baking, put a scattering of sea salt, the finely chopped rosemary leaves, the thyme leaves and 1 tsp of garlic granules into a casserole dish with a lid (or even a Tupperware box)
After the initial 15 minutes in the oven, it’s time to rotate the potatoes. At this stage, the underside of the potatoes should be crisp and golden brown, but the tops will be lighter. Turn each of them round completely, making sure the pale sides are now in the oil. And cook for another 10 minutes.
So in total, the potatoes have been in the oven for 25 minutes. Take them out of the oven and rotate them one last time ensuring the palest parts are face down. If they are already looking quite crispy and golden brown, give them five more minutes in the oven. If they look like they might need more, give them 10 more minutes and check again.
Once golden and fluffy, take the potatoes out of the oven and place them in the casserole dish that has the seasoning mixture in it. With the lid on, very carefully rotate the dish so the seasoning covers the potatoes evenly – and serve!