If you were to ask my grandson what makes a ‘dinner taste really good’ I’ve no doubt whatsoever his answer would be roast potatoes. I always have to make them when I’m cooking his dinner as he doesn’t particularly like mash spud. He’d eat a panful if I let him..
I’ve found through a lot of trial and error over the years the secret to making a really decent roast potato is to use goose-fat. I’m using my own at the moment. (From the goose we had at Christmas), but it’s quite inexpensive to buy from your local supermarket. Aldi and Tesco do a good one.
Here’s my recipe for making delicious crispy roast potatoes that have a delicious soft centre..
Ingredients
- However many potatoes you’ll all manage to eat. A lot of folks swear by Maris Piper’s, but to be honest I don’t think it matters. I just use whatever I have in.
- Goose-fat.
- Water to boil your potatoes in.
Method
- Peel your potatoes, cut into a preferred size, cover with water and bring to the boil on your hob. Let them simmer for about 10 minutes until they are parboiled or just starting to soften.
- Meanwhile, turn your oven on to a high heat, add a good knob of goose-fat to an oven dish and put in oven so the fat becomes smoky hot.
- Drain off the water from the potatoes and transfer back to the hob so potatoes can dry out. Mines an electric hob, so I usually turn off the heat and put the pan back on the ring so they dry well.
- Once the potatoes have dried, distress them. All this entails is just shaking them about in the pan so they get a bit battered.
- Remove the smoking hot goose-fat pan from the oven and add the potatoes carefully. make sure they are well covered with the goose-fat before returning to a very hot oven to finish cooking.
- Once they start to crisp up after about 10-15 minutes, you can turn the heat down and finish cooking in a medium oven, it should take about half an hour.
- Drain on kitchen towel to absorb any excess fat.
They aren’t suitable if you’re dieting, but they do taste really good
NB A lot of folks add salt to the boiling potatoes, but I don’t as most of my family add salt to their meal. If you want to add salt to yours then be my guest…
