Ina (and Emily)'s English Roasted Potatoes
It's St. Patrick's Day, and since I've mentioned before that we aren't really "stew people," I figured roasted potatoes would be an appropriate post! These are in Ina's Modern Comfort Food cookbook, but the recipe is actually from Emily Blunt. It's her family's English Roasted Potatoes, and while there is much more work than your usual roasted potatoes, the end result is totally worth it.
Let's break it down.
PREP
Just peeling and chopping up the potatoes, no major prep necessary.
COOK
My typical go-to for roasting potatoes is tossing them with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and roasting at 425 for about 45 minutes. This? It's much different. You simmer the potatoes in salted water, then drain, then put them back in the pot, shake them up with the lid on to "rough them up", and then they need to dry for AT LEAST 15 minutes on a cooling rack. For those out there counting, we're already at about 30 minutes into making these, and they haven't even gone in the oven, yet. Towards the end of the time they're cooling, you stick a baking sheet in the oven that's covered in vegetable oil (or in my case, sunflower oil), and let it get to its smoking point...then take it out, add the potatoes and toss them in the hot oil, then BACK in the oven for 45min to 1hr at 350. But that's not all! While they're in the oven, you'll want to toss the potatoes occasionally to make sure they're browning evenly. As you can tell from my picture above, I got a little impatient, and didn't let them brown nearly as much as the photo in the cookbook.
REVIEW
Okay, besides the fact that I was cursing like a sailor at how long this was taking, the end result was DELICIOUS. Will I be making these again? For sure, but with a caveat: I will make sure the next time I make them, I will do all of the pre-oven cooking well in advance since the potatoes, once boiled, can sit at room temp for up to 6 hours. They were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, in a way you can't achieve with the way I normally roast potatoes. Thank you, Ina and Emily, for this delicious "must make" potato recipe.
