Manageability – Boil and roast.
Oh you’re making potatoes? Sure I’ll come over and eat your potatoes. I freaking love potatoes. Fried, boiled, mashed, or even just the skins. Give me those damn potatoes and get out of my way. What’s that? You aren’t sure how you want to prepare them? Well I got you covered there too, doofus. Make these English Roast Potatoes from Confessions of a Baking Queen.
No, for real, these are amazing. A really fantastic way to prep your side. Boiling at first makes them nice and soft all the way through, then you get nice crispy golden edges all the way around. You should be warned, these take a really long time to roast. Boil for 10 minutes, then roast for 20 minutes, then 15, then 15, then 15. If you’re going to make these, don’t expect to enjoy them for at least an hour and a half. I guess the English had a lot of time on their hands in the past. Then again, what else were they doing in Bath in 1724? Reading books and gossiping while somebody plays the dulcimer?
Look, it is a lot of roasting, so keep an eye on them. Mine came out just a little too crispy. When it’s all done though, you WILL enjoy these. They’re fantastic. Because I love potatoes. I can’t believe the Irish made it through the famine.
Ingredients
- 2.5lb Potatoes, Russet or Yukon Gold, or just “yellow”.
- 2oz-4oz (¼-½ Cup) Oil, or enough to cover the bottom of roasting pan (Need a high smoking point, I use Avocado Oil)
- 1 Teaspoon Salt
- 1 Teaspoon Pepper
Instructions
- Boil water in a large pot. Their recipe has some garbage about using a kettle, but it felt unnecessary so I deleted it. Add ½ teaspoon of salt to the water.
- Peel and chop the potatoes. First, chop the two ends of the potatoes off, slice the large middle section in half lengthwise then chop those in halves depending on the size of the potato. Ideally, you are looking for a piece of potato that is two-three bites worth, nothing larger. Unless you have one of those giant mouths.
- Once the water is boiling add the potatoes and parboil the potatoes for 10 minutes. Turn the oven on to 425F to preheat while your potatoes are cooking and place a large roasting pan with 2oz of oil inside the oven to warm up while the oven preheats.
- Once the potatoes have parboiled take them out and drain in a colander. Shake the potatoes in the colander to rough them up for 30 seconds to a minute. If your oven is still preheating just let the potatoes rest until your oven has reached the proper temperature.
- Carefully take the hot pan out of the oven and add the potatoes, place in a single layer, giving them plenty of room to not touch each other, be careful not to splash the oil. Roast for 20 minutes then carefully flip the potatoes, let cook another 15 then rotate again, let cook another 15 and rotate again, after another 15 minutes the potatoes should be quite golden brown and have thick roasted skin, you may cook longer if desired. Hell, you can do anything if desired.
- Let the potatoes cool for five minutes before serving. Roast potatoes are best eaten right away but leftovers will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days.