I don’t often call my food amazing. That er, isn’t quite me. I am really humble about my food.. I love what I cook, but I don’t shout about it. However there is something about the simplicity and beautiful taste of these potatoes that makes me want to scream it from the rooftops.  I kinda got obsessed about making the perfect roast potato a while back, and this the result.. But first, the rest of the recipe is really the same as: http://mattikaarts.com/blog/?p=19, but without the tapenade and mash potatoes.

 I have a thing about potatoes. I love them. Danika is a fiend for the things too. I decided a while ago to create my perfect roast potato.. But I guess I should start at the beginning, back in England.. Are we sitting comfortably? Then let’s begin….. For as long as I can remember Dearie (my mother) would always cook a roast lunch on Sundays. This was an English tradition, not just my household. Families would get together and have a big dinner of roasted meats and potatoes, vegetables, and if you were having roast beef there was always “Yorkshire Puddings”. What are those? Google them But I will make some and put them up on this blog too! Somewhat just roasted batter really. It was a great time, families stopped what they were doing for a few hours, and had a big meal. It was leisurely, normally at lunchtime, or just after. For supper (5-7pm) you would then just have something light afterwards.. because heck, you ate enough at lunch! Perhaps the most fantastic thing was that everyone did it. Even when I was a student living away from home for the first time, I always did a Sunday lunch. If when you were a kid, and playing over at a friends house, you were always part of their Sunday lunch. Everyone pretty much did the same thing.. If you roasted a chicken, then you did bread sauce (a mixture of spiced milk, bread, and a few other things.. absolutely delicious). Lamb? mint sauce. Pork? apple sauce. Beef? horseradish sauce and yorkshire puddings. My favorite? God, it was hard to say. Definitely not the pork.. I love pork as a meat, but the other roasts were better to me. A toss up between the chicken and the beef.. But really only the beef because of the “Yorkies”.

So. Potatoes were always done the same way for these. You would part boil a spud, and drain it. In a hot oven you had a heavy roasting pan heating, with some lard in it. When the lard was good and hot, you threw in the spuds, and tossed them in the fat. These went in the oven for 40 minutes. You would take them out after 20 and baste them in the fat. What came out was a potato that was amazingly crispy on the outside, and really fluffy on the inside. The secret too was to roll the part boiled spuds around in their saucepan (after you drained out the liquid). This made the edges more fluffy, so they held the fat better. These were good, but heavy. Lots of fat. Nothing wrong with real pork lard at all, but most families used the British equivalant of Crisco, which certainly isn’t any good for you.

So about a year ago now I came up with my own roast potato.. Somewhat a little more gourmet, but just as easy to cook. You take some fingerlings and part boil them. Cut the large ones in half if you have to, so they all are the same size. Part boil them until they are just tender when stabbed with a knife. Drain them. Roll them around to make the edges fluffy if you wish! Now, put a heavy pan in a hot oven. I actually use a frying pan here. A good heavy one. For me, a Calphalon One pan works great. These things are pretty heavy, and hold the heat great. If you have a cast iron pan (shock, horror, I don’t - cooking on electric never works with cast iron IMHO) certainly use that. Once the pan is hot, take out the oven (5 to 10 minutes in the oven). Pour in some olive oil. Add to this a handful of chopped rosemary. Chuck in the spuds, and season well with some good sea or kosher salt. Roll the spuds around in the pan, to coat them in the oil, rosemary and salt. Back in the oven they go for about 20minutes. The time here really depends on how well your pan holds heat, and how full you filled the pan. After 10 minutes, shake them around a bit more. Ohhh this is smelling good. Once done, take them out of the oven, and drissle with a little white truffle oil. Just a little.. This stuff goes a long way. Now serve them. Remember to keep a few behind for the cook of course! They are fantastic. The rosemary, salt and truffle oil just work perfectly together on a potato.

Somewhat of a hot day for a roast potato. But I don’t care. These are worth being way too hot for! Happy times people.. happy times.