It’s not an overreaction to say that roast potatoes will either make or break a roast dinner. Meat can be cooked to perfection but if these accompaniments aren’t right, you’re guaranteed to feel totally underwhelmed.
The perfect roast potato needs to be golden and visibly crispy on the outside, all the while retaining a fluffy centre. This recipe will give you just that!
This recipe was given to me by my wife. She got it from her Irish father, and it had reached him after being handed down from generation to generation. My wife now modestly proclaims that her roast potatoes are better than her dad’s!
It’s a simple recipe and you’ll need around an hour to complete from start to finish. There are a few points which my wife states are crucial to achieving the perfect roasties. You need BOTH olive oil and beef dripping, not either or. And it MUST be a metal roasting dish. She has attempted the same recipe in a glass dish and they weren’t up to her usual high standards.
Method
To start, preheat the oven to 200°C or 180°C for a fan oven.
Then you’re going to need around 15 medium to large sized Maris Piper potatoes. You may prefer King Edwards or other variants. You’ll need to peel and quarter these, before placing in a large pot. Add salt and enough water to just cover the potatoes. Heat the pot and bring to the boil.
Whilst the pot is heating up, add 2 tablespoons of beef dripping to the metal roasting tin and place in the preheated oven.
Once the water in the pot is boiling, check on the potatoes every few minutes. It should take a maximum of 10 minutes to reach a satisfactory parboil ready for roasting. To check, poke them with a knife – the edge should begin to fall away but you should still have a slight firmness and resistance as you get towards the middle.
Take the pot off the heat, drain and toss until the edges start to flake away.
Remove the roasting tin from the oven and put the potatoes in it. Give it a shake to toss the potatoes and makes sure they all receive an even coating of beef dripping. Season with salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme, and a couple of cloves of finely chopped garlic. Drizzle olive oil over the top and return to the oven.
Cook for 1 hour in the oven, regularly checking and tossing the potatoes around to ensure they are golden and crispy on all sides.
Time to Enjoy!
Divide your roasties in to six portions, you can adapt the recipe to suit for more or less guests… Or if you’re like us, you can upscale to ensure you definitely have surplus to throw in a bowl and dunk in a reserve of gravy for supper!
Perfect Roast Potatoes
Dean (Dough Your Own Way)Ingredients
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
- 3 tbsp Beef Dripping
- 15 Large Maris Piper Potatoes
- 1 tsp Dried Rosemary (or fresh if you have it)
- 1 tsp Dried Thyme (or fresh if you have it)
- 2 cloves Finely Chopped Garlic
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200℃ or 180℃ fan.
- Peel and quarter the potatoes. Place in a large pot before salting and covering with just enough water. Heat the pot and bring to the boil.
- While the potatoes are cooking in the pot, put the beef tripping in to a metal roasting tray and place in the oven once up to temperature.
- Once the water is boiling, it should take around 10 minutes to parboil the potatoes. To check they are cooked, pierce with a knife and lift. The potato should slide off.
- Drain the water and toss the potatoes in the pot until the edges just start to break off and fluff up.
- Remove the roasting tray from the oven and place the potatoes in it. Give the tray a shake to toss and coat the potatoes in the dripping.Sprinkle the salt, pepper, garlic, rosemary and thyme over the potatoes and drizzle with olive oil.
- Return the tray to the oven and cook for 1 hour, regularly taking the tray out of the oven and tossing the potatoes to ensure an even, crisp coating.