Ten secrets for golden crunchy roast potatoes

Today John’s brother Rob and his girlfriend Steph came to visit. We made roast vegetable quiche with onion gravy and roast potatoes. The roast potatoes were a particular hit with our non-vegan guests, so I thought you might be interested to know our technique for mouth-watering golden crunchy roasties that hit the spot every time!

Golden Crunchy Roast Potatoes – perfect every time!

So, our ten secrets for a yummy golden crunch on your roast taters are:

1.The right potatoes. The results you get will vary according to the type of potatoes you use. Avoid waxy potatoes. Most supermarket potatoes tell you what they’re good for. You don’t need fancy ones (though you could try them if you like), but you do need ones bred for roasting and/or versatility to get a good result.

2. The right size pieces for what you want to achieve. Smaller pieces (about 2 cubic centimetres) will give you extra crunchy goodness. Bigger pieces (say 3-4 cubic centimetres) will give you  more of the fluffy filling. It’s your choice.

3. Pre-boiling. I pre-boil my potatoes for 10 minutes or so before putting them in to roast to help them be soft and fluffy in the middle. If you cook them for too long they could go mushy, so to avoid this drain them before they’re fully boiled.

4. Shaking them. Shaking the pre-boiled potatoes will make them fluffy around the edges – all the better for absorbing the oil and getting a lovely golden crunch. You can do this in the pan or in a colander. One or two shakes will do the job, you don’t want them to turn into mashed potato!

5. Coating in flour. If you sprinkle flour on the potatoes before roasting them then the oil will be well absorbed which also helps to make them crispier and lighter.

6. Pre-heat the oil. Putting the potatoes into hot oil instead of cold will help to seal them and get them sizzling immediately.

7. Extra-tasty oil. If you have oil that you have just used for roasting something else (such as roast vegetables to go in the quiche…) then re-use it for your potatoes! Alternatively you could use an infused oil to add specific flavours such as rosemary or garlic.

8. A long roast. Roasting your potatoes slowly on a medium heat will help them get really golden and crispy, as you can leave them in for a long time without them burning.

9. Lots of oil. It might not be that healthy, but it makes for dreamily crispy potatoes if you roast them in LOADS of oil!

10. Stirring. Regularly stir your potatoes during roasting to re-coat them in oil. This will avoid areas drying out and burning, and help them to crisp evenly.

We used all of the above techniques tonight, and the results were divine!

We’ve heard a technique for garlic potatoes. It involves adding a few peeled cloves of garlic and covering the roasting tray with foil for the first 10 minutes of roasting. Remove the garlic when you remove the foil. We haven’t tried this technique yet though, but will let you know when we do!

What are your secrets for a perfect roast?