To go alongside your roast beef or roast pork this weekend, why not try your hand at whipping up the perfect crispy and fluffy potatoes
The internet is awash with roast potato recipes, yet not all guarantee that perfect combination of flavour and texture. For a delectable accompaniment to your Sunday roast beef or pork, give Marzia’s garlic ‘extra crispy’ roast potatoes a whirl.
Marzia, a culinary expert and the brains behind Little Spice Jar, touts this as her “favourite way” to whip up “extra crispy” oven-roasted spuds, with just 10 minutes of preparation time. The beauty of this recipe lies in its simplicity, using only a few basic pantry staples that meld together to create “leave you with an extra crispy herb and garlic outer crust and are pillowy soft on the inside”.
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Marzia recommends russet potatoes for their high starch content, which helps achieve that “extra crispy and crunchy” finish.
Ingredients
- Half teaspoon of baking soda
- Five tablespoons olive oil (or melted animal fat)
- Two to four garlic cloves, grated or minced
- One tablespoon minced parsley
- One-quarter teaspoon dried thyme (optional)
Method
Ensure you chop the potatoes into uniform pieces for even cooking – a mix of sizes could result in some being crispy and others too soft.
Place the potatoes into a large Dutch oven or stockpot, season well with salt and the baking soda, then give them a good stir to combine, reports the Express.
Adding baking soda to boiling water turns the liquid alkaline, allowing the potato skins to “break down the exterior of the potato quicker”. The result are fluffy insides with edges that “crisp up in the oven and provide that crispy texture”.
Boil the spuds until they’re half-done, which takes about eight to 10 minutes – use a paring knife for a resistance test. Drain them but pop them back in the same pot after.
Give those tatties a vigorous toss in the pot using a large metal spoon. You want to rough them up to create scrappy, soft edges. This step ensures those edges get super crispy once they hit the oven heat.
Next, lavish your potatoes with three tablespoons of oil or animal fat, don’t skimp on the salt, and pepper is a must for that extra zing.
Spread them on a baking tray with space between each piece – you’re setting them up to roast perfectly. Give them 45 minutes in the oven at a good heat, remembering to give them a turn halfway through.
With just three minutes left on the timer, whip up a garlicky dressing. Mix grated garlic, two more tablespoons of oil, parsley, thyme, and warm it all up in the microwave for 30 seconds.
When the roasting time’s nearly up, pull out the potatoes, give them a mix and anoint them with your flavourful garlic concoction, ensuring an even coat.
Put the potatoes back in the oven for a further 10-15 minutes, or “until you can smell the garlic wafting through the kitchen and the potatoes are golden brown and crispy looking”.