Very crispy roast potatoes
INGREDIENTS
Serves 4-6 as a side
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1kg floury potatoes, such as King Edward, peeled
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60ml neutral cooking oil, such as vegetable or sunflower
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1 lemon, peeled and halved around the middle
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5-6 sprigs of thyme
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Pure sea salt, for finishing
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Black pepper
Any roast worth its salt counts roast potatoes as an essential component, and this is our favourite way to make them. As with our Perfect Oven Chips recipe, we soak the potatoes first to draw our excess starch and encourage those crisp edges that we all know and love.
Here, we roast a lemon alongside, which goes beautifully with the potatoes as it caramelises and turns jammy in the oven.
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Cut the potatoes into rough 3-4cm chunks and transfer to a large bowl of cold water to soak for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 220°C.
Once the potatoes have had their soaking time, lift them from the water into a colander with clean hands (don’t be tempted to pour them into the colander as this will wash the starch back over them). Allow to air dry for 10 minutes.
Pour the oil into a large (25x35cm) roasting tray and place on the middle shelf in the oven to heat for 5 minutes. After this time, remove the tray from the oven and arrange the potatoes in an even layer carefully as the oil will spit. Use a spatula to turn the potatoes over in the oil so that every piece is coated in oil all over. Shake the tray so that there is no overlap of the potatoes in the tray and return the tray to the middle shelf in the oven.
Cook the potatoes for 30 minutes, turning them once after 15 minutes, then remove the tray from the oven and add the lemon peel, halved lemon and half of the thyme. Return to the oven for 15-20 minutes, until the potatoes are deep golden and crispy all over.
Remove the potatoes from the oven and scatter over a generous pinch of flaky salt and black pepper. Transfer the potatoes and lemon peel to a warm serving bowl and use tongs to squeeze over half of the roasted lemon. Scatter over the remaining thyme and serve with a roast.
RECIPE + IMAGE: Anna Shepherd