How to Make Perfect Roast Potatoes

In this Instructable I will show you how to make perfect roast potatoes. Becca loves roast potatoes so I like making them so she can try them out. I always make them this way and find it reliably gives amazing roast potatoes every time.

Know your ingredients! Whenever you cook it is always worth using ingredients you know and love. This means that when you cook for others on a special occasion you already know what you are doing and can adapt if you need to.

Difficulty; easy peasy.

Time; depends on oven; 1 hour for fan-assisted, 2 hours for conventional or Aga.

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Decent potatoes. The red varieties tend to better for roasting. There were four of us for dinner so I did three each and one extra in case someone was hungry.

Olive oil.

Vegetable oil.

Salt.

Pepper.

Bring a large pan of water to the boil.

This is the bit you need to find a willing volunteer for. Peel the potatoes and cut them into the size you want them. Whether they are small or large try to make them all about the same size so they cook with an even colour. If there is a large difference in size some of the smallest will be burning when the larger ones are still hard in the middle.

This is the bit I never used to bother with but it makes a huge difference to the texture of your potatoes. Put the peeled, chopped potatoes into a pan of boiling water and bring to the boil. Simmer for five minutes, stirring occasionally. Other recipes suggest simmering for ten minutes and don't suggest stirring; I found the potatoes at the bottom turned to mash when the ones at the top were still hard.

Drain the potatoes, either by putting the lid on and tipping the water into the sink, (be careful!) or in a colander (safer but makes more washing up). If you use a colander put the potatoes back into the pan, put the lid on and shake vigorously for 3-4 seconds as shown in the video. This breaks the corners down and creates a good crispy coating.

REMEMBER; you can always shake more but you can't unshake them. Bit like life really.

Add them to your choicest roasting tray and add the oil. For these thirteen potatoes I used 3 tablespoons of olive oil and three of vegetable oil. Combining the two improves the crispiness of the potatoes.

Add salt and pepper to taste and gently stir the potatoes in the oil, making sure they are all coated. If you have a fan oven cook at 200 degrees centigrade for an hour, turning a couple of times or until beautifully golden brown. I cook mine in the Aga for 2-3 hours, depending on how loaded it is. If there's just the potatoes in there and it's turned up high it would probably do them in an hour but if I am doing a ten item roast I might need to allow 2-3 hours so that all the items are ready at the same time. Preheat the serving bowl if you are going to serve the potatoes on the table.

Serve with chicken, beef or nut roast and vegetables. Take time over the gravy; I might share my gravy recipe with you if you are lucky...