Taters! Rostis! Pomme de terre! If you can’t get behind a toasty batch of fresh roasted spuds, you ain’t living right.
Potatoes are the bedrock of the sharehouse kitchen: when you’ve exhausted your last pantry morsel, there’s always a chunky sack of Russets or Desirees lurking about in a back cupboard or onion bowl somewhere. A cheeky round of goldens remains the perfect Sunday roast chaperone, and good friend to a cold, heater-less winter night. Lately, we’ve been supercharging our batches with mouth wateringly good ‘schmaltz’, aka duck or goose fat (Mel Brooks approves). Add a handful of your finest herbs, mix it on a skillet with oil, then serve up with a fat dollop of rich, rich gravy.
Sh.k Roast Potato Chunks. Easy. Schmaltzy. Po-tasty.
- 600g Maris Piper (or other high starch variety) potatoes, peeled and diced into 4cm cubes
- 2 tbls of goose fat (or duck fat)
- 3 whole garlic cloves, skin on
- 3 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 1 large sprig of fresh rosemary
- Maldon sea salt
- Freshly cracked black pepper
- Pre-heat a medium sized tray in an oven to 200°C (400°F/gas mark 6).
- Meanwhile, wash potato pieces to remove extra starch and place in a large pot of cold water. Add a decent pinch of salt and leave to boil. Once boiling, reduce heat and simmer for approximately 5-10 minutes until parboiled. Remove from heat, strain into a colander and leave to steam-dry.
- Remove hot tray from oven, add goose fat and place back inside the oven.
- Fluff up the potatoes by rigorously shaking the colander until the edges are ruffled and rough.
- Grab the tray back out of the oven and add the potatoes. Shake the tray and ensure the potatoes are covered. Add another two pinches of salt, some cracked black pepper, rosemary, and thyme leaves, mix again, and pop back into the oven.
- Roast for 20 minutes, then turn and continue roasting for approximately 15-20 minutes, or until crispy and golden.
- Remove from oven, sprinkle with salt (if needed) and serve.
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