Potatoes
Jacket Potatoes (use large potatoes)
Wash and dry the potato.
Prick all over with a fork.
Cover the skin with olive oil and sprinkle sea salt over it.
Bake in a hot oven for about 45-60 minutes.
This gives the potato a lovely crisp outside.
Chips: (use large potatoes)
Peel potatoes and cut each into 4 lengthways.
Then cut each slice into good sized fingers.
Sprinkle with salt, before cooking.
This always enhances the flavour of the chips.
Deep fry in good quality oil – you can use olive oil or peanut oil. Heat oil.
Half cook all of the chips in batches, then start finishing them, by dropping them back in the second time until they are golden brown and crispy.
Roast Potatoes
Choose all the same size potatoes.
A little bigger than the size of a new potato.
If you haven’t got all the same size, cut big potatoes to suit. Use good potatoes for roasting – in Australia use Desirees, in the UK use either Maris Piper or King Edwards.
Peel the potatoes, use whole or cut to size.
Place in a large saucepan filled with cold salted water and bring to the boil.
Boil gently for 5 minutes. Drain.
You can either put the potatoes back into the pan and place the lid on and give the potatoes a good shake in the pan, to score them.
Alternatively, you can score each potato with a fork.
Place some olive oil in a roasting pan and heat in the oven.
Remove and add the potatoes.
Coat each potato with some of the oil from the pan and sprinkle with sea salt.
Roast for at about 1 hour.
This should give you a really nice crisp potato on the outside but still soft inside.
Italian Potatoes
Peel and dice potatoes in small cubes.
I found a good way of doing this is cutting them in the same way as chips, then cut each finger into cubes.
Place a little olive oil in a roasting pan and heat through.
Place the diced potatoes into this oil.
You always heat the oil first, as it helps to stop the potatoes sticking to the bottom of the roasting pan.
Take 6 whole pieces of garlic and smash them. Scatter them in the roasting pan, keeping them whole and with their skin on
Sprinkle with sea salt and scatter some fresh sprigs of rosemary .
Roast in a hot oven for about 45-60minutes. You might like to toss them once during the cooking.
Fan Shaped Roast potatoes
Choose all the same size potatoes.
A little bigger than the size of a new potato.
Cut a thin slice from the bottom of the potato, to make it sit flat in the pan.
Start slicing through each potato, but not cutting all the way through to the bottom.
This helps it fan out during the cooking.
Place some olive oil in a roasting pan and heat through.
In the meantime, place some oil in a cup and start dipping each potato in it an place it in the roasting tin. Sprinkle some sea salt over them. Roast in hot oven for about 45-60 minutes.
You will see that the potatoes will have fanned out, crispy on the outside and still soft in the centre.
