Few things are better than when roast potatoes have an irresistible crunch on the skin but it’s something many people just can’t get right.
Chef Nigella Lawson agreed, claiming: “It’s impossible to cook roast potatoes without needing them to be perfect, which to me means sweet and soft inside and a golden-brown carapace of crunch without.
“And, strangely, no matter how many tricksy things you may succeed at in cooking, no matter what techniques you may master, nothing gives quite the contented glow of achievement that cooking a good tray of roast potatoes does.”
While the right recipe is a must-have for delicious roasties, the chef noted that there’s one crucial step that makes a real difference.
Sharing the recipe from her book Nigella Christmas, she said: “I think dredging the potatoes – and this is a family practice, inherited through the maternal line – in semolina rather than flour after parboiling, then really rattling the pan around to make the potatoes a bit mashed on the surface so they catch more in the hot fat, is a major aid.”
Nigella Lawson’s roast potatoes
Start with a very hot oven preheated to 250C/ 230C fan/ gas mark 9, then take a very large roasting tin and place the duck fat inside.
Pop this in the oven to warm until “frighteningly hot”, as put by Nigella, which should take around 20-30 minutes.
Next, peel the potatoes and cut each one into three chunks by first slicing off the ends to create a well-shaped wedge or triangle in the middle.
Once cut, place the spuds into a pan full of salted, boiling water and bring to a boil before cooking for just four minutes.
Drain the potatoes in a colander, then tip them back into the empty, dry saucepan, and sprinkle the semolina over.
Nigella said: “Shake the potatoes around to coat them well and, with the lid clamped on, give the pan a good rotate and the potatoes a proper bashing so that their edges fuzz and blur a little: this facilitates the crunch effect later.”
When the fat is as hot as it can be, tip the semolina-coated potatoes carefully into it and roast in the oven for an hour or until they are “darkly golden and crispy”. It’s important to turn them over halfway through cooking to ensure an even crunch.
It’s worth keeping an eye on the potatoes as if the oven is hot enough, they may not need more than 25 minutes a side, but it’s better to let them sit in the oven until the very last minute, according to Nigella.
