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AI-generated photograph: Golden, crackled roast potatoes piled in a shallow white enamel dish, crisp rosemary sprigs and soft roasted garlic cloves tucked between them, flakes of sea salt on top

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Crisp roast potatoes with rosemary and garlic

crackled roast potatoes · rosemary · soft roasted garlic

AI-generated photograph

Roast potatoes with fluffy middles and crackling, golden edges, roasted in hot oil and finished with rosemary and sweet, soft garlic.

Contains: none of the 14 allergens, as written. None of the 14 allergens is in this recipe as written.

Ingredients

  • 1.2kg floury potatoes, such as Maris Piper or King Edward
  • 1 teaspoon salt for the cooking water, then a pinch to finish
  • 5 tablespoons vegetable oil or rapeseed oil
  • 4 garlic cloves, left whole in their skins
  • 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary (about 5g)
  • Black pepper

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Let's cook

  1. Heat the oven to 220C (200C fan). Peel the potatoes and cut them into even chunks about the size of a golf ball (about 5cm). Cut large ones into 3 or 4 and small ones in half.
  2. Put the potatoes in a large pan, cover them with cold water and add the teaspoon of salt. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 8 minutes, until the outsides are soft but the middles are still firm when you push in a knife.
  3. While they boil, pour the oil into a large roasting tin and put it in the oven for 5 minutes to get very hot. Hot oil is what makes the outsides crisp.
  4. Drain the potatoes in a colander and leave them to steam for 2 minutes so they dry. Then shake the colander firmly a few times to rough up the edges. Those fluffy, rough edges are what turn crunchy.
  5. Carefully take the hot tin out and set it on a heatproof surface. Tip in the potatoes (the oil will sizzle, so stand back) and turn each one with a spoon so it is coated. Spread them out in one layer with a little space between them.
  6. Roast for 20 minutes. Turn the potatoes over, add the garlic cloves and rosemary sprigs, and roast for another 20 minutes, until deep golden and crisp all over.
  7. Lift the potatoes into a warm dish, leaving most of the oil behind. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and some black pepper. Squeeze the soft garlic out of its skins over the top and serve straight away.

Tips

  • Floury potatoes give a fluffy middle. Waxy salad potatoes stay firm and will not crisp in the same way.
  • Do not crowd the tin. Use two tins if you need to, or the potatoes steam instead of crisping.
  • Leftover roast potatoes keep in the fridge for 2 days. Reheat them in a hot oven until steaming hot.

Swaps

  • Duck or goose fat instead of oil gives the classic Sunday roast taste, but the potatoes are then no longer vegan.
  • No fresh rosemary: sprinkle over 1 teaspoon of dried thyme when you add the garlic.

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Our own recipe. The photograph is AI-generated.

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