No Sunday lunch would be complete without roasted potatoes! Image (cc) adactio
No Irish, or British, for that matter, Sunday lunch would be complete without roast potatoes! Whilst some pubs are really great in preparing them, they still taste better when fresh out of the oven, i.e. when made at home. If you follow this easy step by step roasted potato recipe you will get them so nice and crispy like never before. Like with perfect baked potatoes, it is important to choose the right variety for the best results, you are looking for one that has a nice, floury-fluffy texture when prepared. My personal favourite for this recipe is the King Edward potato, but there is no harm in trying also other varieties, but I would avoid those with a very ‘waxy’ texture as they can end up to be too ‘chewy’ when roasted. Apart of roasted potato you will also need roasted meat (lamb, pork and beef being the traditional choices), Yorkshire pudding, vegetables and gravy. Enjoy your meal!
How to Roast Potatoes in the Oven – Step by Step
1. Wash and brush potatoes under cold water.
2. Peel and cut them in such a way that all the pieces are roughly the same size.
3. Cook in salted water for approximately 10min (depending on size) until they have a fluffy, soft outside, but still a firm inside.
4. Pour water off by holding, with oven gloves!, the lid and the pot handles leaving only a slight gap between lid and pot, allowing so the water to drain away completely.
5. Add any spices and or herbs you want to add to the potatoes and / or salt and pepper to taste.
6. Put lid firmly on pot and shake vigorously to fluff the outside of the potatoes even more up.
7. Put a roasting tray or tin in the oven with some of the fat that dripped of the meat, lard or olive oil in it and heat to 220°C / 425°F / gas 7, whatever applies to your oven 
You need enough fat that you can coat the potatoes completely with it in the next step but not so much that they ‘swim’ in fat.
8. Roast potatoes, no need to turn them BTW, for around 35 – 50 minutes (depending on size) until golden-crispy and yummy!
9. Enjoy your meal
Nearly 4000 different varieties of potatoes are known today - but which one to chose for roasted potatoes?
Variations of roasted potato recipes
Additional seasoning like herbs and spices can be added in step 7. Things that go well with roasted potatoes are garlic (chopped or whole cloves mixed in with the potatoes), thyme (great with pork), rosemary (great with lamb), olive oil, paprika, oregano, basil, marjoram, dill, thyme, oregano, parsley and or red pepper / chilli flakes. What you choose and which ones to combine is purely a matter of personal taste!
Time Saving Tip!
If you know you’ll be short on time on Sunday morning, perhaps because you go to Church?, you can prepare everything, up to Step 6 (inclusive) the day before. Simply store the potatoes in the fridge until your are ready to roast them. They will be especially delicious this way because the flavours really had time to merge with the potatoes. Just avoid adding any fat or oil, this is better done by heating the oil / fat first and then adding the potatoes to the hot fat, otherwise they will turn out too greasy!
Roast below the meat
A very traditional way to roast potatoes is to do so so whilst the meat is roasting on top of them on a oven rack, this way the lovely meat fat and juices flavour the potatoes at the same time when dripping down on them. Just make sure to judge the time right when to put the potatoes in as the best results are when meat and potatoes are ready to be served at the same time!
To parboil or not to parboil?
Some recipes, like my favourite one outlined above, call for parboiling the potatoes, but there is no reason not to try to roast them from ‘raw’ and not peeled. You will need to add a few more minutes of ‘oven time’ and properly they are also called then ‘potato wedges’ in the United States, not roast potatoes like in the UK and Ireland.
Changing the Form!
You can cut your potatoes in pretty much any form you like, just remember the smaller they are the faster they cook and roast. For a quicker meal try cutting them in smallish cubes / dices. Great with bacon and garlic BTW
If you have followed this instruction on how to roast potatoes in the oven and perhaps even experimented a bit with different seasoning etc. I am sure you will agree that nothing beats a home-made roasted potato! Enjoy your meal!
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