I know, I know: “A recipe? On this website? Kim, WTF?”
Bear with me.
As always, this year I’m hosting our family Boxing Day dinner, only this time without New Wife to help with the cooking.
This would not be a problem, because I know how to make the meal of roast beef:
However, the one thing I’ve never been able to master is the quintessential companion to rozzbiff: roast potatoes.
And without New Wife — did I already mention that she’s gone AWOL to some family reunion thing in Cape Town? — I was going to be in trouble because I won’t say my kids are traditionalists, but any substitution of other potato formats (mash etc.) would likely cause taunting, ugly facial expressions and perhaps even a hanging.
So these past few days I’ve been experimenting, bigly, trying out various suggestions and different methodologies until finally, I figured it out. Here, then, is Uncle Kim’s Roast Potato Recipe:
Use Yukon Gold potatoes only; just note that large ones will require longer cooking time — I prefer to use the baby ones, myself.
Skin the things, and parboil them for about 15 minutes. I’ve found that it works better if you drop them in cold water and bring to boil rather than dropping them into already-boiling water.
Now, about that water: drop a half- to full teaspoon of baking soda into the water first and stir until the stuff has completely mixed in (beware clumps), and then add a teaspoonful of iodized salt. (There’s a whole thing about alkali water being better for the potatoes to cook in than acidic water, but I don’t want to bore you to tears with the chemistry explanation.)
Remove the potatoes from the boiling water, and allow to cool for just a bit. Pat dry with a paper towel — this is important, because they need to be completely dry at this point — then use a fork to lightly scrape the outsides.
Spray the potatoes with some avocado oil, and sprinkle with just a little coarse kosher salt. Stick the whole lot in a baggie and shake gently. The salt “roughs up” the surface of the potatoes, which will make them crispy on the outside when cooked.
To cook: Set the air fryer to 400, or pre-heat the oven to 450. Cook for no less than 15 minutes — longer if you’re using the large potatoes or doing a large batch of the small ones.
Do not let the potatoes touch each other in the oven: keep them separated.
Take out of the oven, and allow to sit for a just a few minutes. Cut them lengthways in half — if for any reason they’re still undercooked in the middle, just pop them back in the oven for a few minutes more. Then serve.
Do not be surprised if these roast potatoes take the place of French fries in your future meals. You have been warned.