The combination of potato, butter, balsamic vinegar, rosemary and a hint of garlic is just lovely. These potatoes are also great with beef, lamb or venison.
Ingredients
Pre-scrubbed potatoes lose a lot of their flavour and texture between being scrubbed and getting to your kitchen. The difference is quite extraordinary and it seems such a pity to lose the magical quality of the Irish potato for the sake of a few minutes of scrubbing.
The "dirty" potatoes also keep infinitely better than the washed ones. My favourite variety of potato for this dish is the golden wonder. The combination of potato, butter, balsamic vinegar, rosemary and a hint of garlic is just lovely. These potatoes are also great with beef, lamb or venison.
Serves 6
- 900g potatoes
- 2 cloves of garlic skin on and lightly bashed
- 2 large sprigs of rosemary
- 4 tablespoons approx of olive oil, duck or goose fat
- 50g butter
- 4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- Maldon Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
- Preheat the oven to 220c / 435f / gas7
- Scrub the potatoes until spotlessly clean. There is no need to peel them. Cut the potatoes in half lengthways and then into wedges rather than chips.
- Put into a bowl with the rosemary and garlic and drizzle on the olive oil or your fat of choice. Turn in the fat to coat lightly. There should not be a pool of fat in the bottom of the bowl but the potatoes should be covered with a thin sheen of fat.
- Do not season the potatoes until they are cooked as it tends to cause the potatoes to stick to the cooking tray, hence you may lose the lovely crispy skins.
- Place on a roasting tray in a single layer, skin side down and ideally with a little space between each potato. Place in the preheated oven.
- Roast until the skins are crispy and the centers tender, about 35 minutes. Avoid the temptation to move them on the tray, half way through the cooking. This will only break up the potato skins. The potatoes will eventually crisp up and loosen from the bottom of the tray.
- When cooked, remove from the oven and immediately add the butter and vinegar to the tray with a seasoning of salt and pepper.
- Toss the potatoes to glaze in the melting butter and vinegar. Serve immediately.
