Sunday, July 4, 2010

Crusty Roasted Yellow Potatoes - Now with Extra Steps!

So, you know how I'm always saving you time and money by designing these video recipes with a minimum number of steps?

This time we're going the o
ther way. I'm taking a perfectly good roasted potato recipe and adding another procedure.

The secret to these deliciously crusty potatoes is the pre-oven boiling in a salted and seasoned liquid. The potatoes not only absorb flavor and salt, but more importantly
the surface of the potato cooks, which is what forms the great crunchy texture in the oven.

This is sort of the same idea behind the twice-fried French fries we featured in a video last year. By the way, it's very important to let the potatoes really dry well before coating with the oil. This will ensure a great crusty skin.

You can use this same technique, and flavor the cooking liquid any number of ways. If you like this recipe, you'll have lots of experimenting to do.

I hope you all have a fun Fourth of July planned! I'm almost done with the cured lemon quail recipe, so stay tuned for that soon. Have a safe and fabulous rest of the weekend, and as always, enjoy!





Ingredients:
2 pounds new yellow potatoes
3 sprigs rosemary
3 cloves garlic, whole, peeled, bruised
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoon olive oil
pinch of cayenne

45 comments:

Unknown said...

Why do you cook your potatoes in a lot of water with open lid? They are best cooked in just a little bottom of water, with lid on. This increases flavor, preserves more nutritious value and also takes slightly less time due to less water getting to boiling point faster.

I have never added herbs while cooking potatoes, but it seems an excellent idea and would also work better with the technique above I think (one teabag in a tea cup makes stronger tea than one teabag in a large pot).

Nonetheless, your recipe is probably excellent, and would be perfect for a festive meal. New potatoes are now available here!

milkshake said...

Turns out, precooking red potatoes before they go on the grill makes the result a lot tastier (and predictably done on the inside) - I suppose its the same thing.

I will try your yellow potato recipe tonight. Cheers!

Asian Malaysian said...

Ive done a cheat variation of this method where I cut the potatoes into large fork sized chunks, par boil them in salted water, drain them and toss them with some olive oil a minced garlic clove or two and few chopped rosemary leaves before popping them in a hot oven to brown. Sometimes they smell so good at that point, I feel like forgoing the oven and just give em a squeeze of lemon juice.

Asian Malaysian said...

Ive done a cheat variation of this method where I cut the potatoes into large fork sized chunks, par boil them in salted water, drain them and toss them with some olive oil a minced garlic clove or two and few chopped rosemary leaves before popping them in a hot oven to brown. Sometimes they smell so good at that point, I feel like forgoing the oven and just give em a squeeze of lemon juice.

Hollis K. Lee said...

Great looking recipe. I will give this a shot for dinner tomorrow night.

Thanks C.J.

baby cribs said...

Wow this recipe is going to be perfect for our family day this coming weekend. I watched the video and it is not that hard to make that Special Roasted Potatoes.

Camilla said...

I wanted to try this one and share to my friends..hhmm, I'm sure they will all like this...

Luatica said...

Actually I always do the potatoes like this when roasting because my oven is not too great so skipping this step for me means burnt uncooked potatoes. Yuck.

Anonymous said...

hey chef john,
wanted to let you know i LOVE your videos! yesterday one of my favourite channels "retired" and stopped making videos so i was extremely sad D:
so NEVER stop making videos or i will seriously cry :'(
you have taught me so many recipes and techniques!
U ROCK! :D

Anonymous said...

Can I use dried rosemary as I cant get my hands on fresh at the moment?

Chef John said...

of course! :-)

jeff said...

i used this technique on fingerling potatoes tonight, but totally forgot the rosemary! they were still awesome, though. http://imgur.com/fH35r.jpg

Ray Butarbutar said...

chef john you are so amazing!! thank you for sharing your wealth of knowledge

Anonymous said...

Bang the potatos around the pot, not "bank" them,
8-)

Chef John said...

Bang? Bank? You lost me

Merdicchio said...

Hi Chef John, I am a big fan of your videos from Italy:o)
I wanted to say that I always pre-cook the potatoes before I roast them. I use a similar technique but I only boil them in salted water with a couple of spoons of vinegar, I'll definitely try this one, although I use exactly all the other ingredients (garlic, cayenne and rosemary) in the baking pan.

Cheri Witmer said...

You are making my mouth water!!! Going to make these along with the Angel Hair Pasta with Broccoli and Garlic Sauce...I know I am doing double starches...but they both look so delicious, oh actually I am tripling the starch with some no knead french bread...maybe I will toss in a green salad to make me feel better! Thanks for your site, I am definately a visual learner so I have been going nuts over your recipes!

Anonymous said...

i do not enjoy the taste of rosemary, is there any other ingredient that i can use which will add flavor in a similar way? i am making these with a side for my moms birthday

Chef John said...

what green herbs do u like? use those! ;-)

ali said...

Hello chef, can i use Italian herbs mix when i put them in the oven ?

Anna said...

Hi there! I just found your site and I'm really enjoying your videos.

I recently viewed your roasted yellow potato video and am curious to know what sort of sheet tray you use to bake these? My potatoes always stick to the sheet even if I oil it! :(

Thanks so much and I can't wait to see your other videos; they're really helpful!

Chef John said...

Just a regular pan, BUT i used a silicon baking mat. Get one! They are the best.

Anna said...

Wow, thanks for responding! Silicon baking mat? Not sure if I can find that in my country but I'll look around the shops. Thanks so much!

Chef John said...

If there are professional bakers in your country, they have these for sure. Or very easy to buy online.

Anonymous said...

I love these potatoes!!!! I've made them a lot and recently had some left over. I gotta tell you they are so-o-o-o-o-o delicious for breakfast, warmed in a frying pan and with an easy over egg--maybe some bacon.
Thank you for this method!!!
Jackie

Anonymous said...

OK, I meant over easy egg.
Jackie

Unknown said...

How simple and how delicious! I never thought that boiling the potatoes beforehand would make them oh so creamy in the middle! The centers melt in your mouth. Thanks for the simple way to make roasted potatoes even better.

Paul D said...

As someone who prepares Italian roasted red potatoes with rosemary and garlic often, I can't understate how GREAT this method is. On numerous occasions I have heard professionals and amateur cooks (myself included) complain that this simply recipe "goes wrong" sometimes - potatoes get stuck to the pan, too burnt on the outside, or mushy etc etc. This method is SO superior. I made them tonight - Thank you Chef.

Jer said...

Haven't tried this yet but I do something similar, I pressure cook my sliced potatoes then pan fry them to get them crispy on the outside. Next time I'll try them in the oven. Thanks for the fun food videos! yumm!

Broze said...

When you say air dry the potatoes do you mean just dry to touch on the outside or the inside dry as well? Thanks.

Chef John said...

The outside :-) Drying the inside of a potato would be quite a trick!

Araxjan said...

Would this work on baby white and/or baby red potatoes as well? I want to make them tonight for my husband's bday, but couldn't find any yellow potatoes at the market, please confirm!!

Chef John said...

White maybe, but red are usually too waxy to get nice and crusty.

Araxjan said...

Should I not take the chance and just go out and buy some yellow from another market? I just purchased like 8lbs of red and white ones yesterday, but I can figure something else out w/them.

What do you think? Should I try w/white? Or just go to another store and get yellow so it's fo sho, per se.

Chef John said...

I think you should relax, and just use the white. Worst case, you just have a dish of roasted potatoes! Enjoy!

Araxjan said...

Panic? Me?
Pfft!!!
Psssh!!!

... yeah -__- I'll breath in and out of a paper bag. This is going to be fine. He's gonna love it.
Everything's gonna be fine.
Everything's gonna be fine.
Everythings AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

i was wondering if can i fry the potatoes instead of using the oven? will there be a difference w/ regards to the taste if we grill or bake or fry the potatoes?

Chef John said...

yes, but not one i could describe. all good, but different.

Kendra said...

Hi Chef John. I just stumbled onto your blog via Pinterest a few days ago and I am loving your down-to-earth approach to cooking!

I made roasted potatoes last night and had a few leftover that I thought would go nicely with breakfast, but I have never had much luck reheating potatoes (other than mashed). They just end up grainy and, well, gross. Is there a trick to reheating them? Or are leftover roasted potatoes basically useless?

Anonymous said...

Reheating a grilled potato will come out perfectly crispy again by using an oven toaster or tubo grilling oven. I hope this suggestion will help.

Anonymous said...

Love this recipe! Have done it with golden potatoes, but I was wondering if using red potatoes would get the same result? I have guess coming Sunday and I'm trying to have a backup plan in case I don't spot any golden potatoes. (Veggies have been going fast lately at my grocer.) Thanks for your vids.

Kym

Roland Vasquez said...

I greatly enjoy these videos.

Beth said...

Do you recommend drying the potatoes on the counter or in the fridge? Approximately how long should we let them dry? Does it matter what temperature they are when they go into the oven?

Chef John said...

Counter's fine! Temp doesn't really matter.

Gripper99 said...

These potatoes are superb. I've made them twice now. The first time I made them it took a bit longer to get my potatoes golden. The next time I made them I didn't want to use two ovens--I was pan-roasting some chicken at 475 F already whilst the potatoes dried on a rack--and I cooked the potatoes at the higher temperature. I should have left them in a bit longer but the chicken was done and we were hungry. I'm happy to report that both times they came out wonderfully. A nice bit of crust on the outside, creamy and nicely seasoned on the inside. What a wonderful technique. Thank you Chef John!