Heavenly Roast Potatoes
This recipe is a variation of Jamie Oliver's Perfect Roast Potatoes, which I've seen on TLC and YouTube a couple of times.
If you follow the recipe strictly, you'll come up with a boat that would serve:
- 2 to 4 people
And, yes, you read that right. It says "boat" up there. A boat that looks just like the one in the picture.
You will need:
- 4 medium sized potatoes
- 3 tablespoons of melted butter
- 1 & 1/2 cup of grated Emmental Swiss cheese
- 1/4 cup of grated Edam cheese
- 1 tablespoon of fresh thyme leaves (1 teaspoon if dried)
- 7 pieces of fresh marjoram leaves (1 teaspoon if dried)
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- 1 teaspoon of either apple cider vinegar, red/white wine vinegar, or sugar cane vinegar
- 5 cloves of garlic, pressed and broken
- sea salt for seasoning
- black pepper for seasoning
To make this dish suitable for vegans, use the following alternatives:
- margarine instead of butter
- soy cheese instead of Edam & Emmental (or you may omit cheese completely)
NOTE: You will need both a stove and an oven to cook this dish. A real oven, NEVER a microwave oven.
Let's get roastin':
1. Peel the potatoes and halve them crosswise.
2. Wash the starch off with some cold water..
3. Drop the potatoes in a sauce pan with cold water just enough to cover all individual pieces.
4. Season the water well with salt and bring to the boil.
5. When it comes to the boil, parboil covered over medium heat for 10 full minutes.
6. After parboiling, drain the water out.
7. Grease the base of a heatproof boat or a small casserole pan. Let the potatoes sit on it cut-side-down and then baste them with the rest of the butter.
8. Season with a little sea salt and black pepper.
9. Pop the boat or casserole pan in an oven for 30 minutes at 190°C or 375°F.
10. Remove the dish from the oven and lightly press the potatoes down using a potato masher or a big spoon. You want to see the sides break a little and make juices come out but you don't want to press too hard. You are not doing this to mash it, only to agitate the insides.
11. Put your thyme leaves, marjoram leaves and garlic in a bowl. Pour in your vinegar and olive oil until everything is coated.
12. Use your hands to thoroughly sprinkle it over the dish. Make sure the garlic cloves sit on top of the potatoes.
13. Pop it back in the oven for another 25-30 minutes at the same temperature.
14. Take it out of the oven, drop the garlic cloves to the sides and sprinkle your cheese evenly all over the dish.
15. Pop it back in for a final time and allow the cheese to melt for about 5 minutes. You may use a the grill feature if you have it to let the cheese burn a little.
16. Take it out of the oven and ENJOY HEAVEN!
WARNING: Do not make this dish every day or you'll grow really, really fat!
