Mary Berry’s roast potato recipe is a five-star rated dish that adds a 12p ingredient to achieve perfectly crispy and crunchy roast potatoes
Mary Berry’s roast potato recipe is a five-star rated dish that adds a 12p ingredient to achieve perfectly crispy and crunchy roast potatoes(Image: SimpleImages via Getty Images)
With countless roast potato recipes available online, it can be tricky to determine which one will deliver the finest results. Fortunately, Mary Berry’s five-star rated recipe incorporates a secret ingredient to achieve that all-important extra crunch.
The recipe notes on Good Food said: “A roast potato should be ultra crispy and golden on the outside with a fluffy light middle. Par-boiling and roughing them up before roasting gives a lovely crunchy exterior and the semolina adds an extra crunchy coating.”
This recipe serves six people and takes approximately one hour from start to finish, reports the Express. Here’s how you can recreate the recipe at home.
Roast potatoes
Ingredients
- 1.5kg potatoes, peeled and cut into medium-sized cubes
- 40g semolina
- Four tbsp of goose fat or vegetable oil
- Three thyme sprigs
- Salt
Method
Begin by preheating the oven to 220C or 200C (fan) and place the potatoes in a saucepan of cold salted water. Bring to the boil and cook for approximately five minutes, until the edges begin to soften.
Drain in a colander until thoroughly dry, then return to the saucepan and shake to roughen up the edges.
Scatter over the semolina and shake once more until evenly coated. Preheat a large shallow roasting tin in the oven until piping hot.
Add the fat to the tin and heat for around five minutes, or until it begins to smoke.
Carefully add the potatoes, turning them in the fat until fully coated, then scatter over the thyme sprigs.
Return to the oven and roast for approximately 45 to 55 minutes until golden brown and crisp, ensuring you turn them halfway through cooking. The recipe notes stated: “You can prepare the potatoes up to 12 hours ahead of serving.
“The potatoes can be part-roasted for 35 minutes until golden. Then, before serving, roast again in the hot oven for about 20 minutes.”
Semolina is readily available for approximately £1.40 for a 500g bag, and given that just 40g is required per recipe, it remains a highly budget-friendly ingredient.
