Really Good Roast Spuds

The best roast potatoes are crispy, golden and sticky on the outside and fluffy inside. I'm always asked how I get my spuds so crispy and fluffy so here it is. If you don't have a meat or main dish in the oven at the same time then you can bump the heat up and speed things along. 

Ingredients

• 1 medium potato per person, more if feeding teenagers, choose a floury variety such as Agria
• a decent slosh of oil
• 2 Tbsp butter
• salt

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Peel the potatoes and cut into biggish pieces, too small and you will end up with all crispy crust and no fluffy spud.

Place in a large pot of cold water, add a pinch of salt and bring to the boil. Cook for 2-3 minutes then drain. Return the pot of potatoes to the heat to dry out, shaking the pot to scuff and rough up the sides of the potatoes. Sprinkle lightly with salt.

Put oil and butter into a large shallow roasting pan and heat in the oven. When butter has melted carefully tip in the potatoes and coat in the hot fat. 

Bake the spuds, turning occasionally till crisp and golden. If you are cooking meat as well the oven temperature will likely need to be lower. Put the spuds in anyway, then when the meat is cooked remove it, crank the temperature up high - 230°C or thereabouts and give the spuds a blast for 15 or so minutes while the meat rests. The gentle cooking will have made them tender on the inside and the hot finish will crisp them up.

Tip

You can roast any type of potato they just produce different results. If cooking more than 6 spuds increase the butter and oil to ensure a good crispy crust.