But this time, it’s not about the technique, it’s about the variety. In this case, the Larner.
Great British Chefs hosted an event to show off this new variety of potato. The Larner variety is a pheruja cross potato developed by Greenvale AP. It is a rich, buttery potato with golden flesh and a sweet, nutty flavour. It’s only available in Co-op from 10th December as part of it’s Irresistible Roasting Potato range.
Showing off it’s roasting qualities was brilliant chef Emily Watkins. Her no-nonsense approach showed off the potato at it’s best: a fluffy interior with golden crunch. She prepared it in multiple ways: with garlic and bay, in goose fat, or roasted from raw. But most temptingly of all, par-boiled potatoes tipped into the simmering fat of a pork joint that’d been roasting for a few hours. When done they were burnished gold and dripping in the tangy flavours of fennel and lemon that had been rubbed into the pork rind.
It’s a really simple roast. I tried it myself at home, and it couldn’t be easier: score the pork rind, and massage in a rub of salt, lemon and fennel seeds pounded together… then roast. Tip in the potatoes towards the end and that’s it.
If you grew up in the 80s in the UK, the phrase instant mash means only one thing. Smash. In case you’re looking at that word a bit puzzled, it was the brand of instant mashed potato advertised by the crabby, yappy space robots. No? Try this.
And over the years instant mash has pretty much died out. Relegated to school dinners it doesn’t get mentioned any more.
Idahoan are out to change that view with their instant mashed potato product they’ve been perfecting in the US for over 50 years. It’s a product brought to life with boiling water and made with 92% potato.
To launch the product in the UK Idahoan laid on a tasting menu but with a twist: you had to figure out which of the seven courses in the dinner were made using Idahoan instant potato, and which were made with ‘real’ potato.
The menu was designed by Billy and Jack, runners-up in Masterchef 2016. They devised a fun and tasty menu, from potato croquettes to honey potato cake.
potato-fried quail
crab gnocchi, sea herbs, veloute
pressed potato with three cheese sauce
All the food was excellent. I’ll be honest; I absolutely sucked at telling which dishes contained the instant mash v the real mash.
I took some of the product home to try.
For the mashes you pour it in a bowl, stir in boiling water and leave for a minute. And it’s ready to serve. And the mash tastes very good indeed, and if you plonked it down in front of a guest without prompting I’m fairly sure they wouldn’t twig it didn’t come straight from a potato. The ‘buttery mash‘ in particular has a really excellent flavour. They’ve become a favourite in our house, and much like instant rice are a good packet to have in the cupboard for a quick fix.
And when I get a product, I wonder what it can do to a roast potato. Using the dried product as a coating for a par-boiled potato provides an extra layer of cragginess to a crisp, fluffy roast potato.
Peel and chop the potatoes into golf ball-sized chunks. Put them into a large pan of boiling salted water and preheat the oven to 200C.
After 10 - 12 minutes in the water, prod one with a fork. If it goes in with little resistance, drain the potatoes really well and allow it to steam in your colander for another 3 - 4 minutes. Meanwhile add the oil to a deep-sided roasting dish and put it in the hot oven to preheat.
After the potatoes have sat for a couple of minutes and the oil has heated, add the potatoes (carefully) to the oil and turn gently. Shake over the potato flakes and again turn to coat. Sprinkle over some salt and pepper and put in the oven to start roasting.
Every twenty minutes or so turn the potatoes until golden all over. When golden remove from the oven, add salt to taste and serve.
Sage and onion. What does that conjure up when you read those words?
To me, it means a savoury feast is heading my way. It’s synonymous with stuffing to me, an essential piece of a roast chicken dinner.
Do you know what else is essential? A perfect roast potato. So why don’t we combine the two?
Onion is a great flavour with a roast, but they can catch easily in the searing hot oven and burn, leaving a bitter taste. This two-step technique gives you the taste without risking the burning. Fry the bits and pieces separately, and use the flavoured oil for your roast potatoes. Try it with your next roast, you won’t regret it!
1kgMaris Piper potatoespeeled and diced to the size of golf balls
1/2red onionsliced
1clovegarlicminced
10-15sage leavesshredded
100mlrapeseed oil
Instructions
Get a large pan of salted water on to boil. Add the potatoes and simmer for 10 minutes or until a knife goes in easily. Drain and allow to sit in the colander for a few minutes to steam dry.
Preheat the oven to 200C. While the potatoes boil add the oil to a frying pan on a medium heat. Add the onions and fry gently until soft. Add the garlic and sage and fry for one minute more. Strain the mixture into a bowl. Reserve the solids for later. Add the strained oil to a deep baking tray and heat in the oven for five minutes.
Add the potatoes to the oil and toss to coat. Season well. Cook for 45 minutes - 1 hour until crisp, turning every 20 minutes. When crisp and golden remove from the oven and tip the reserved bits from the frying pan in with the potatoes and toss well to combine. Serve with your favourite roast.
I found myself in GBK at the weekend. It was supposed to be family lunch at Las Iguanas, but a few seconds of appalling customer service had me trundle a few steps down Lakeside’s Boardwalk to the burger parlour.
I was surprised how much I enjoyed it – a tasty “Capital” cheeseburger with standard accompaniments, a choice of brioche or regular sesame seed bun and all the monkey nuts you can eat. But the shoestring fries were great, particularly when you shake over their hei hei salt. Pretty much all American diner-style eateries in the UK coat the fries in a salty concoction, and I’d been meaning to make one of my own for ages. Serving up wedges this week meant this was a great excuse.
Hei hei salt, also known as black salt, is a type of Hawaiian sea salt that is mixed with activated charcoal, giving it a distinct black color. The salt gets its name “hei hei” from the Hawaiian phrase “heihei kai,” which translates to “sea chicken” or “flying fish,” as the salt is said to resemble the color of these sea creatures.
The salt is made by mixing sea salt harvested from the pristine waters surrounding the Hawaiian islands with activated charcoal, which is derived from coconut shells. The charcoal not only gives the salt its distinctive color, but also adds a slightly smoky flavor to the salt.
Hei hei salt is used in a variety of dishes in Hawaiian cuisine, including seafood, meats, and vegetables. It is also popular as a finishing salt, sprinkled on top of dishes just before serving to add a visual and flavour contrast.
GBK’s Hei hei salt appears to be a guarded recipe but appears to be a variation of chicken salt. This is my version based on what I could taste.
If you’re looking for an interesting salty-spicy mix to dust your chips or wedges, this is a great place to start. You can then of course add or remove other spices to your taste – a curry powder or garlic powder would be nice.
There’s two levels of seasoning here; in my experience of roasting potatoes the salt flavour simply disappears (where does it go?). So the initial salt is merely grist to combine the ingredients, whilst the second salting is the true seasoning of the wedges.
Seasoned potatoes like the ones they serve at GBK.
Course Side Dish
Cuisine Hawaiian
Keyword potatoes, wedges
Servings 2
Author Gary @ BigSpud
Ingredients
4 - 5medium potatoesMaris Piper or other fluffy variety
For the marinade:
2clovesgarlic
¼teaspoonturmeric
1teaspooncumin
1ham stock cubechicken would be fine
Large pinchsalt
olive oil
For the seasoning:
½teaspoonsmoked paprika
½teaspooncumin
¼teaspoonturmeric
1teaspoonsalt
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Slice the potatoes into wedge shapes.
In a pestle and mortar, combine all the marinade spices and pound withe garlic until you have an orangey-brown paste. Add oil until you have a gloopy mixture and coat the wedges liberally. Arrange cut sides down on a baking tray and roast for 40 minutes, turning every ten minutes, until crisp and cooked through.
Combine the seasoning ingredients and shake over the fries as you serve. You'll probably have excess seasoning for another day.
Notes
This recipe would work really well in an air fryer or actifry too.
