Dr. Chuck's Crispy Roast Potatoes
FABULOUS (but easy!)
Ingredients:
5 lb. bag of red potatoes (Pat was never picky about what kind of potatoe she used)
½ C olive oil (canola or vegetable oil would be ok too)
*** OR BETTER YET... the pan grease/drippings from roasting chicken, beef or pork!!
Salt and pepper
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
First, Dr. Chuck bribes one of our kids to help him peal all the potatoes. Then he cuts them in very large pieces - either halves for smaller potatoes, or long quarters for the large potatoes.
He boils the potatoes in salted water until they are not quite soft enough to make mashed potatoes. (Almost done, but not quite.)
After draining the potatoes, he puts them back in the pot and adds salt and pepper.
Pour the oil or pan drippings over the potatoes while tossing them around in the pot so that they are all coated with the oil. (This is why it is VERY important not to over-cook the boiled potatoes... If you let them get too soft, they will break apart at this stage, and turn to "mashed potatoes" when you try to toss them in the oil.)
Dump them out onto baking sheets so that they are in only one layer and slightly separated. Put the baking sheets into the hot oven.
Bake for about 15 minutes and then take a spatula and turn them. Bake another 10 minutes or until the outsides of all the potatoes get crispy golden brown. (Making sure they are all oiled properly.)
Pull one out with a fork and cut it open to be sure it's done. Taste for saltiness. Salt and pepper again if needed.
YUM!.. serve with easy roasted pork, chicken, beef or put stews over them!
This recipe is a tribute to our wonderful friend Pat Tzimokus. She and her husband, John, have made some of our most memorable meals in their Greek/French influenced farm kitchen in Fairfield Vermont.
Pat and John have been growing most of their own food for 50 years there; raising sheep, goats, rabbits, chickens, ducks and anything else that someone from the old country would want to eat. Pat would make these potatoes with almost every meal and our kids would always fight over them. She did them in the roasting pan after the meat was just out of the oven, so the pan drippings gave the potatoes a heavenly sweat/savory twist.