Boil. Smash. Roast. Three steps to your new favourite way to eat potatoes. A perfect accompaniment to almost any dish.

Serves: 4 people
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 20-30 minutes boiling, 35-45 minutes roasting

Ingredients:

• 16-20 baby potatoes (or 8-10 medium sized potatoes)
• 1 tablespoon guanciale fat (duck/goose fat are suitable alternatives)
• 1 tablespoon ghee (butter can also be used)
• 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
• a few leaves of fresh sage
• 4 large cloves of garlic, bashed with the side of your knife
• Salt flakes
• Pepper
• optional – light drizzle of olive oil
• optional – extra tablespoon of butter

Method:

1. Wash the potatoes (do not peel), and boil in a large pot for about 20-30 minutes until completely soft.
2. In the meantime, line a large baking dish with some greaseproof paper and preheat your oven to 220 degrees Celsius, fan-forced.
3. Smear the guanciale fat all over the greaseproof paper.
4. When the potatoes are ready, drain and transfer into the dish while still warm.
5. Toss them around to coat well in all that delicious guanciale fat.
6. Using a potato masher, smash them (gently!!) until they are about half an inch thick. Don’t worry if the skin breaks… it’s supposed to!
7. Add a small amount of ghee on top of each potato
8. Season well with salt and pepper.
9. Add the crushed garlic, rosemary and sage to the dish, then (optionally) lightly drizzle with olive oil.
10. Chuck them into the oven for about 35-45 minutes until golden brown and crispy.
11. For extra decadence, you can opt to add a knob of butter in the last 10 minutes for added buttery sweetness.

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Notes:

Boiling the potatoes before roasting them helps to speed up the cooking process and is essential to achieve a nice “smash”. The larger your potato, the longer it’ll take to cook. You’ll know they’re ready once you can easily pierce them with a fork.

Oven times vary a lot when it comes to crispening up the potatoes. Try using the top rack in your oven for best results. Remember the potatoes are already cooked, so once they’re golden and crispy, get them out.

If making ahead of time, simply stop at step six, then resume when your ready (I suggest not adding the other fats early as the potatoes will simply soak them all up).

Guanciale fat lends a robust flavour to the potatoes, making this dish so decadent and perfect for that special occasion. I always tend to have some lying around in the fridge – leftovers from my carbonara recipe https://foodbyzac.com/2020/09/23/pasta-carbonara/ . If you don’t have guanciale, store bought or home-made goose/duck fat makes a very good substitute. If you have none of the above, you can just use butter or olive oil.

Ghee is clarified butter, which means butter that has been cooked and strained to remove water and milk solids. It tends to have a sweeter and deeper flavour compared to butter. It is also lactose-free and has a higher smoke point, meaning it doesn’t burn as quickly as butter, making it perfect for this dish. It readily available in most supermarkets (usually in the Indian section), so there’s no excuses. Butter is still an acceptable alternative 🙂

Why do I insist on using three different types of fat?
Guanciale/duck fat = extra flavour
Olive oil = extra crispiness
Ghee/butter = extra sweetness

Obviously feel free to swap out the herbs to suit your main course. Eg: thyme if serving with chicken, dill if with fish, etc.

If you’d rather go down a slightly healthier route, you can simply swap out all the fats and just use some olive oil. But bear in mind – you’re eating roast potatoes! Carbs and fats in perfect unity. So you might as well go the extra mile today and eat some salad tomorrow! 😛