Most people don't equate potatoes with Italian cooking. And while it is true that potatoes are not as pervasive in Italian cooking as they are in other European cuisines, they are, nonetheless, quite popular all the way from Sicily to the Alps. A favorite Italian contorno di patate is the simple roasted potato.
Did I
mention that I love potatoes? This, of course, includes the simple
roasted potato. As a cook, one of the reasons I love this dish so
much is precisely because it is so simple. As a potato aficionado, I
love this dish for its delicious flavors and interesting textural
contrasts.
Now,
before I delve into the nuts and bolts of the recipe – and there
aren't many to delve into – let's talk briefly about potatoes.
Idahoan
Luther Burbank developed the most ubiquitous variety of potato, and
it bears his name; the Russet Burbank Potato. Most folks, myself
included, just call them “russets.” Some call them “Idahoes,”
some just refer to them functionally as baking or all-purpose
potatoes, the latter being something of a misnomer because they
really aren't good for all purposes. Russets are a high-starch,
low-moisture potato. This makes them perfect for baking and mashing
and other applications where a light, fluffy texture is desired. They
also make great French fries. But they don't hold up as well in
long-cooking dishes like soups and stews, where they tend to lose
their shapes and fall apart. Used for roasting, they hold up well
enough, but become rather dry on the inside and they don't brown
particularly well on the outside.
The
same is true of medium-starch varieties like the Yukon Gold, the
Yellow Finn, or the Kennebec. Lower in starch, these varieties are
also considered “all-purpose” potatoes, but suffer the same
limitations as their starchier cousins when subjected to boiling,
roasting, or similar long-cooking techniques.
Low-starch,
high-moisture potatoes are best for dishes that call for boiling or
roasting. They hold together well and, in the case of roasting,
produce a nice, light crust on the outside while maintaining a solid,
dense interior that retains all its rich and complex flavors. Red
Bliss, new, white rose, and fingerling potatoes are among the
varieties that fall into this category.
As to
the recipe – well, I mentioned that I have dozens of potato
recipes. Up until recently I had six just for basic roasted potatoes,
including one written entirely in Italian. These recipes were all
variations on the same theme and all were comprised of the same basic
ingredients and techniques, including a parboiling step for the
potatoes. Then I discovered a recipe perfected by the “Cook's
Illustrated” folks at America's Test Kitchen that absolutely wowed
me into discarding all the other recipes. The “wow” factor came
in the elimination of the parboiling.
Now,
there's nothing wrong with parboiling and if you still want to do it,
go right ahead. When the finished product comes out of the oven, it
will have the desired soft, dense, moist, flavorful interior. But the
test kitchen wizards discovered that covering the potatoes with foil
for a portion of their roasting time causes them to steam in their
own moisture, producing the same delicious results but eliminating
one time-consuming step.
So
here's my new favorite roasted potato recipe, as found in the pages
of “Cook's Illustrated” with a couple of variations on my part.
It's so simple, you'll love it, too.
ROASTED
POTATOES
(Patate Arrosto)
2
pounds Red Bliss or other low-starch potatoes, scrubbed, dried,
halved, and cut into 3 /4-inch wedges. (Unless the potatoes are very
small, in which case you should just halve them.)
3
tablespoons extra-virgin olive oilKosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Pinch of dried thyme, to taste
Place
the oven rack in the middle position and preheat the oven to 425°.
Add
the olive oil to a medium to large bowl, add the potatoes and toss to
coat. Generously season with salt, pepper, and thyme and toss again
to blend.
Place
the potatoes, cut sides down, in a single layer on a shallow roasting
pan. Cover tightly with foil and bake for about 20 minutes. Remove
the foil and continue to roast until the sides touching the pan are
golden brown, about 10 or 15 minutes more. Gently turn the potatoes
so the other cut side is touching the pan and roast another 5 or 10
minutes, or until the cut sides are golden brown and the skin side is
lightly wrinkled. (If you are using small halves instead of wedges,
just turn them cut side up for the final 5 or 10 minutes.)
Transfer
to a serving dish and serve hot or warm.
Serves
4
A
nice variation from “Cook's” calls for making a paste from two
minced garlic cloves and an eighth-teaspoon of salt, putting the
paste in a bowl and tossing the finished potatoes in it before
serving.
Another
variation involves cooking up and crumbling some bacon, adding some
of the bacon drippings to the roasting pan before layering in the
potatoes, and then toppping the potatoes with the crumbled bacon,
some crushed or finely-minced garlic, some finely shredded
Parmigiano-Reggiano and a little parsley for the final 10 minutes of
cooking. It makes for a nice dish with an interesting flavor profile,
but it's a little more complicated. And the bacon, garlic, and cheese
flavors may not “go” with everything.
Buon appetito!
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