Nigella's Roast Potatoes

I tried making Nigella's Roast Potatoes for Christmas lunch but I had a little bit of a failure. To make up for it, I promised DD I would make them again.

This time I made sure I didn't over cook the potatoes and I made sure I had some semolina in the pantry before I started. The only problem with them is that our oven tends to heat unevenly and the bottoms of the potatoes were more on the browned side rather than golden. They still tasted fantastic though, even if a bit crunchier than I intended them to be.

They are, without question, the best roast potatoes ever.

Perfect Roast Potatoes
from Feast by Nigella Lawson as published here

2 x 320g jars goose fat
2.5kg potatoes, such as King Edward's
2 x 15ml tbsp semolina

Preheat the oven to 250C. Put the fat into a large roasting tin and then into the oven to heat up for about 20-30 minutes.

Peel the potatoes, and cut each one into 3 by cutting off each end at a slant so that
you are left with a wedge or triangle in the middle.

Put the potatoes into salted, cold water in a saucepan, and bring to a boil, letting them cook for 4 minutes.

Drain the potatoes in a colander, then tip them back into the empty, dry saucepan, and sprinkle the semolina over.

Shake the potatoes around in the saucepan to coat them well and, with the lid clamped on, give the pan a good rotate and the potatoes a proper bashing so that their edges fuzz and blur a little: this facilitates the crunch effect later. I leave them to rest at this stage. If you don't, you'll need to have preheated the oven earlier!

When the fat is as hot as it can be, tip the semolina-coated potatoes carefully into it (they splutter terrifically as you put them in) and roast in the oven for an hour or until they are darkly golden and crispy, turning them over halfway through cooking.

If the oven's hot enough, they may well not need more than about 25 minutes a side; but it's better to let them sit in the oven (you can always pour off most of the fat) till the very last minute.

When everything else is served up, transfer the potatoes to a large (warmed if possible) serving dish and bring to the table with pride in your heart.