Delia Smith roasted new potatoes are unpeeled new potatoes cut into 1cm cubes and roasted in very hot olive oil with garlic and rosemary. A 900g batch feeds 4 to 6. You get the oil very hot in the tin, add the cubes, then roast them at 220°C, so they are ready in under an hour.
They come from page 78 of her Summer Collection (1993), where food for eating outdoors needs bold flavours. Once they are in the oven they need no attention, so they can roast until you are ready to eat. Unlike her perfect roast potatoes, they keep their skins, are cut small and go in raw, with no parboiling.
The barbecue menus in that book serve them with her All-American half-pounder burger. They also go with her mixed grill of lamb cutlets, pork ribs and chicken drumsticks under an apricot barbecue glaze. For chicken on its own, her apricot barbecue chicken is the one to make. For a vegetarian barbecue, she serves them with her marinated halloumi kebabs and Mexican tomato salsa.
Delia Smith Garlic and Rosemary New Potatoes
Little cubes of skin-on new potatoes turned in sizzling olive oil with rosemary and garlic, then roasted in a hot oven until crisp.
4
servings15
minutes40
minutes220
kcalIngredients
- For the potatoes:
900g unpeeled large new potatoes
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
1-2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and freshly milled black pepper
Directions
- Heat: Heat the oven to 220°C, gas mark 7. Put the olive oil in a shallow, solid 40 x 30cm roasting tin and set it in the oven to heat.
- Cut: Wash the potatoes without scraping off the skins, then cut them into cubes of about 1cm.
- Dry: Dry the cubes as thoroughly as you can in a clean tea towel, then tip them onto a large plate.
- Coat: Set the hot tin over a direct heat on the hob. Slide the potatoes into the very hot oil and turn them to coat them, sprinkling in the garlic and rosemary as you go.
- Roast: Roast them for 30 to 40 minutes, until golden-brown and crisp.
- Season: Season with salt and pepper just before serving.
FAQs
How do I prepare the potatoes?
The potatoes are washed but not peeled, because they keep their skins for this recipe. The Summer Collection (1993) even asks you not to scrape them.
Why dry the potatoes in a tea towel?
Drying is the book’s own step, done just before the cubes meet the hot oil. My reading is that dry potatoes spit less in the oil and crisp up better.
How do I get the oil hot enough?
Heat the oil in the tin in the oven first, as it needs to be very hot before the potatoes go in. The Vegetarian Collection (2002) allows about 10 minutes for this in its red potato version.
Use a shallow, solid roasting tin of about 40 x 30cm, because it then goes onto a hob burner. That keeps the oil sizzling while the cubes slide in.
When do the garlic and rosemary go in?
The chopped garlic and rosemary go in at the start, sprinkled over the potatoes while you turn them in the hot oil on the hob. They then roast with the potatoes for the whole 30 to 40 minutes.
How do I make it for 8 people?
For 8 people, the Summer Collection (1993) simply doubles the recipe at its Fourth of July American barbecue. That menu also doubles the half-pounders and the Mexican tomato salsa, and adds home-barbecued sweetcorn.
Can I use baby new potatoes?
Yes, baby new potatoes work well, and her website has its own version for them, Roasted New Potatoes with Herbs and Garlic. Any larger ones are halved, then the potatoes soak for 1½ to 2 hours with garlic, chopped herbs, oil and vinegar, covered with a cloth.
Then they roast for 20 to 25 minutes on the highest shelf of a very hot oven, with crushed sea salt. For boiled baby new potatoes instead, try her lemon potatoes with parsley.
How do I add red onion?
Red onion goes in with red potatoes in the Vegetarian Collection (2002) version, which serves 6. It roasts 1.15kg of red potatoes with 2 red onions, olive oil and red wine vinegar. The potatoes are wiped with kitchen paper rather than washed, then cut into 2cm chunks with the skin on.
The onions go in as rough slivers, and the vinegar is sprinkled over once everything is coated in oil. That tray then takes 40 to 45 minutes on the top shelf at 220°C, gas mark 7.
