Herb-Roasted Baby Potatoes

When planning a party for a large group of people, you are constantly on the lookout for dishes or ingredients that can be cooked simply, quickly, and in large batches. Potatoes fit the bill perfectly as they are versatile enough to fit into any course of the meal. The ‘Herb-Roasted Baby Potatoes’ dish works wonders as a starter because you can let the oven roast the potatoes evenly while you get time to focus on other things. And who does not like crisp potatoes with a shining layer of butter glistening away on them! Getting a high quality butter will definitely enhance the flavour of this dish. Serve them on skewers for your guests to have firm hold on the potatoes.

Recipe Details :
Serves: 8-10 pax
Time: 90 mins
Difficulty: Medium

Ingredients :

• 2 kgs baby potatoes , scrubbed and rinsed
• 1/2 cup salt
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 tbsp fresh parsley leaves
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
• 1 shallot, thinly sliced
• 1/2 stick of unsalted butter, cut into thin slices
• Freshly ground black pepper

• In a pan, place the potatoes and cover with water. Add salt to it and stir it well. Bring the water to a boil over high flame.
• Once a lot of bubbles have come in the boiling phase, lower the flame and let the potatoes cook slowly till the water evaporates. This will take about 30 mins. At this stage, switch off the flame. The potatoes will now be covered in salt.
• Wash the potatoes in tap water to remove the excess salt.
• While the potatoes are boiling, start the prep work for seasoning. Combine the shallot, garlic, parsley and thyme in a food processor. Pulse to mix the ingredients. Add in the butter chunks and pulse to form a homogeneous mixture. Your herb butter is ready at this stage.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Adjust the oven rack to middle position. Prepare a roasting tray / 9 x 13 pan and line it with a baking sheet or aluminium foil.
• Heat the herb butter in a saucepan on medium flame till it melts.
• Toss the potatoes along with half of the melted butter in a bowl. Transfer this to baking pan and roast in the oven, shaking the pan occasionally, for about 20 mins. The potatoes should have crisped all over.
• Transfer the crispy potatoes to a large bowl and toss in the remaining the herb butter. Garnish it with salt and pepper and serve hot. The potatoes would have soaked in all the flavours of the herbs and the potato skins should have gotten wrinkly giving you a perfect party appetizer.

Tips:

• Keep an eye on the potatoes as they boil. Turn off the gas once the water has evaporated.
• You can add other flavours to the herb butter as well – for a spicy kick, toss in some paprika or chilli flakes.
• If you do not have access to fresh herbs, just use readymade Italian seasoning.
• If you are in Singapore, then buy the baby potatoes from wet markets. They sell a bunch in a single packet.