Swift Baked Crispy Potatoes #Ad

It’s National Potato Day in Ireland today and when I was asked to develop a new recipe especially for the celebration I found it hard to say no. If you ask me, everyday is a potato day! There’s a reason why I don’t grow potatoes at the allotment. I certainly could if I wanted to, it’s just that we have so many fantastic local potato producers close to home that I prefer to support them instead. In fact, the local potato growers are so supportive of what we do at the allotments, there is a particular farmer who supplies us with potatoes for the pigs! Every couple of weeks a meitheal of syndicate members gets together and we shift a tonne of potatoes from a trailer into storage boxes for the pigs. They’re then boiled daily for the pigs’ main meal.

As you can tell, Irish potatoes are an essential part of my community! If you’re a regular reader you’ll know that potatoes form a huge part of our family diet. They’re so healthy, full of nutrients, low in fat, and high in flavour. Please do use the search box above to find out just a few of the 30+ recipes on the blog where potatoes are the star of the show. You’ll also find more recipes over on www.potato.ie

For this recipe I was asked to come up with something that is swift and easy to make. There is so little preparation in my swift baked crispy potatoes that even a child can do it with a small amount of supervision. My two boys found squeezing the tea towel particularly satisfying, but not quite as much fun as eating the resulting spuds for dinner!

[recipe title=”Swift Baked Crispy Potatoes” servings=”4″ time=”25 minutes” difficulty=”easy”]

Ingredients

• 4 medium washed Rooster potatoes (skins on)
• 200g chopped chorizo (bacon will do just fine either)
• 100g grated cheddar cheese
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

Unusual Equipment Note

You will need a large box grater (or food processor if you’re lucky enough to have one), a clean tea towel, and a large bowl for mixing.

Method

1. Preheat your (fan) oven to 190 degrees Celsius. Line 2 large baking trays with non-stick greaseproof paper.
2. Grate your potatoes using the skin and all. The skin of a potato contains loads of  nutrients you don’t want to lose. Take the pile of grated potato and sit it on top of the clean tea towel. Wrap the tea towel around the grated potato and hold it over a bowl or a sink. Twist the top of the towel and squeeze the bejeepers out of it to get rid of as much moisture as possible.
3. Empty the squeezed grated potato into the large bowl. Add the chopped meat, grated cheese, salt, and pepper. Stir well with a fork to make sure it’s all mixed together.
4. Using your hands, put a generous handful of the mixture into piles onto the baking tray. Flatten them slightly so that they are not too high.
5. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes. At this point they should be golden and crispy. If not, return to the oven for a further 5 minutes before checking again.
6. Remove and allow to cool slightly before eating.

I normally serve my swift baked crispy potatoes with a fresh salad, or here, with a chickpea dip![/recipe]

Disclosure: This blogpost was developed for National Potato Day in association with Potatoes: More Than A Bit On The Side.