Recipe
Black Garlic Roast Potatoes
Crisp, golden roast potatoes with mellow black garlic, sage and thyme, cooked in hot rapeseed oil for a deeply savoury side dish with a soft, aromatic centre.
Ingredients
Method
15 mins prep45 mins cook60 mins total
Heat the oven to 200°C, or 180°C fan. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil, add the peeled potatoes and simmer until just tender when pierced with a knife.
Drain the potatoes thoroughly and leave them to steam-dry for a few minutes. Shake the pan gently so the surfaces become slightly rough; these loose edges will crisp in the oven.
Pour half the oil into a large roasting tray and heat it in the oven for a few minutes. Carefully add the potatoes, drizzle over the remaining oil, season generously and turn to coat.
Roast for 20 minutes, then add the black garlic cloves, sage and thyme. Toss carefully and return to the oven for about 25 minutes, turning once if needed, until the potatoes are golden and crisp.
Notes
Let the potatoes steam-dry after parboiling and keep them in a single uncrowded layer so the rough edges can crisp properly.
Add the black garlic during the final half of roasting; its soft texture and high natural sweetness mean it can catch if left in the oven for the full cooking time.
About this recipe
These roast potatoes bring a gentler, more rounded flavour to the table than a traditional garlic roast. Parboiling the potatoes first and shaking them in the pan creates plenty of rough edges, while hot rapeseed oil turns those edges crisp and golden in the oven. Black garlic is added partway through so its soft cloves warm and caramelise without catching.
Sage and thyme add a clean herbal note that balances the sweetness of the black garlic. Give the potatoes plenty of space in the roasting tray and let them steam-dry before roasting; both details help them brown rather than soften. Serve them alongside a Sunday roast or with a simple vegetable-led dinner.
