Update and Bonus Recipe!

Hey guys!
Well---I didn't win. BUT I won the popular vote and got third over all, so thanks for voting. A vote for me is a vote for adventure. and I believe in Harvey Dent!
Also, Jennifer English, who owns this amazing online spice store www.flavorbank.com was so good as to hook all of the competitors up with a 25 dollar gift certificate. Chicka chicka yeah, y'all! (Also go and buy things from her. The selection is kick-ass).

I did cook sunday dinner this week, but I was busy working on turning pineapple and basil into something awesome so I didn't get around to putting it up. Because I am a lazy, lazy blogger.
But here, to appease you and the gods of cookery, is my very own personal recipe for English Roast Potatoes.
And a story.

Last year I spent the semester in England. It was, by far, one of the best experiences of my life. I miss it every day, and I'm not just saying that. there was just something about it. Anyway, the food sucked. Ha. While it is true that England has some of the most amazing restaurants ever, the Edge Hill Caffeteria was not one of these places. However, there was this one dish that I fell in love with, and, by the end of the semester (aside from Yorkie bars--even though they're not for girls)
was living off of. That dish, ladies and gents, is Roast Potatoes.
Crispy (if you do it right), filling, warming and delightful, I am counting down the days until I can go back JUST for some roasties. The other day I was in a Liverpool memory mode and, even though it was July, it was freezing here in Iowa, and this dish worked perfectly to satiate both my heart and hunger.

Anyway, here's the technique that has taken me quite some time to figure out.

Catie's English Roast Potatoes

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.

1. Wash and chop 8-10 good sized potatoes into chunks, slices, squares, triangles...whatever you want, as long as they are no bigger than 3 inches.

2. Boil a big ass pot of water and, once it boils, add in your taters. Boil for 4-5 minutes. **Don't let potatoes get to soft or they will fall apart** Noob tip! This is called "par boiling".

2.5 While you do this, take a couple large roasting pans (or jelly roll pans, or cake pans...basically any shallow oven proof dish will do) and cover the bottom in about 1/4 inch oil. Place pans in the oven to get the oil nice and warm while your poatoes boil

3. Dump water and return potatoes to pot. Throw 1/2 a cup of oil in the pot, close the lid and shake what your momma gave you to coat the potatoes in oil.

4. Remove pans with oil from the oven BE CAREFUL FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! and place your coated poatoes in the pans. You can crowd them in there, but make sure none are overlapping.

5. Season with sea salt. You can add a mix of garlic, onion, chilli powder and pepper for spicier potatoes. Return to oven and let cook for at least an hour. Turn potatoes with a spoon (or your bare hands if you're into the whole Johnny Tremain thing) every 15 minutes or so.

6. Once cooked, remove from pans right away and sit out on paper towels to drain extra oil. Serve hot and fresh. They don't reheat well.
OM NOM NOM!

Tips: if they aren't getting crispy, cook longer (duh, but make sure you rotate the pans to avoid non-cookery. IE: switch top and bottom pans if you're using two racks and turn them 90 degrees as well every 20 minutes). I will sacrifice the soldiers in the corners to make sure the middle ones get really crispy. But this is also because I have really crappy pans and the oil flows to the corners instead of being flat.

Enjoy your delicious roast potatoes. Tell Liverpool I miss her.