Salt & Vinegar Smashed Spuds
There are many ways to eat a potato. But if you haven’t tried boiling them in vinegary water, smashing them with the back of a wooden spoon and roasting them with plenty of oil and salt then you are missing one of THE BEST forms of the humble spud that is currently in existence.
The whole ‘boiling in vinegary water’ thing came as a surprise to me too! Originally I just chucked some vinegar in the water on a whim, because I was trying to make a salt-and-vinegar flavoured potato. That much worked - the potatoes have a delicious ever-so-slightly sour flavour, like if a fish and chip shop was built in a euphoric afterlife, epitomising everything that is good about fish and chips without any of the floppy oily sadness. BUT there was an added bonus of the vinegar that I only realised later - pectin!
According to The Internet, pectin is a ‘structural acidic heteropolysaccharide’ (a kind of fibre) ‘contained in the primary cell walls of terrestrial plants’. It’s one of the crucial ingredients that makes jam thicken, because when it’s combined with acids and sugars (e.g., the acid that naturally occurs in fruit, or lemon juice, plus sugar), it kinda gel-ifies and thickens the whole business. Turns out if you cook potatoes in a slightly acidic solution of vinegar and water, the potatoes get a little more structurally resilient. This means you can boil them really well and they won’t go mushy or break apart, making them the perfect candidate for smashing with a wooden spoon and roasting to golden perfection! Which is what you must now do, because it is a truly brilliant and revelatory carbohydrate-based experience.
Salt & Vinegar Smashed Spuds
Serves 3-4 as a side
Ingredients
20 baby potatoes, halved
1 cup vinegar
2 Tbsp grapeseed oil
A few VERY generous pinches of salt
1 lime (to serve)
For the smoky chimichurri
2 Tbsp fresh oregano
3 cloves garlic
1 Tbsp white vinegar
1 Tbsp malt vinegar
4 Tbsp olive oil
1 large red chilli
Juice of 1/2 a lime
1/4 tsp smoky paprika
1/4 tsp castor sugar
Method
Put the potatoes and vinegar in a small saucepan and add water until the potatoes are fully submerged. Bring to the boil and cook for about 30 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft when pierced with a knife. Drain and let cool for about 5 minutes.
Spread the potatoes out in a single layer, cut side down, on an oven tray. Using the back of a wooden spoon, press down into each potato until it splits and crushes and smashes up. Drizzle the grapeseed oil over everything and sprinkle generously with salt. Put in the oven at 200˚C and roast for about 45 minutes, until crispy all over and a deep golden brown.
Hint: be patient here, the best potatoes are the ones that have been allowed to roast to total patient perfection! You want them TRULY crisp and it’s worth the wait!
To make the chimichurri, just chuck everything in a jug and blitz it up until smooth with a stick blender.
Sprinkle your finished potatoes with a little extra smoky paprika, maybe a dash more salt and some fresh oregano. Serve with the chimichurri, and couple of lime wedges on the side.
