More Christmas tips pt 3

The traditional potato dish to have with your Roast Turkey and trimmings is roast potatoes. I personally love roasted potatoes and think they should be served with all roasted meats. Preparing and cooking the festive meal for the whole family can be a stressful time for the person who has got the job of ensuring the meal is cooked to perfection and served on time. Hopefully I might be able to provide you with some ideas on cooking and preparation.

Last Christmas my family and I had the chance to try Roast Goose for Christmas dinner instead of traditional turkey. It was not one of our geese and we purchased a free range bird from a local French farmers wife. Spot, Tickle, & Campbell are our pet geese and there is no way that I was going to eat any of them. I have not the heart or the inclination to dine on them even though the price of free range geese is extortionate. One of the by-products of having goose on the menu is you get a lot of fat of the bird when you roast it.

In times gone bye the locals would rub the solidified fat on their bodies to keep warm in winter but the advent of thermals and central heating systems have put an end to that. The fat from the goose is excellent for roasting potatoes in and the flavour it adds is very tasty. The good news is that you can buy goose fat in packets and in some case in jars and if you can find a supplier I recommend that you try using goose fat this Christmas.

Having decided what you are going to roast the Potato's in you might want to consider this little tip for assisting you with roasting the potatoes and some help with oven management if the demands on your oven outweigh the space. The frequently do and even in a big kitchen we always seem to be struggling for oven space as service time approached. Our wood burning stove at our self catering gite certainly benefited from this method as it was a God send when it came to cooking time.

Put your peeled and prepared potatoes into a pan of hot seasoned water and par cook the potatoes so that they are still firm and not falling at the edges. Drain thoroughly and if not cooking immediately allow to cool. This method allow you extra space in the oven at at a time when demand is at it's peak and when it comes to cooking the potatoes it also makes for faster cooking time.

If goose fat is not an option then normal oil or olive oil will be fine for roasting your spuds in. Unless of course you want to try something a little different with your potatoes. Peel and prepare your potatoes as normal and place in a deep sided roasting tray. Make up a beef stock or use a stock cube and fill the roasting tray until half way up the sides of the potatoes. Brush the tops of the spuds with melted butter and add salt and pepper to your taste. Place in a hot oven for cooking and every so often brush a little more melted butter on top of the potatoes. You should end up with the tops of the potatoes all brown,golden and crispy and the bottom of the spuds will be soft and full of the juices of the beef stock.

For presentation you can with a small Sharpe knife carve the potatoes into barrel shapes before cooking. It takes a little bit more time to prepare your potatoes and you do have lots of potato trimmings left over but the results are worth the effort and the off cuts can be boiled up for making mash or as a base for a soup. You could go the extra mile and if you have a melon scooper/baller to hand, scoop out balls of potatoes, blanch in hot seasoned water and drained thoroughly. Pan fry in a little butter and olive oil until cooked and golden. Add herbs and seasoning to your taste.

This will definitely produce a wow factor on the table but also lots of Gouder cheese style potatoes. Simply cut up and make into a mash or use as a soup base. If you do make a mash of the left over potato and you have a piping bag and a star nozzle you could pipe the mix into potato towers, brush with melted butter, place on a greased baking tray and brown under the grill or in the oven. Another variation would be to pipe potato towers and using a wooden spoon handle indent the top of the tower and fill with a little grated cheese and cream or tomato concasse.

Just a few little ideas for serving your potatoes this Christmas and what ever you decide to do I hope it all goes well.

Good luck.
and
Happy cooking.