Day 80: vinegar on your sunday dinner
As a child, roast potatoes were perhaps one of the best things about Sundays (and still are). My paternal grandmother made the best ones: cooking them for a good couple of hours, almost slow-roasting I guess, in the dripping from her dripping pot (collected from the frying and roasting of various meats and whatever remained from roasting potatoes the week prior). My Dad took this one step further and would cook them for what seemed like a whole day (this is over-dramatised, impatient child speak by the way). On the weekends when I would visit him I remember the restlessness as I waited for dinner, thinking that each time he opened the oven door it was ready, but all he was actually doing was turning them one-by-one in the gently sizzling dripping and returning the tray to the oven for another half hour before repeating the process again. Much love and time went into them, and they were so worth it. In fact, when I used to visit my Dad for the weekends in my teen years I would specifically request that for dinner on one of the nights we had a big bowl of roast potatoes and a dipping pot of thick gravy each (thickness was essential here to ensure that it adhered to the roast potatoes as they were dunked and then didn’t drip down your chin as you delivered said roast potato and gravy to mouth).
But what set the experience apart from roast potatoes cooked by my Mum at home (as good as they were too) was vinegar. I always got to have malt vinegar on my Sunday roast potatoes (and veg and Yorkshire puddings) when I was at my Dad’s. And this is exactly what Nigella’s Salt and Vinegar Potatoes make me think of each time I hear about them: evenings on the sofa with my Dad, dunking roast potatoes (showered in salt and vinegar) into thick gravy while watching a marathon of movies on VHS. So, it was about time I tried them for myself!
Nigella’s Salt & Vinegar Potatoes
I am probably one of the last Nigella-cookalongers to try this one. I see them in the fantabulous At My Table every time I flick through it and think just how gorgeous they look (and then fall asleep dreaming about them, and what I might eat with them), but because I usually have vinegar with my roast potatoes anyway, I probably never prioritised them on my must-try list. It wasn’t until they featured as Nigella’s #RecipeOfTheDay recently that prompted me to read into them, and then I realised that they were in fact made with fully-steamed/cooked new potatoes that were then crushed with a fork. And this seemed new!
I always parboil my potatoes before roasting, even if I do herby garlic roast new potatoes, but I have not fully cooked them before. I do not have a steamer, so I boiled the baby new potatoes for this recipe and allowed them to drain well and dry long. In hindsight, I may have potentially over-boiled them slightly as they were very soft, so I just increased the oven temp and cooking time accordingly.
Flavour musings
I opted to use beef dripping here, I know olive oil may be used for a reason but I think right now we should treat ourselves wherever we can and I love the sweet chewiness of the crispy edges that beef dripping tends to influence. Instead of the malt vinegar I would normally use, I did go with the apple cider vinegar and this was a refreshingly light and zestful change: adding a tart appleyness to the mix. Of course, I had to add my vinegar separately: it repulses the hubby as mouldy fish guts do me.
I ate a select few of these dipped in a homemade sour cream, chive, garlic and dill dip and the rest were enjoyed with Swedish meatballs and sauce, and a salad with Nigella’s Creamy Garlic and Anchovy Dressing.
