Crispy Buffalo Baked Potatoes

I have long said that my favourite potato is the humble potato.  That seems kind of fitting I suppose, seeing as I was born on Prince Edward Island, which is the potato capital of Canada! They grow a lot of potatoes on PEI! 

I have never met a potato I did not like.  Baked, boiled, fried, mashed, chipped, scalloped, you name it. The potato is one vegetable I just could not and would not want to live without!

 My oldest daughter does not share my love. I can't understand that! Surely the apple has not fallen too far from the tree?  Alas it has. She does like them as French fries (who doesn't!) and of course potato chips (again who doesnt!) but those are the only two ways she enjoys them! 

I would choose a potato as a side dish over any other side dish on offer.  No questions asked.  That's why low carb does not really work for me.  Maybe its my Irish heritage coming through!

 This potato dish is a littl bit unsual in that you will need to bake the potatoes twice. I adapted the recipe from one I found in an old BBC Good Food magazine from November of 2012. 

It required smallish desiree potatoes. For those of you who don't know, Desiree potatoes are a red skinned potato, probably similar to a Yukon gold. they have a yellowish flesh, and are good for just about anything except for use in salads or steaming.

This potato is awfully hard to beat when used for mashed, chips, boiled and yes baked.  I did not actually have any desiree potatoes today, but I had some smallish King Edwards which my friend Tina and her husband had grown in their garden.  They were the perfect size.

I think in North America you could use a great basic all rounder. You just don't want a waxy variety, of the kind that works best with potato salads.

 These potatoes are baked twice. Once on their own, simply in a very low oven, until they are meltingly tender inside. Because they are smallish you don't want to be baking them for this first bake time in a hot oven.

A hot oven would over cook them, create something far too crisp. You want to be able to gently smash them down a bit into a bit of a cake.

 They are not tossed with anything for that first baking. No seasoning. Nothing. You simply spread them onto a baking tray and bake them at a low temperature for about 2 hours. 

You want them to be really soft in the middle. Not firm. And you don't want the skins to be crisp.  This will happen after.

 Once they are really tender you take them out of the oven. They then get tossed with a mix of olive oil and buffalo sauce in a bowl. The original recipe called only for oil.

I thought that adding buffalo sauce would interject a lovely flavour filled kick to these. I am really fond of buffalo flavours.  It is buttery and spicy hot and somewhat vinegary. It works very well here.

 Along with the sauce there is some seasoning and plenty of spring onions. Sprin onions are also know known as scallions.

I slice them fairly thin. You will need six. Four will be added to the potatoes and two will be reserved for the final garnish.

 Along with the onions, seasoning, buffalo sauce and oil, you will need fresh thyme leaves. I am very lucky I have thyme growing in my garden. 

My mother had thyme growing in her back yard. If you walked across it you could smell it. It was not something she had ever cultivated. I think it was there from whoever had owned the house before her.

There is something really nice about having your own fresh herbs on tap in the garden. I hope that I will always be able to have fresh herbs in my garden, or even in pots on a balcony or windowsil. We will see.

You take the seasoned, herbed, onioned, oiled  potatoes and you smush them gently down into a shallow casserole dish to fill it. You don't want the skins to break open, so do be gentle.

 

 

After that you drizzle them with a tiny bit more oil and then bang them into a hot oven. They will bake for a further half an hour or so.

 

Until they are beautifully crisp and flavourfilled on the outsides.  Meltingly tender inside.  Beautifully flavoured through and through.

 

 

 

 Finally they are garnished with a drizzle of blue cheese dressing. Try to use a good one. I used Brianna's which I buy at Ocado. It has a lovely rich flavour and bits of actual blue cheese in it. 

I also threw some additional spring onions on top for colour and a bit of sharpness.  A few fresh thyme leaves add additional fresh flavour and colour as well. You don't need many. You could also use chopped fresh flat leaf parsley.

 I am thinking you could also throw some crisp bacon bits on top as well.  Just a suggestion. From one Glutton to another.

Altogether these were incredibly deliciously satisfying. I would be happy with a plateful of these and nothing else at all! If the potato is your favourite vegetable too, I can promise you that you will fall in love with these!
 

Buffalo Crispy Baked Potatoes

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Yield: 6

Author: Marie Rayner

prep time: 20 Mincook time: 2 H & 40 Mtotal time: 3 Hour

with their deliciously crispy skins and tangy sauce, these fabulously simple to make potatoes please on many levels.

Ingredients

• 3 1/3 pounds (1 1/2 kg) of smallish all purpose potatoes
• 4 TBS olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
• 1 TBS buffalo sauce (If you like lots of heat use 2)
• 6 spring onions, thinly sliced
• 1 TBS fresh thyme leaves
• black pepper
• fine sea salt
• 6 TBS good quality blue cheese dressing (I use Brianna's)

To garnish:

• additional thyme leaves
• cracked black pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 140*C/300*F/ gas  mark 2.  Place the potatoes on a baking tray and bake for about 2 hours until soft in the middle.
2. Increase the oven temperature to 220*C/425*F/ gas mark 7.
3. Toss the baked potatoes with the olive oil, buffalo sauce, thyme leaves, seasoning and about 2/3 of the spring onions in a bowl. 
4. Have ready a buttered baking dish which you can place them into in a single layer. You will want a snug fit. 
5. Place the potatoes into the baking dish. Using the back of a spatula, squash them into the dish tofill, creating a sort of flatish compact potato cake.  Drizzle them with a little bit more oil.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes until golden and crisp. Drizzle with the Buffalo Dressing and sprinkle with the remaining onions.  Garnish with cracked pepper and some additional leaf thyme if desired. Serve immediately.

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These potatoes are meltingly tender in the middle and moreishly crisp and flavourful on the outside. They are beautiful with roasted and grilled meats, poultry or fish. Why not enjoy them with some roasted BBQ pork and possibly some coleslaw on the side? 

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