Julie Goodwin shares her top tips for perfect potatoes every time
Who doesn't love a good, hearty, delicious serving of fluffy and decadent potatoes?
Original MasterChef Australia champion Julie Goodwin has shared her ultimate hacks for cooking the perfect potatoes every time, whether they’re mashed, roasted or baked.
According to Julie, there are three key things every home cook needs to keep in mind the next time potatoes are on the menu.
Make sure you have the right potatoes
Depending on whether you want baked, mashed, roasted, or any other way you want to prepare your potatoes, it all starts in the supermarket.
"I find that for things like mashed potatoes and gnocchi and rostis you want a floury potato, so the general rule is dirty potatoes for those things," Julie told 9Honey.
"And then for stuff like potato salads, boiled baby potatoes, and potato bake, it's better to have a waxy potato because they hold their substance better. And those are the ones that are sold clean, so things like the Pontiac and Desiree with the pink skin or the washed potatoes with the white skin."
"If you want to use them in an Irish stew to break down and thicken the sauce you've got to use a floury potato," she says. "So tend to your dirty ones."
She says that if you're buying a clean, waxy potato, you won't have to peel them since the skin is supposed to be edible.
However, if you're buying a dirty, floury potato, then you're going to want to peel the dirt off first and then wash off the residue.
Get those crispy edges
As every home cook knows, the key to the perfect roasted potato is for the inside to be soft and fluffy while the outside stays crispy.
It can be a tricky balance to master, but Goodwin says there's a simple way to get it right every time.
"I like to par boil them before I roast them. Just so that they go a bit fluffy around the edges," she explains. "What happens is those bits go really crispy and lovely."
Let the flavour flow
When it comes to seasoning your potatoes, it's hard to know what flavours will suit your dish best.
According to Goodwin, more is less when you season potatoes, so it's best to close the spice cabinet.
"Salt is absolutely the number one, pepper's beautiful [but] it depends on what the meal is," she says. "So if you're doing a bit of a Portuguese or Spanish inspired meal you might put some paprika on there.”
"But I really love rosemary and that's beautiful if you pound that up with your salt and put it on the potatoes that makes it really nice."
Image credits: Getty Images / Instagram