Lemon Roasted New Potatoes

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I got this recipe from a cookbook Maximum Flavor. Kamozawa and Talbot regularly advise restaurant chefs on the best way to prepare their dishes. Together they find the answers to many of the puzzles that can help chefs reach new levels of understanding of food preparation.

New potatoes baked with lemon is not a dish for every day, but to cook it at least once is definitely worth it to feel the unusual taste. The recipe is very simple and at the same time spectacular. This is a summer dish, as one of the main ingredients is used small New potatoes, and the lemon note gives the potatoes a freshness and adds sourness.

The basic idea of the recipe is that young potatoes are baked on a bed of finely chopped onions and lemon. Thanks to this, it turns out fried on top and baked, but not fried at all underneath.

The onion and lemon evaporate moisture as they bake, which saturates the potatoes with their flavors and gives them an interesting lemon flavor. But beyond that, the onion and lemon caramelize and become something akin to marmalade or confit.

⏱ Cooking time — 80 minutes overall. Includes 25 minutes of preparation and cooking + 55 minutes unattended.

🥣 Ingredients

🍽 For 4 portions:

• 1000 g (2,2 lb) new potatoes (small)
• 2 lemons
• 1 medium onion
• 150 g (5,3 oz) butter
• 5 g (0,2 oz) olive oil
• 1.5 g (0,1 cups) fresh rosemary (dried rosemary can be substituted)
• 6 g (0,2 oz) salt

 🔪Step by step Directions

Preheat the oven to 225 °C / 425 °F , mode top – bottom.

If you have a steamer, use it. If you don’t have a steamer, build one like I did or just boil the potatoes.

Put 1 kg (2,2 lb) of new potatoes in a steamer, bring the water to a boil and steam for about 10 minutes until the potatoes are soft, so you can easily peel them afterwards.

Check the readiness by piercing the potatoes with a toothpick or wooden skewer, if it passes easily – then the potatoes are ready.

While the potatoes are boiling, let’s prepare the lemons and onions.

Take 1 medium onion, cut it in half. Remove the skin of the onion, cut off the top tip, but leave the tail for now, so it will be easier to slice.

Slice the onion into thin half rings. Discard the remaining tails.

Take 2 lemons, cut off their tails on both sides.

Slice the lemons into thin rings or half rings, whichever you prefer.

Remove all the seeds from the lemon and discard them.

Transfer the sliced lemon and onion to a bowl.

Sprinkle salt over onion and lemon in a bowl. Mix well and set aside.

Transfer the steamed new potatoes to a bowl and leave them to cool so they can be comfortably handled later.

Cooled potatoes, peel with a knife.

Grease a baking tray with olive oil or any other neutral vegetable oil. Lay out the lemon and onion.

Cut the potatoes in half lengthwise and place them on a bed of onions and lemon.

Place a piece of finely and thinly sliced butter on top of the potatoes.

In the original recipe, it is recommended to put one piece of butter on one half of the potatoes, but to be honest, I was too lazy to bother with it. That’s why I did it the way it was told, and sometimes I just put a layer of butter on several neighboring potatoes.

Salt the potatoes and send them to the oven to bake for 25 minutes.

Then take the tray out, turn it to 180 degrees and return it to the oven for another 10 minutes. Until a ruddy golden crust forms.

Sprinkle the rosemary over the potatoes and serve.

Remove burnt onions around the edges, or try to lay the potatoes in advance so that they completely cover the onion and lemon pillow, then there will be no burnt onions.

You can serve them right on the tray. While the potatoes are hot they have a nice crispy crust, but when they cool down, they get soggy and don’t taste as good. So let the potatoes rest for 5 minutes, as recommended in the original recipe, and serve.