When I was up at Laura’s house last weekend I made a discovery. I always suspected that Paola, the fantastically talented woman who cooks for her, had a few tricks up her sleeve that made everything she cooked so delicious. Yes, I realized that she went to great efforts to get the best ingredients. And she probably uses more salt and oil than I am used to using, which doesn’t hurt either
But last weekend I finally realized that one of her secret weapons is having a big cup full of rosemary infused oil that she slathers on almost everything. Whatever she cooks, that cup of bright green liquid was always near to hand.
In the past, when I had hung out in Laura’s kitchen, I hadn’t realized what it was. I thought, mistakenly, that it was simply an especially bright green batch of olive oil. But this past weekend I actually saw Paola whipping up a batch. She poured about a cup of olive oil into a big quart measuring cup. Then she disappeared out the door to the garden, coming back in a few minutes later with a handful of freshly picked rosemary branches. She stripped off the leaves directly into the cup, along with a few cloves of peeled garlic. And then whizzed the whole thing up for about 15 seconds with an immersible blender.
And then left it there, while she got along with the rest of the lunch. Preparing the goose (a bit of the oil there), making the ragu (used that oil to start the soffrito) , and making an apple cake, (the only exception to the rule). Finally, a few hours later, when it came time to prepare the roast potatoes the oil came into play big time. By now the roughly chopped garlic and rosemary had let lose their oils and the simple olive oil had become a thing of beauty. All she had to do at this point was pour it over the potatoes and pop it in the oven.
Now I felt completely stupid. For all these years, through hundreds of meals featuring roast potatoes, I’d been doing it all wrong. Coating the potatoes with olive oil, then scattering the chopped rosemary on top, mixing it in. The rosemary always ended up getting kind of burnt (which wasn’t bad, but wasn’t great either). I could never capture that fresh green rosemary taste I was after.
My potatoes, of course, were never as good as Paola’s. And now I knew why.
I had discovered her secret weapon.
roast potatoes + rosemary
Prep
Cook
Total
Yield 4 -6
Ingredients
- 1 kilo / 2 pounds potatoes
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 6 sprigs of fresh rosemary
- 2 cloves garlic
- salt
Instructions
- About an hour (or more if possible) before you are going cook the potatoes, strip the leaves of the rosemary into the olive oil. Add the two peeled cloves of garlic, and with an immersible blender, whizz it about 10 to 15 seconds. You don’t want to puree it, just chop up everything roughly. Let sit for at least an hour at room temperature.
- Preheat oven to 350F/ 180 C.
- Peel and chop the potatoes into 1 inch pieces.
- Place them in a bowl, and toss with the rosemary olive oil.
- Lay them out on top of a parchment lined oven tray, in a single layer. You may have to use two trays. Salt liberally. More salt than you think you should. Potatoes really soak it up. Toss again to distribute the salt.
- Place in preheated oven and bake until golden, about 45 minutes.
- Serve immediately.
Thank you for sharing! I just returned from Italy last week with a few great oils in my bag. Can’t wait to try this!
What a brilliant idea! I always make this dish “your” way, but I’ll definitely have to try Paola’s next time I make it. Thanks so much for the tip!
GENIUS! I’m picking rosemary today.
Fantastic E – thanks for sharing! Does Laura, per chance, have a large pizza oven and outdoor kitchen on her terrace? If so, I am pretty sure I had dinner at her place a few years ago!
She has a gorgeous pizza oven and grill. And is very social, so you may very well have dined there.
I did the same as you, sprinkling the rosemary on top. I’ve got an abundant rosemary bush and will be conjuring up some rosemary-garlic oil forthwith.
I love to make rosemary & garlic infused olive oil for bruschette slathered with pureed cannellini beans,
but what I really crave right now is that golden crispy goose breast – such a rare poultry in this neck of the woods …
OMG, that goose was so incredibly good. We were all fighting over the last pieces.
I have never been able to duplicate the flavor of those roasted potatoes I have devoured in Italy. I may have to try again.
One of the secrets is using enough olive oil. Don’t be stingy in that department!
Yes! Brilliant! and don’t I feel silly for not thinking of this, however since I am not creative this is why I follow food blogs!! Thank you!!
Thank you. This got raves at dinner tonight. I’m throwing out my several versions of this recipe “your” way, which was mine, too, and always disappointingly lacking in rosemary flavor. Paola’s recipe was a revelation — what a wonderful, delicious difference!
I know, isn’t it amazing? How one little thing can change an entire recipe?
Fabulous! We had just had a discussion about that issue of the burnt bits of rosemary and now the problem is brilliantly solved!!!
Sounds great! Do you know how long it can be stored for?
I think a few days. It’s not meant to be bottled to last a long time, but to be used fresh, after a few hours to a few days.
Thanks for the infused olive oil tip, think we will be cooking everything with it! And the goose ragu…..you are one lucky girl!
We had a delicious veal stinko (whole roasted veal shank on a bed of roasted potatoes) at Restaurant Al 34 in Rome. I cuouldnt get the memory of those delicious Rosemary and Garlic infused potatoes out of my mind
A few failed attempts led me to google for this article. Thanks so much for putting it up here.
Super. I’ve often made potatoes in a similar way, but I never blended the oil/rosemary/garlic first. That really makes a huge difference.
I also add about 2 Tbsp of butter in small chunks, scattered among the potatoes; this improves browning. Of course, most of Italy doesn’t use butter.