As I’ve mentioned in the past, I love potatoes. My father often jokes that there is no Irish in our heritage so he has no idea where the potato thing came from, but for as long as anyone can remember, I’ve always loved them. Fried, mashed, boiled, you name it, I love it. I even have fond memories of various potatoes growing up: The super old-school potatoes my Portuguese/French grandmother used to make, boiled in salt water and served with olive oil on top; the excellent french fries we used to fry at home (Latin people deep-fry at home fairly often, hard as it is to believe); the roasted-in-the-meat-juices potatoes my dad still makes; the homemade potato chips my uncle used to make and sell in flimsy plastic bags. I’ve never met a potato I didn’t like.
So when I saw this recipe for “Salt-Roasties” in The Zuni Cafe Cookbook, I knew I was going to have to try it. After all, if potatoes are my #1 favorite food, salt has to be my #1 favorite condiment! And if you’ve ever had under-salted potatoes, you know salt is an absolute requirement when making any potato dish, but potatoes cooked in salt? This was news to me!
The recipe actually calls for yellow-fleshed potatoes, but I had these baby reds on hand so I used what I had. You can definitely use any type of potato that is not too big, I don’t really think it makes a difference for this recipe.
The potatoes need to be far enough apart so that they’re completely surrounded by salt, but the bigger the cooking vessel, the more salt you need. I only had 10oz of rock salt on hand, so I used the smallest vessel that would fit the potatoes spaced out — it happened to be a frying pan, but it worked just fine because it was tall enough and the perfect size (you can do this if your pans have metal handles!). Once you have the potatoes layed out, you cover them in salt:
The recipe says to cover them to “just barely cover,” leaving a speck of each potato visible so you can easily find them later. I didn’t quite have enough salt to meet the recipe requirement, but I didn’t notice any effect in the potatoes:
After 30-40 minutes in the oven, you dig out the potatoes, scrape off the salt, and eat! They weren’t salty at all (except for the skins) and the inside was perfectly cooked. The texture is like a boiled potato, but without the sogginess that often goes along with boiling. Really a good potato dish that’s all about the potato!
And the best part? It’s super easy. This may be the easiest recipe I’ve ever made, actually!
Salt-Roasties, adapted from The Zuni Cafe Cookbook
- 1.5 pounds potatoes, about 2-inches in diameter
- Rock salt (I used 10 oz, you may need more)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Arrange potatoes in pan so that they are at least .5 inches apart from eachother. Pour salt on top to barely cover, leaving a bit of each potato exposed so you can easily find them later.
Bake potatoes until tender, about 30-40 minutes. After removing from oven, wait a few minutes to dig out the potatoes. Wipe off the excess salt. Enjoy immediately.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I think to serve them in the hot salt would be really a nice presentation for guests too! I’ll have to try this! I love potatoes, but that makes sense, as I grew up in Minnesota! My parents have a beautiful organic garden, that I will get some nice potatoes from this fall! I love an idea that simple, easy, tasty, and beautiful! -Chris Ann
Love these potatoes. I like dipping mine into melted butter. Best of all – you can re-use the salt. I just let the salt cool, and pour it into a ziplock bag, til next time.