I started by tossing 2 pounds of fingerlings with salt and a few tablespoons of vegetable oil, spreading them on a rimmed baking sheet, and placing the sheet in a 450-degree oven. Thirty minutes later, the potatoes had deep patches of browning and the smaller ones were cooked through, but in general the skins were tough, and some of the larger spuds were still firm in the center. At such high heat, the exteriors were drying out before the larger potatoes had a chance to cook through. In addition, the potatoes weren’t covering the entire baking sheet, allowing the residual oil on the sheet’s exposed surface to polymerize in the hot oven—and polymerized oil is very difficult to clean. Instead, I moved the fingerlings to a 13 by 9-inch metal baking pan, where they fit snugly in a single layer.
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