The Not So 'Umble Spud

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Tonight's fare: on the left, two pieces of tarragon chicken left over from last night's dinner and on the right, a tray of spud slices ready to go into a hot oven. The pot steaming away at the back is the stock I made from the remnants of the poussin we had the other night.

The potatoes are Maris Piper: my personal go-to variety for just about everything. It's such a versatile and tasty variety. It's also very forgiving when boiled or par-boiled for roasting; not suddenly going into the water, unlike the otherwise estimable King Edward. The Edward is probably the best for roasting when it's handled properly, but to be honest, I've made some stonking roasters with Pipers.

To speed the cooking up, these are kind of a halfway-house between Lyonnaise potatoes and roasters; but with added chilli and garlic, salt, black pepper and a ton of olive oil. Thickness-wise, they're about 1/4" slices, about the same as the fried potatoes my Mom always made: our chips were always sliced potatoes, rather than French Fries; always good.

So there we are: Chicken in a Tarragon butter sauce, with roast chilli and garlic potato slices...

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