Recipes / Sides
Braaied baby potatoes with garlic and rosemary
Parboiled baby potatoes tossed in garlic and rosemary butter, cooked in a foil parcel on the coals, then crisped on the grid.
- Prep
- 20 min
- On the fire
- 30 min
- Serves
- 6 as a side
Ingredients
Method
Cooking on gas?
- Preheat with the burners on high and the lid closed for 10 minutes, then turn them down to medium so the lid thermometer settles at 175 to 200°C (350 to 400°F). Brush the grates clean and oil them.
- Close the lid between turns. It cooks a little faster than an open braai, so start checking about 5 minutes early.
- Boil the potatoes in salted water for 10 to 12 minutes, until a knife goes in with a little resistance. Drain and leave to steam dry for 5 minutes.
- Mix the butter, oil, garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper. Toss the potatoes in it.
- Tip the potatoes onto a double layer of foil, fold it into a sealed parcel, and put it on the grid over medium coals.
- Cook for 15 to 20 minutes, shaking the parcel every 5 minutes.
- Open the parcel and tip the potatoes onto the grid, or into a hinged grid, for the last 5 to 10 minutes. Turn them until the skins are crisp and browned.
- Pour any butter left in the foil over the potatoes before serving.
Done when: a knife slides into the middle of the biggest potato with no resistance and the skins are golden and blistered.
Tips
- Pick potatoes of the same size so they cook evenly. Halve any big ones.
- Put the parcel on early, before the meat. The potatoes hold well at the edge of the fire.
- For skewers, thread the parboiled potatoes with short pieces of rosemary between them and braai them over hot coals until golden.
Potatoes in foil are the side dish most South Africans grew up with at a braai, often pushed straight into the coals and forgotten. Parboiling them first takes the guesswork out, and finishing them on the grid gives you crisp skins. They go with almost anything, from spiced chicken thighs to a T-bone steak.
Source
Adapted from Baby potato & rosemary skewers at Woolworths and The best way to prepare foil-wrapped potatoes on the braai at Food & Home.