03-06-2025
Parcel potatoes with caper lemon thyme butter
Serve your roasties with a twist – citrussy, salty and super addictive. The butter in this recipe is reminiscent of the famous French butter-based sauce, Café de Paris.
Overview
Prep time
10 mins
Cook time
1 hr
Serves
4
Ingredients
For the potatoes
8 medium sized potatoes
4 tbsp olive oil
8 garlic cloves, skin on
1 lemon
For the butter
110g unsalted butter, softened
2 tsp capers
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
handful of thyme, leaves picked and chopped
small squeeze of lemon
1 tsp English mustard
Method
Step
Preheat the oven to 220C/200C fan/gas mark 7.
Step
Cut 8 medium sized potatoes into about 3-4 large chunks. Put them in a mixing bowl with 4 tbsp olive oil and 1 tsp flaky salt. Mix well to coat.
Step
Tear off 8 lengths of foil. You want them to be big enough to wrap a handful of the potatoes with no gaps.
Step
Arrange 4-5 potatoes chunks in the centre of a sheet of foil, making sure their flat cut sides are down (this is how you get crispy edges). Tuck 2 garlic cloves between them.
Step
With a sharp knife, trim strips of peel off the lemon (afterwards, you can cut wedges of 1 lemon to give everyone when it's time to serve).
Step
Tuck about 2-3 strips of lemon between the potatoes. Season, then bring the sides of the foil together and scrunch them in the middle to make a parcel. Cover with a second layer of foil, then put the parcel on a baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining potatoes until you have 4 parcels.
Step
Put in the oven for about an hour, by which time the potatoes will be cooked and fluffy, with some crispy edges.
Step
Step
When the potatoes are ready, you can either tip them onto a warm platter and dot the butter all over, or give everyone their own parcel and let them drop a spoonful or two in as they open them. Give everyone a wedge of lemon to squeeze over to serve.
