Ingredients

• 900 g baby potatoeswaxy, so they crush without falling apart
• 35 ml olive oil
• 35 g finely grated Parmesangrate it yourself and grate it fine; pre-grated is too dry to melt into a crust
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• 3/4 tsp fine salt
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 12 sage leaves
• 4 large eggs
• 15 g butter
• 20 g Parmesanfinely grated, to finish, with flaky sea salt

Method

1. 01

   Heat the oven

   Heat the oven to 220 C / 200 C fan and put a large heavy baking tray in to heat with it. Potatoes hitting a hot tray start crisping immediately.

2. 02

   Boil and steam-dry

   Boil the potatoes in well-salted water for 15-18 minutes, until a knife slides in with no resistance. Drain them and leave them in the colander for 5 minutes to steam dry. The surface should look chalky and matt rather than wet. This is the single biggest factor in whether they crisp.

   900 g baby potatoes

   Steam-dry, alwaysFive minutes in the colander. Wet potatoes steam in the oven and never crisp.

   Give each potato roomCrowded potatoes trap steam between them and go soft where they touch.

3. 03

   Crush them

   Tip the potatoes onto the oiled hot tray, spacing them well apart, and press each one with the base of a glass or a masher until it is about 1.5 cm thick and the edges have split. Those ragged edges are what go crisp.

4. 04

   Dress and roast

   Mix the olive oil, garlic powder, salt and black pepper and spoon it over the potatoes, getting into the cracks. Roast for 25-30 minutes, turning once halfway, until deeply golden and audibly crisp when you tap one.

   35 ml olive oil · 1 tsp garlic powder · 3/4 tsp fine salt · 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

5. 05

   Add the paprika Parmesan crust

   Mix the smoked paprika into the finely grated Parmesan, press it onto the cut faces of the potatoes and return them to the oven for a final 8-10 minutes, until the cheese has fried into a lacy golden crust. Added at the start it would scorch long before the potatoes were done.

   1/2 tsp smoked paprika · 35 g finely grated Parmesan

6. 06

   Crisp the sage

   Melt the butter in a frying pan over low heat, add the sage leaves in a single layer and fry for 45-60 seconds a side, until they stop hissing and go crisp and dark green. Lift them out onto kitchen paper and keep the butter in the pan.

   15 g butter · 12 sage leaves

   Sage goes on lastReturned to the oven it turns bitter and loses its crackle.

7. 07

   Fry the eggs in the sage butter

   Raise the heat to medium and crack the eggs straight into the sage butter. Fry for 2-3 minutes, spooning the butter over the tops, until the whites are set through and lacy at the edges but the yolks still move when you tilt the pan.

   4 large eggs

8. 08

   Build the plate

   Pile the potatoes onto warm plates, slide an egg on top of each, and finish with the crisp sage, extra Parmesan and flaky salt.