Jamie’s treat for Xmas ...black roast potatoes

FOR most budding cooks, black roast potatoes would be a sign that things had gone disastrously wrong in the kitchen.

But for Jamie Oliver, it’s all part of a bizarre plan to spice up Christmas dinner.

And the secret ingredient for making the celebrity chef’s weird and wonderful black roasties? Balsamic vinegar.

‘We’re taking a completely different approach to roast potatoes,’ he said of his controversial recipe. ‘It’s a very simple, slightly nutty, but brilliant idea.

‘Pretty much half a bottle of balsamic vinegar goes into it, so the roast potatoes come out black.

‘And they taste of heaven – they’re sweet, with onions and bay. It’s very different and absolutely delicious. It’s also quite shocking-looking.’

The concept, which will be shown on his Christmas TV programme, is sure to surprise traditionalists more accustomed to roasting potatoes in goose fat. But the chef, 42, insists the new take means the potatoes come out ‘dark, sticky and sweet’.

He suggested preparing the black potatoes the day before and then reheating them in a dish. The chef said cooks would need a ‘bolshie’ amount of balsamic vinegar, poured over the potatoes before roasting.

Last year the healthy eating campaigner caused a stir when his first Christmas cookbook featured recipe suggestions which amounted to more than 7,000 calories per person, and almost 10,000 for the day if you included his ‘leftovers’ suggestions. Jamie’s Italian Christmas airs on Channel 4 on Tuesday, December 19 at 8pm.