Whenever I read any of Nigel Slater's books, I am always inspired by his often lack of fuss or ceremony for dinner. Instead of insisting every meal should be the meat and two veg standard, he (and Neil and myself), were brought up on, he sometimes describes how tucking into a bowl of salad or a dish that would more likely be thought of as accompaniment is dinner complete. I like this idea and recently decided that a bowl of patatas bravas, usually confined to a tapas tasting menu, would be lunch. In truth, Neil did comment that he thought he smelled sausages cooking with it and stated that that would have been great, but I think he thoroughly enjoyed the lowly bowl of spuds unadorned after all.
The sauce I created for this dish is probably the weirdest set of ingredients ever listed together on a blog, but believe me, it really works, I mean, really works. I will probably never be able to recreate the sweet, spicy, tangy and herbal combination again in quite the same way, but the recipe lets you give it a go, if you really wanted to try. The crisp outside and fluffy soft interior of the potatoes is essential to give this dish it's character. Combined with the sauce, it's easy to see why it is the darling of Spanish tapas restaurants all over the World.
Recipe : Patatas Bravas
15 very small or 6 large potatoes, (or a combination) small left whole and large quartered
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp salt
freshly ground black pepper
Sauce
1/2 tub, (about 1/2 cup) of red pepper dip
1/4 cup red wine
2 tomatoes
2 tbsp sweet chili sauce
2 tbsp basil, finely chopped
(told you it was weird)
Heat the oven to 400oF and place the potatoes in a single layer in a large baking dish. Drizzle over the oil, sprinkle with the salt and pepper and toss everything together to coat well. Bake for about 1 hour until crisp, golden and soft inside. (I blitzed mine under the grill (broiler) for a few minutes at the end to really crisp the edges).
For the sauce, bring everything except the basil to a very slow boil over low heat and let simmer together for about 30 minutes until the wine taste has mellowed and sweetened and the tomatoes collapsed into the sauce. Add a little water if it seems a little thick and then add the basil, stirring well.
Serve the potatoes with the sauce spooned over in bowls.
The other recent potato dish discovery came via my mum. I have heard of hassleback or fanned potatoes before, but I don't think I've ever remembered about them when dinner time loomed and a bunch of spuds sat before me. Basically, it's all about the slashes that need to be made, not too deep, not too shallow and a particular distance apart that will create the fanning. My first attempt was good, but not a resounding success, I didn't make the slits far enough apart and so they didn't quite attain the proper hedgehog appearance. It wasn't a complete disaster though, as my mum introduced me to the trick of sprinkling Parmesan cheese over the top which creates an extra savoury and crisp, caramelised element.
Recipe : Hassleback potatoes
1 medium to large potato per person, cut in half
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp grated Parmesan cheese per half potato
Heat the oven to 400oF. Pour half the oil into a baking dish and sit the potatoes in a single layer on top. Using a sharp knife, make deep slits in the potatoes, almost to the bottom, but not cutting through. The slits should be about 1/4 inch apart. Pour over the rest of the oil and sprinkle with the salt, pepper and cheese. Bake for about one hour until the tops are golden and crisp and the interiors soft.
3 commonly spotted baby phases
1. Happy and playful - (very rare) not often seen in the early stages
2. Crying face - very common, duration varies
3. Sleeping phase - (relatively rare) not seen often enough
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