Tag Archives: potatoes

Loving leftovers (and bashed potatoes with two sauces)

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I was recently having one of those chats with a friend about what was for supper that night.  When I said we were having the leftover sauce from a beef stew my friend was truly incredulous.  We were, she suggested, having gravy for dinner.  That I would plonk a salad on the table alongside it only compounded her astonishment and dismay.  It wasn’t as mad or bad as it sounds.

A few days earlier I had cooked a piece of beef very slowly with finely chopped carrots, onions and celery – a sea of red wine and an abundance of herbs, thyme, rosemary, bay and parsley.  After we had eaten the meltingly soft beef (both for Sunday lunch and two lots of leftovers packed lunches) I was left with a lot of the cooking liquor bolstered by the soft vegetables and herbs.  That it had languished in the fridge for two days made only more full of deep, savoury flavour.  I heated it, added a splash of cream and a handful of chopped fresh parsley and served it with spaghetti.  It was glorious, not only delicious but with the added purr-factor of knowing that one piece of beef had gone so far.

I have always cooked like this -eeking out a dish if it can be reincarnated at a later date.  Whilst I try not to keep pointless little pots in the fridge containing one potato I certainly always have a though on the next meal when cooking the current one.  That and trying to come up with something from a seemingly empty fridge is a challenge I have long relished.  So it was earlier this week.  Trying to use everything up before my weekly shop I was faced with various herbs and a pile of potatoes.   A riff on roast vegetables is a regular in my kitchen and with a sauce or two to jazz it up invariably goes down well and lends itself perfectly to leftover lunches the next day although on this occasion there was none left which was both good and bad….

Roast baby potatoes with herbed yogurt and green herb sauce

Here I used the chives I had with the yogurt in a take on the classic chive and sour cream dip – always a winner with potatoes.  The herb sauce here was a combination of mint, coriander and parsley but my Fresh Herb Sauce (July 2013) would be perfect here.  Use whichever soft herbs you have, a combination of just two of those mentioned will still be delicious.  Incidentally I will be offering a mint/parsley version of this sauce alongside our Easter roast lamb this weekend.

New or baby potatoes, as many as you have, I used about 600g

A handful of parsley

A handful of mint

A handful of coriander

Juice of half a lemon

A splash of white wine vinegar

1 teaspoon sugar

4 tablespoons olive oil plus 1 more for the potatoes

Approx 150ml yogurt

A handle of chives, finely chopped

Preheat the oven to 200.  Boil the potatoes in salted water for just 10 minutes until a pointed knife will pierce one with little resistance.  Drain the potatoes and put into a roasting tin, roll around with a tablespoon of oil and a sprinkling of salt. Push down on each potato to just break the skin and squash them a little.  Roast for around 20 minutes until bronzed and crisping at the edges.  Meanwhile mix the yogurt and chives in a bowl with a splash of water to loosen and a pinch of salt.  Put the parsley, mint, coriander, lemon juice, vinegar, sugar, 4 tablespoons of oil plus some salt into a jug and using a stick blender whizz until combined into a sauce.  Serve the potatoes topped with both sauces.  This was was a really good supper for 3 along with a green salad but you could always have it as your potatoes alongside a roast chicken or anything really.

 

Roasties with Chive Yogurt

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Occasionally it’s not so much a new recipe I need, more a hint or reminder of something. After all I have many, many cook books full of recipes but sometimes lack of energy, time or ingredients mean I’m looking for an old favourite rather than a new idea.

So yes, this is a recipe for roast potatoes but how often do you think of roasties aside from Sunday?  These are an absolute winner and get eaten ridiculously quickly whenever I make them.  Not just any old roast potatoes these are canapé potatoes or something else for a mezze type lunch potatoes.   Pimp them up if you wish, a good dusting of paprika or chilli flakes would add pep and a handful of rosemary always works but I like them just like this, with salt and their tangy, chive and yogurt side.

I guess they are a little like potato skins – I know you can make these by baking potatoes and then removing the fluffy contents leaving you with the skins to roast and crisp but I never have.  I do however like the combination of crispy crunchy potatoes with a sour cream and chive style sauce.   This then is my way of doing things – you get the crispy skins but also the fluffy interior and I’ve gone for a yogurt based dip, similar but a little lighter and tangier than the original.

Sometimes I serve these alongside a main course but more often they are offered in their own right – a starter or a grazing treat to go with drinks before lunch or dinner.  A little dish of sriracha alongside offers that heavenly combination of the cold and creamy yogurt with a belt of chilli heat.  It’s not a spanking new fangled recipe, just the re working of an old favourite.

Roasties with Chive Yogurt

This is easily doubled or trebled which I would highly recommend.

500g potatoes, Maris Piper or similar

Olive oil

Salt

150g Greek yogurt

A handful of chives, finely chopped

A small clove of garlic, crushed (optional)

Preheat the oven to 200.  Cut the potatoes into chunks about the size of a large walnut.  Put into a large pan of salted water, bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes.  Drain really well, shake briefly in the colander and then put into a large roasting pan, add enough oil to just coat, turning the potatoes well.  Sprinkle with salt and roast near the top of the oven for 40-50 minutes until deeply golden and crunchy at the edges.   Meanwhile mix the yogurt, chives and a good pinch of salt and let down with a little water if you prefer a runnier dip.  Mix in the garlic if you are using.   Serve the potatoes on a large plate with the dip and perhaps some sriracha along side.   Serves 3-4 as a snack.

 

Chicken with Harissa, Potatoes and Broccolini

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A few of you may recognise this as one of my earliest recipes on these pages.  So long ago in fact that it doesn’t even have a photograph.  Although I cook my recipes over and over again this is the first time I’ve duplicated one here.  The reason being I  felt it lacked fanfare originally and is such a reliable and delicious lunch or supper that I thought it deserved a shout out, as they say.  Also and somewhat inevitably, I have tinkered with it adding potatoes to the original to make it a complete one pan meal.

It is this sort of dish that I find an absolute Godsend on weekdays when I’m frazzled and need to think of (yet another) family supper that is quick, easy, undemanding, not too expensive and above all delicious – clean plates after all are what we want to see.  This ticks all those boxes, cooked in one pan which you can bring to the table, incorporates potatoes, meat and veg along with a super easy spice addition by way of the harissa. I refer you here to a comment I made about the original which still stands – “Crisp skinned chicken sliding off the bone in a spicy red jacket with crunchy greens to give verdant vigour!”

Chicken with Harissa and Broccolini

If you like things a little spicier feel free to add more harissa and if you want it a little saucier, add a glug of white wine with the final teaspoon of harissa.

1 tablespoon olive oil

8 chicken thighs, bone in and skin on

8 waxy potatoes, halved

5 teaspoons harissa paste

1 pack tenderstem broccolini

Chopped parsley (optional)

Preheat the oven to 190.  Put the potatoes and oil in a large baking pan and turn to coat.  Put half a teaspoon of harissa under the skin of each thigh and squidge a bit to spread.  Put the chicken in with the potatoes, season and roast 30 minutes.  Towards the end of this cooking time blanch the broccolini in boiling water for 1 minute and drain.  Remove the chicken from the oven, stir the last teaspoon of harissa into the cooking juices and then fit the broccoli in and around the chicken and potatoes (put some of the chicken on the potatoes if that helps).  Return to the oven for 10 minutes.  Season, sprinkle with parsley if you like and serve, this is enough for 2 adults and 2 children but you can multiply it at will.

Caldo Verde

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Caldo Verde_

The vegetables around at this time of year are pretty hard and tough, the rugby players of the vegetable world if you will.  Big bruisers able to withstand adverse conditions and not ones to wilt in the face of a little frost.  On first sight they may seem a little solid and unapproachable – think swedes, celeriac, Jerusalem artichokes, kale, cabbages and big, floury winter potatoes.  A world away, or certainly a few months, from frilly rocket, pea shoots and delicate herbs.

Whilst summer produce is immediately scoffable and obvious in its delights, some of these winter offerings need a little gentle encouragement, accessories of butter and cream and time so that they too can shine.  The transformation can be astonishing and it is these cosy, reassuring and restoring soups and gratins that we need during the cold months.  Necessary ballast.

Last night I made a gratin with sliced potatoes, a few matchsticks of leftover ham, broccoli and a thick blanket of cheese sauce.  Baked until the top was bubbling and blistered and the broccoli satisfyingly singed, it was absolutely perfect for the coldest night of the year so far.

This is, for me, dream food.  The sort I start thinking about fairly soon after breakfast as I take Tom for a brisk walk up the hill and one of the reasons I push myself on said walks – so I can have seconds.

This soup is just such a warming little number and has a second smack of satisfaction in its frugality.  Caldo Verde is a Portuguese soup rustled up when there wasn’t much on offer and is traditionally just cabbage, potatoes and water with a little garlic.  I’ve taken a liberty by using lovely seasonal kale instead of cabbage and whilst I do add chorizo I stop myself there.  Tempting though it is to use stock rather than water or to add an onion or some herbs, such tinkering would be too great a departure from the original.

I urge you to try this, it makes a fabulous lunch followed by a good hunk of cheese.  Just don’t do what I did which was to burn my mouth in my speedy greed to taste it.

Caldo Verde 2

Caldo Verde

4 tablespoons good olive oil

2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

750g floury potatoes, diced (I don’t bother peeling them)

150g kale or Cavolo Nero, tear it up and remove big hard stalks

150g chorizo, sliced

Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a large pan, add the garlic and then heat gently.  Once the garlic is dancing around the pan but not coloured add the potatoes and a teaspoon of salt, stir and cook for 5 minutes.  Add 1.2 litres of water and simmer for 20 minutes or until the potatoes are soft.  Mash about a 1/3 of the potatoes against the side of the pan with a wooden spoon so they break down a bit.  Add the kale and simmer for five minutes.  Meanwhile heat the remaining oil in a pan and fry the chorizo for a couple of minutes then add this to the potatoes and kale along with the fabulous orange oil.  Taste (cautiously) and adjust the seasoning if necessary then serve.  Enough for 4.

 

Chorizo and Potatoes

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Chorizo and Potatoes 3

Is there anything that doesn’t taste better with a bit of chorizo in it?  I love that rich, spicy flavour and the way it imparts its sunny personality into other ingredients.   Chorizo has great shelf life and is fantastic to have in the fridge for those inevitable moments when you have empty beaks to feed and the cupboard is bare.

This is one of my children’s favourites, unbelievably quick and only uses 5 ingredients.  If you don’t have any potatoes, make Chorizo and Beans (365 things to eat, June 2013) or for a more summery feel, Chorizo, Tomatoes and Green Beans (September 2013).

Chorizo and Potatoes

 

Chorizo with Potatoes

I use the Goikoa Spanish chorizo which I buy in Waitrose, it comes in a 260g horseshoe but any other cooking chorizo would be fine too.

1 teaspoon olive oil

1/2 ‘horseshoe’ Chorizo

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

4 medium new/waxy potoates

Small tin chopped tomatoes, approx 227g

Small handful parsley, chopped

Heat the oil in a pan over a low heat, slice the chorizo and add it to the pan.  Meanwhile slice the potatoes and cook until tender then drain.  When the chorizo is beginning to colour on both sides, add the garlic and cook for a minute followed by the tomatoes.  Let this simmer for 3-4 minutes then put the drained potatoes into the pan, turn them so they are coated with the tomato sauce, finally sprinkle over the parsley.  This serves 2 but is easily doubled, just use the whole horseshoe of chorizo and a normal 400g tin of tomatoes.

Chorizo and Potatoes 2