Posts tagged potato

Mediterranean Roasted Potato Salad

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Mediterranean Roasted Potato Salad

W

ith a holiday on the horizon it was time to use up the rest of the ingredients littering my fridge…I love this challenge.

Thats where the excellent ingredients that Odysea Greek produce come in handy – and ironically it was Greece where I would be destined for! Odysea sent me a glorious box of their devious samples last year and from this I have savoured some store cupboard gems, waiting patiently in the back of my cupboard until called upon and ready to pack a punch when called to the spotlight.

This salad was a mixture of fridge leftovers combined with a few cheeky purchases and of course, some glorious Greek flare. I used Odysea’s ‘Sun Dried Tomato Meze’ – a mixture of tomatoes, capers, and olives chopped roughly and combined in a gloriously flavoured oil. Similarily you can use the former ingredients alone and combine in your own combination but since Odysea did it so well, I figured I’d use their convenience pre-holiday….

T

his makes one large chunky roasted salad but feel free to sub in other ingredients to your taste. Serves around 2-3 as a side dish. I served mine with a lovely fillet of grilled sea bass, but some steamed or roasted cod with lemon and parsley would also be delicious.

Ingredients (Serves 2-3)

  • 2 large potatoes, chopped
  • 1 x packet green beans
  • 3 spring onions, chopped
  • Bunch flat leaf parsley, chopped
  • 1 lemon, zest and juice
  • 6 x large sun dried tomatoes (chopped), 1 handful olives (chopped), 1 tbsp capers OR 4 tbsp ‘Odysea Sun-Dried Tomato Meze‘
  • 10 slices thin chorizo OR 1/2 ring chorizo sausage, sliced
  • 2 handfuls rocket leaves
  • Olive oil
  1. Preheat the oven to 220°C.
  2. Start by par boiling your potatoes for about 10 minutes until just tender. Drain, shake in a pan to rough the edges and then tip into a roasting tray. Season and drizzle over a generous coating of olive/sunflower oil. Roast in the oven for about 30 minutes until golden and crispy.
  3. Meanwhile while they roast, par-boil the green beans for a few minutes. Drain and cool them under cold water.
  4. Chop the spring onions, parsley and combine in a large mixing bowl with the  cooled beans, lemon zest, sun dried tomato mixture and season.
  5. Pan fry the chorizo in a dry frying pan until crispy.
  6. Once the potatoes are ready, remove from the oven. Top into the salad bowl with the beans and herbs. Add the chorizo.
  7. Finely, just before serving, add the rocket leaves and squeeze over the juice of half the lemon.
  8. Serve!

 

Roast Poussin, Creamy Leeks and Smoked Salt Fried Gnocchi

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Roast Poussin, Creamy Leeks and Smoked Salt Fried Gnocchi

I’m no pasta lover (sorry Italy…and Nigella) but I am an occasional fried gnocchi lover. OK I may have been a tad patriotic on the cooking method but it turns out that fried gnocchi are a bit like mini roast potatoes. Bitesized. Dangerous. But delicious. After a continuous dose of Thai and Asian inspired dishes recently, followed by a delicious and flavour packed trip to Morocco, I fancied a bit more of a classic this evening. French poussin and mustardy creamy leeks were a delicious and comforting contrast to my ‘Englishly’ cooked Italian potato dumplings. Crispy and golden and seasoned with smoked salt.

Serves 2

  • 250g gnocchi
  • 2 tbsp sunflower oil
  • 1 tsp smoked salt (optional)
  • 2 large leeks
  • 1 large garlic clove, crushed
  • 250ml single cream
  • 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
  • Handful flatleaf parsley, chopped
  • 1 x poussin
  • 50g unsalted butter, softened
  • Salt and pepper
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  1. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Place your poussin on a baking tray and smother the skin and legs with about 30g of the butter and season well.
  2. Place in the centre of the oven and roast for about 40-45minutes until cooked. Baste with the juices a few times during cooking.
  3. Once cooked, leave to rest before serving.
  4. Meanwhile, melt the remaining butter with a splash of oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Slice the leeks in halve vertically and slice into chunks. Gently and slowly soften the leeks for about 15 minutes of so until really soft. Add the garlic and cook out for another few minutes.
  5. While the leeks are softening and the poussin is cooking, cook the gnocchi. Boil in salted water for 2 minutes and then drain well. Leave to dry out a little for a few minutes.
  6. Heat a frying pan on a high heat and add the sunflower oil. Fry the cooked gnocchi with the smoked salt in the oil until crispy and golden. Keep warm.
  7. When the poussin is nearly cooked and ready, turn the heat up a little with the leeks and add the cream. Simmer a little to thicken.
  8. Season well and add the mustard and all but a handful of parsley and stir thoroughly. Keep warm while you carve the poussin.
  9. Remove the meat from the oven or from where it has been resting. Carve off the breast and wings.
  10. Serve the creamy leeks in a warmed serving bowl and top with the poussin. Scatter round some fried gnocchi and sprinkle with the remaining parsley.
  11. Drizzle with a dash of lemon infused or plain extra virgin olive oil and serve!
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WINE: This dish being creamy and weighty is delicious served with a classic wine pairing. Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc with some oak ageing and some natural acidity. Try this Mulderbosch, 2013 Faithful Hound White from Stellenbosch available at Armit Wines.

Jess - Mulderbosch

Sea Bass and a Prawn Bisque sauce

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Sea Bass and a Prawn Bisque sauce

I designed and refined this recipe with the aim of creating my perfect  dinner treat with all of my favourite flavours and ingredients. It is most certainly up there at the top of my list. It really isn’t hard, honestly. Everyone can make mash right? And you can fry a piece of fish? Good news- the sauce pretty much makes itself as by frying the leftover prawn shells releases a wonderful larva of juicy orange oils which adds so much flavour that would otherwise have been criminally thrown in the bin. The challenge comes with getting the fish and prawns hot and cooked perfectly at the same time as the sauce is warm and of particular consistency with the warm mash and wilted spinach. Oh and of course having time to take a photograph in a temperamental kitchen with hungry waiting guests….the later is optional of course. This is lovely served with a chilled glass of Muscadet….

Serves 4

  • 4 sea bass fillets
  • 18-20 whole, raw king prawns (shell and heads on)
  • 1 small carrot, diced finely
  • 1 small onion, diced finely
  • ½ bulb fennel, diced finely
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 tbsp tomato puree
  • Splash whiskey
  • 600ml hot fish stock
  • 500g potatoes, peeled, quartered
  • 40g butter
  • 100ml whole milk
  • 4 spring onions, finely chopped and fried lightly in oil
  • Handful parsley, finely chopped
  • 200g spinach
  • Olive oil
  • Knob of butter
  • Salt and pepper
  1. Begin with the sauce. Peel the prawns to retain the shells and the heads. De-vein the prawns and set aside. Heat a splash of oil with the knob of butter in a saucepan and gently soften the carrot, onion and fennel with the prawn shells and heads with the bay leaf. Cook for about 20 minutes until the prawns have turned orange and released their juices.
  2. Next add the tomato puree and cook out for a few minutes before deglazing the pan with the whiskey.
  3. Now add the hot fish stock and simmer for 30 minutes.
  4. After 30 minutes, use a potato masher to crush all the flavours together. Remove the bay leaf and then, using a hand blender, blend the sauce together. Pass through a fine sieve into a clean pan, discarding the solids. Taste and simmer to reduce if too thin to your liking. Only at the end season the sauce as reducing it will concentrate any salt added previously. Keep on a low heat while you make the rest of the dish.
  5. Boil the potatoes in salted water for about 15-20minutes until soft but not waterlogged. Meanwhile, melt the butter and warm the milk together in a pan.
  6. When soft, drain the potatoes and leave to steam dry for a few minutes before passing through a potato ricer for really smooth mash, or mashing by hand. Season generously and add the milk and butter and mix until smooth. Add the spring onions and parsley and plenty of seasoning. Set aside to keep warm while you fry the fish.
  7. Make sure your sauce is on the heat now and you have your spinach at the ready. Heat a frying pan until hot and add a splash of oil. Season your fish and then fry skin side down in the hot oil for 3-4 minutes (depending on size) and add your prawns to the hot sauce to cook gently until pink at the same time. Complete the fish cooking by flipping carefully onto the flesh side for 1 minute.
  8. Remove the fish and leave to rest very briefly while you quickly add the spinach to the pan juices, with plenty of seasoning and leave to wilt while you plate up.
  9. Serve a spoonful or potato into a warmed serving bowl. Top with a spoonful of spinach and the fish fillet, crispy skin side up.
  10. Spoon around the prawn bisque sauce including a few prawns per dish. Serve!

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