Category Archives: potatoes

garlic and bacon potato gratin

Leave a reply

image

We get through buckets of mayonnaise in this house. I kinda like it – particularly with store-bought pizza for reasons I don’t understand – but the rest of the family demolish it. If my son was asked the legendary question: “you’re handed a sausage sandwich. Will it be red sauce, brown sauce, or no sauce at all?” he’d reply mayonnaise in a heartbeat.

So to receive some samples from Hellman’s of their flavoured mayonnaises was set upon by the family quite quickly. First the packaging – there’s much made on TV of their no-mess resealing cap. And sure enough it works a treat. As long as you don’t mind sacrificing a third of the bottle. By the time you work your way down there the rest refuses to come out. I took a knife to it to free the captive condiment. But what about the taste?

There was a black pepper one which I found nice and prickly, and worked really well in a ham salad wrap. But the garlic one was disappointing – slightly tangy but not flavoured with garlic at all. So that’s why it ended up in this gratin.

This type of recipe works great as a side dish, or can be had with a simple salad on the side.

Garlic and potato gratin (serves 2):

5 – 6 medium sized floury potatoes, cut into thick coins. Peeling optional

1 onion, sliced (I used frozen ready-sliced onions)

2 rashers smoked streaky bacon, chopped

5 tablespoons garlic mayonnaise

Milk

A little grated parmesan

  1. Preheat the grill to high. Get a large pan of salted water on to boil and add the potatoes. Simmer for 10 minutes or until just tender.
  2. While the potatoes cook, fry the onions and bacon in a pan with a little oil until the bacon has coloured and onions softening.
  3. Drain the potatoes and add to the onion and bacon pan, seasoning as you go. In a shallow dish mix the mayonnaise with a little milk until you get a creamy dressing, and then stir the onion, bacon and potatoes through it until well coated. Grate a little parmesan over the top and put under the grill until golden.
About these ads

braised dexter veal with roasted red potatoes

5 Replies

braised dexter veal with roasted red potatoes

 

I really, really love veal. I sigh in despair when I raise the subject of veal and people suck air through their teeth with a “oooh, but it’s so cruel” expression. Veal has a major PR disaster to recover from in this country before it gets welcomed back into kitchens.

So when Farmison sent me some topside veal to cook with, I punched the air. Any excuse to use it works for me. Farmison is a great idea; sourcing excellent food from smaller producers around the country (and beyond) to put together meat boxes and seasonal packs.

They sent me a whole bunch of things to try: porchetta, pineapples and more, some of which I’ll blog about later. But I have to mention the black potatoes: truly nasty things devoid of flavour. I couldn’t find them on their site to link to, but you’re not missing anything.

The Dexter veal however was great. This recipe is a gutsy braise, ensuring the meat stays moist. I’ve paired it with some unusual parmesan-roasted red potatoes to bounce off the sweet-tomatoey gravy.

Braised Dexter Veal with Roasted Red Potatoes (serves 4 – 6):

For the veal:

800g Dexter veal roasting joint

2 carrots, peeled and diced

1 onion, peeled and diced

1 celery stick, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon tomato puree

1 glass red wine

500ml beef stock

For the potatoes:

5 – 6 red potatoes, diced

1 onion, peeled and diced

A large handful grated parmesan

4 garlic cloves, squashed

Pinch of dried thyme

  1. Preheat the oven to 170°C, and get a large casserole dish on a very high hob. Add a tablespoon of oil to the pan. Season the veal all over with salt and pepper and when the dish is hot add to the pan. Brown on all sides and put to one side.
  2. Add the diced vegetables, bay and tomato and stir fry for 2 minutes. Add the wine and scrape at the bottom of the pan to free the sticky bits. Keep stirring until the wine has almost completely reduced and add the stock. Bring up to the boil, put the veal back in the pan and put a lid on it. Transfer to the oven and cook until the veal reaches 65°C when checked with a meat thermometer.
  3. While the veal cooks prepare the potatoes. Toss the diced potato with the other ingredients along with a tablespoon of oil and salt and pepper. Put in the oven to bake and stir occasionally.
  4. When the veal is ready, turn the oven up to 200°C to brown the potatoes. Remove the veal to a carving board and cover with foil to keep warm. With a sieve over a bowl ladle in all the diced veg and strain off the juices. Discard the veg and put the gravy back in pan over a high heat and reduce rapidly until it thickens to the desired consistency. Carve the veal, serve with the potatoes and seasonal vegetables with the gravy on the side.

gravy-glazed roast potatoes

Leave a reply

gravy glazed potatoes

 

You know the drill by now: if I see a roast potato recipe, I must try it. So it was with Simon Hopkinson’s. They aren’t roasted so much as glazed in gravy. It was difficult to find the precise recipe online so I had to fudge the details a bit. I can tell you peeling cooked potatoes with the skins on was not fun at all.

You won’t get crunch but you will get pockets of rich meaty flavour on the surface. They’re not quite for me as I can’t call it a roast potato without a glassy outer shell but they are different.

Gravy-glazed roast potatoes (serves 4):

750g waxy potatoes

300ml chicken stock

  1. Steam the potatoes, in their skins, for 20 mins or until soft. When cool enough to handle peel.
  2. Put a heavy frying pan or baking tray over a high heat and add half the gravy. Add the potatoes and toss well, as the liquid disappears add a little more stock, until the potatoes are shiny and sticky.

 

smokey BBQ beef hash

Leave a reply

smokey BBQ beef hash | Big Spud

I think I’m due a badge: I’m the last person in the UK to never have eaten at Nando’s. If I walk past a branch around dinner or lunch there’s always a queue around the block. I’m not sure why. It seemed to creep into the public consciousness out of nowhere. I’m sure it’s wonderful, but I’ve just never felt the compulsion to try it.

Therefore I was nonplussed when a bottle of Nando’s Smokey BBQ sauce dropped through my letterbox. But I was intrigued. It was a little tangy, a little sweet, a little spicy… so it ended up in this hash, which owes a small debt to Jools’ Pregnant Pasta.

Smokey BBQ beef hash (serves 2):

2 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced

1 celery stick, chopped

1 rasher bacon, diced

400g beef mince

4 tablespoons Nando’s Smokey BBQ Portuguese Peri-Peri marinade

200ml beef stock

  1. Get a large pan on very hot. Add a splash of oil and add the carrot, celery and bacon.
  2. After a couple of minutes stir-frying the bacon should be starting to colour. Add the mince and a grind of seasoning. Continue to stir-fry for another 8 – 10 minutes.
  3. Add the BBQ sauce and stock. You want it quite soupy for serving with potato. Stir to combine well and check for seasoning. Serve with a jacket potato and creme fraiche.

pinot grigio potatoes

2 Replies

image

Shock, horror! Another roast potato recipe on this blog. What an anomaly.

Of course it isn’t, I’ve got roast potato recipes here, here and here for starters. But this was another twist, derived from cooking Heston’s perfect chicken (again). The chicken there is treated with a boozy butter baste. I’d gone a bit crazy and made too much, so decided to slather it on the potatoes. And with a little lemon and garlic to really boost those flavours I think it’s a great alternative!

Any white wine would work, but I had some Pinot Grigio a-wastin’ so that’s what I used. You want something sweet-ish here I think, a dry wine could turn out bitter with such fierce roasting.

Pinot Grigio potatoes (serves 4):

700g – 1kg Maris Piper potatoes, peeled and diced to walnut-sized pieces

100ml white wine

125 unsalted butter

A few sprigs of thyme

1 lemon

3 cloves garlic

  1. Preheat your oven to 200°C. Simmer the potatoes in salted water until really tender. Drain and allow to steam off excess water a little while you prepare the baste.

  2. Put a heavy baking tray in the oven to preheat. Add the wine, butter and thyme to a saucepan and bring to the boil, then immediately remove from the heat. Toss the potatoes in the buttery wine and tip on to the baking tray and roast.

  3. After 20 mins, peel the lemon zest in strips and add to the baking tray along with the garlic. Toss the potatoes well to coat. If it’s looking a bit dry add a dash of oil.

  4. Roast for a further 20 mins, or until the potatoes are very crisp. Season with salt and pepper before serving.