Category: potatoes

Categories
lamb onion potatoes

potatoes boulangere

lamb boulangereNothing teaches you more than sitting there in person watching a pro do what they do best. There’s far communicated more in the tiny details of their actions while they’re in the zone than they could ever write down and explain to you. I’m a hopeless golfer but the few pro tournaments I’ve been to have been fascinating, for observing how a professional sizes himself up, mentally rehearses and pivots their body. And I felt like this when I was up close with Jean-Christophe Novelli while he prepared a simple, rustic dish.

I was invited to Jean-Christophe’s cookery academy by the British Potato Council. He is fronting a campaign promoting the thousands of varieties of potato out there that go ignored. The Many Faces of Potatoes is a great site packed with recipes, nutrition, and most intriguingly the Master Spud competition. Devise a quick, easy and brilliant potato dish and you could be in a TV advert with J-CN himself. An unusual prize!

I was there with Ute, Uyen and Selina, who all seemed to possess amazing cameras. My cameraphone felt conspicuous.  I’m fairly convinced I came across as a massive potato geek, but then if you call your blog “Roast Potato” you have to play the game I guess. First Jean-Christophe explained how potatoes important to his life growing up, and how they so easily formed the basis of almost every meal. He then went on to say how wonderful and delicious the ingredient could be when treated with a light hand. He pointed out that recipes for mashed potato containing 1kg of potato to 200g butter are bound to taste nice, but then where has the potato flavour gone! He took great pains to ask not to peel them, as precious nutrients are contained there. I have to admit I was surprised just how nutritious potatoes are. But that’s the point of the campaign -to raise the potato’s status beyond that of just a carb or starch in the meal.

We were then treated to a platter of different potato varieties to really show them off. There was steamed Anyas, bright-red Rudolphs, rustic Desiree and many more. My favourite was the Marabel made into a golden and fluffy mash. The taste was amazing, nutty and buttery yet prepared with only a touch of seasoning. Most shockingly of all this variety is exclusive to Asda!

Then Chef Novelli prepared this wonderful potato dish below. It’s sticky, warming, hearty and dead easy to prepare. I really recommend it for this time of year when it’s still chilly in the evening and lamb is dirt cheap. It celebrates all the ingredients in it and tastes absolutely beautiful.

After the cooking demonstration I pressed Jean-Christophe for his perfect roast potato recipe, which he gladly shared with me. It’s a little unconventional, so I will definitely be trying it out – and of course blogging it – very soon. Watch this space!

Make sure you give the Many Faces of Potatoes site a browse and find a few more varieties for your cupboard.

Thanks to Food Urchin for recommending me to go in his absence!

Lamb boulangere (serves 3 – 4):

300g lamb neck fillet, sliced into medallions

½ head of celeriac

2 onions

2 Vivaldi potatoes (available from Sainsbury’s)

4 cloves of garlic

Sprig rosemary, leaves picked and finely chopped

Spring thyme, leaves picked

About a pint of chicken stock

About 50g block low-fat cheddar*

  1. Heat a little oil in a large lidded casserole dish. Season the lamb all over and quickly sear. Put the lid back on the casserole while it sears to retain heat and contain moisture.
  2. While the lamb sears finely slice the celeriac, onion and potato. Jean-Christophe used a mandoline, but in the spirit of Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals I used a food processor for speed and consistency. Add these to the pan along with the herbs and stir well to allow the flavours to mingle. Again, pop the lid back on.
  3. Squash and peel the garlic and add that to the pan as well. After a minute or two, add enough chicken stock to the pan to barely cover everything. You want enough to be soaked up a little, not to dilute what’s already there. Lid back on and leave to simmer for 20 minutes.
  4. The veg should be knife-tender by now. Use a fish slice to lift off a chunk of the stew, poke the whole cheddar block (don’t bother slicing or grating) in and let the stew drop back on top of it. Let the stew cook for another 5 minutes and check for seasoning. Serve a big scoop of it with some green veg on the side.

*A low fat cheddar is preferable as the oils should remain contained within the cheese and not split in the casserole.

Categories
beef butter beans carrots celery potatoes salad

30 minute beef hash with baked potatoes, green goddess salad and butter beans

I got in from work the other day and Mrs. RP beseeched me with a desperate look in her eyes: “make this. MAKE THIS NOW!” So here’s 30 minute beef hash.

She was gesturing at the TV; Jamie Oliver had just made ‘super-fast beef hash, jacket potatoes, goddess salad, lovely butter beans & bacon’ on 30 Minute Meals. I admit it looked the business. 1 PVR and a flick through the book later, and I was ready. Not quite so manic as previous 30 minute recipes, this one also isn’t too harsh on the washing up. How long did it take? 31 minutes. I’ll take that – I had to stop briefly and try and calm my daughter down, distraught at the distinct lack of Mr. Tumble on the TV. I’m certain I could get it under 25 minutes next time having been through the motions once.

It’s real comfort food; nice big carbs and large flavours. The Worcestershire sauce is particularly satisfying, packing lots of gutsy savouriness. I also felt really nourished eating it – I think it was the amount of carrots and celery in the mince mix.

Jamie’s original recipe can be seen on his site here. I made a couple of minor substitutions based on what I had to hand.

Print

Jamie's 30 minute beef hash

Course Main Course
Cuisine British
Keyword quick
Cook Time 30 minutes
Servings 4 people
Author Gary @ BigSpud

Ingredients

  • 4 baking potatoes
  • 500 g beef mince
  • 4 rashers of smoky bacon chopped
  • 2 sprigs of thyme
  • rosemary a few sprigs
  • 6 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 red onion
  • 3 sticks celery
  • 2 carrots
  • 4 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 tin butter beans drained
  • 1 tin tomatoes
  • 1 handful lamb's lettuce
  • ¼ iceberg lettuce shredded
  • 1 avocado
  • 300 ml sour cream
  • 1 lemon
  • parsley chopped

Instructions

  • Get the grill on screaming hot and stick a baking tray under it to get nuclear. Stab the potatoes all over, pop in a bowl and cover with clingfilm. Microwave for 14 minutes.
  • Get a pan on to quite a high heat, chuck in the mince along with a dash of olive oil and seasoning. Fry and stir, browning all over. Meanwhile get some bacon frying gently in another pan.
  • When the mince has browned, coat with the Worcestershire sauce and add the garlic, thyme and half the rosemary. Whack the onion, celery and carrot into a food processor and get them sliced up, then add those to the beef too.
  • When the bacon is golden add the beans and tomatoes to that pan and simmer away.
  • The potatoes are probably done now; prod with a knife to check they're soft in the middle. If they are, slather with olive oil, the rest of the rosemary and some salt and pepper. Toss to coat then pop under the grill to crisp up.
  • Turn to the salad now: whizz up half the avocado with half the sour cream, lemon juice and a little seasoning to make a lurid green dressing. Chop up the other half of the avocado and mix with the lettuces.
  • The beef should be done by now, all crispy and craggy. Add most of the parsley and check for seasoning. Check the beans for seasoning - dash of vinegar perhaps? Rescue the potatoes, cut them open and dollop over the rest of the sour cream and parsley. Toss the salad with the dressing and serve the lot to hungry, lucky people.
Categories
leeks potatoes

leek rosti with tomato & chickpea stew

I saw this great recipe on Waitrose’s website (you need some magic Flash gadget to make it work): “leek rosti, BRILLIANT”. I duly bookmarked it to cook later in the week.

I settle in front of the oven and fire up the recipe and something struck me on this cold Sunday evening: it was served with a carrot salad. A freakin’ carrot salad in January. What was I thinking? I quickly swapped in a hearty and comforting tomato and chickpea stew and I’m so glad I did. The rostis themselves are great too.

Based on a recipe from WaitroseLIVE

Leek rosti with tomato and chickpea stew:

2 large potatoes, peeled

2 leeks, shredded

1 teaspoon coriander powder

1 teaspoon cumin

Handful of coriander, chopped

1 tin of chickpeas, drained

1 tin tomatoes

½ teaspoon paprika

  1. Boil the potatoes in boiling water for 6 minutes until just tender. Allow to cool for 10 minutes.
  2. Grate the potatoes and combine with the leeks, corianders and cumin. Season and form into squat patties.
  3. Heat two pans with some oil in each: fry the patties in one until browned and flip over.
  4. In the other pan chuck in the chickpeas, tomatoes and paprika and bring to a high heat. Keep it bubbling hard to remove the excess liquid.
  5. When the rostis are done drain on kitchen paper. Check the stew for seasoning and add any spare coriander you have.
Categories
cream cheese leeks potatoes soup stock

leek and potato soup

If you’ve got some cracking ham stock knocking about from a recent joint, why not make some amazing leek and potato soup? Especially if Philadelphia give you a hand on Twitter. Stirring cream cheese through it right at the end leaves you with a creamy, tangy finish… lovely.

Adapted from Kraft’s recipe.

Leek and potato soup:

3 leeks, diced

5 maris piper potatoes, peeled and diced

2 pints ham stock (or equivalent other stock)

100g cream cheese

For the croutons:

2 thick slices of bread, cut into chunky cubes

1 tablespoon sunflower oil

Sea salt

Pinch of paprika

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
  2. Heat a little oil in a large casserole pot. Drop in the leeks and cook gently for a couple of minutes, until the leeks have softened. Stir in the potatoes then add the stock. Bring up to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.
  3. When the soup is about halfway, toss the bread in the oil, salt and paprika. Pop on a baking tray and roast for 10 minutes, or until the bread is crispy and golden.
  4. When the potatoes are tender, use a hand blender to pulse the soup a little. I like it roughed up a little so there’s plenty of texture remaining. Whisk in the cream cheese in chunks and check for seasoning. Serve with the croutons.
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