Patatas Bravas, Spicy Spanish Potatoes

Wonderful fried potatoes in a slightly spicy rich tomato sauce.  I made these for a Spanish themed (sherry) night.

Serves 8 as tapas

800g small salad potatoes, halved lengthways
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
1 fresh chilli, deseeded and roughly chopped
1 tbsp fresh rosemary leaves

1 tsp fennel seeds

500g passata
1 tbsp sherry or wine vinegar

1 tsp sweet paprika

Salt & pepper

Light olive oil for frying

Bring some water to the boil, and boil the potatoes for 10 minutes, until they start to feel slightly tender when poked with a sharp knife. Drain in a colander and leave to steam whilst you get on with the sauce.

In a saucepan large enough to hold the potatoes, heat 1 tbsp olive oil over a low heat. When hot, add the onion and 2 sliced garlic cloves, and cook until soft but not coloured. 

Stir in the chilli and fennel. When you can smell the fennel, add the tinned tomatoes and vinegar and a good pinch of sea salt and black pepper. Bring the sauce to the boil then turn the heat down to a simmer for 10-15 minutes until the sauce has thickened.

While the sauce is reducing, heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large non stick frying pan over a medium high heat.

When the oil is hot, fit as many potatoes into the pan as you can, taking care not to overcrowd the pan. You will need to do this in several batches. Fry the potatoes for 8-10 minutes, turning to get them golden brown on each side. Once browned, stir in the final sliced garlic clove and rosemary, and turn the heat off once you can smell them.

Mix the potatoes and sauce and serve hot or cold on saucers as a tapas.

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Ghanaian Red Red Bean Stew

To complement the Ghanaian Very Hot Shito Sauce we bought our son at Christmas, I made a Red Red Bean Stew last night.  Red Red is a Ghanaian dish, make with black eyed beans, tomatoes, red peppers, scotch bonnet chilli, and red palm oil - hence it's name.  Given the strength of the Shito Sauce I decided substitute scotch bonnet chilli for sweet red pepper.

Although a plant based dish in itself, Red Red is often served with tinned mackerel or pilchards. I added chicken, as my teens are less keen on vegan/vegetarian dishes that we are.

Serves 4

2 tbsp vegetable oil

4 chicken thighs (optional)

1 large onion, peeled and roughly chopped

3 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped

1/2 red bell pepper, deseeded and roughly chopped

1 cm root ginger, roughly chopped

400g carton of passata

2 tins cooked black-eyed beans and their liquid

2 vegetable stock cubes

1 tsp Caribbean curry powder (or 1 tsp Indian curry powder, 1/2 tsp turmeric, & 1/2 tsp ground allspice)

1/4 tsp chilli powder

Brown the chicken thighs, if using, in the olive oil in a pan big enough to make the stew, and remove from the hot oil.

Liquidise the onion, garlic, bell pepper, and root ginger with some of the bean water to make a loose paste.

Fry the liquidised onion and pepper mixture in the hot oil for a few minutes.

Stir the curry powder and chilli into the onion paste, then stir in the tomatoes, beans, and crumbled stock cubes.

Add the chicken back to the stew if using.  There should be enough liquid to cover all the ingredients in the pan with about 1cm of water.  Add more tap water if there isn't.  If too much liquid, you can reduce this whilst the stew cooks.  Cover (leave the lid off it too much liquid), and simmer for 20 minutes.  

Red Red could be cooked in a slow cooker. After frying the onion paste and dry spices,  pour into a slow cooker together with the rest of the ingredients and cook on low for 8-10 hours.

Serve with rice, or plantain.

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Spicy Aubergine & Bean Soup

I was gifted several large aubergines that needed eating.  The one that didn't find it's way into an Aubergine Parmigiana or Babaganoush has been made into a warming hearty soup on this frosty day.

Serves 4

2 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, peeled and diced

1 large aubergine, cut into 2 cm cubes

1 large garlic clove, peeled and crushed

400g tin of borlotti beans, pinto beans, or chickpeas

400g tin of chopped tomatoes

100g roasted red peppers, chopped into bite sized pieces

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp smoked paprika

1/4 tsp hot chilli flakes

1 tsp red wine vinegar

500ml recently boiled water

2 vegetable stock cubes, crumbled

Chopped flat leaf parsley or coriander to garnish (optional)

In a soup pan, fry the onion in the olive oil over a medium heat for about 5 minutes until it starts to soften.

Add in the aubergine and fry for another 10 minutes until lightly browned.  The aubergine will absorb the olive oil.  You can add more olive oil if you wish, or keep moving it around the pan to brown.

When the aubergine is browned, stir in the garlic and cumin seeds, and then the rest of the ingredients apart from the parsley/coriander if using.

Simmer the soup for 20 minutes. Serve with a sprinkle of chopped herbs if you have any.  The herbs not only add a nice contrast of colour, but another layer of Middle Eastern flavour.

This soup can be thickened into a stew by adding 100g red lentils or 50g soup pasta with the wet ingredients, or simply reducing the water by half.  Serve over couscous or rice if serving as a stew.

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Caponata, Sicilian Vegetables

Caponata is Ratatouille's Sicilian cousin.  Apart from the aubergine, ingredients seem to vary. Tomatoes, onion, celery, olives, and capers seem common from recipe to recipe. Courgette, pepper, pine nuts, and raisins (should only be in a cake in my opinion) slightly less so.

2 aubergines

1 courgette

1 red pepper

1 onion, peeled

1 stick of celery

2 large cloves of garlic

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 can cherry or chopped tomatoes

20 unpitted green or black olives, destoned

2 tbsp capers

30g pine nuts

Can of cannellini beans, black beans, or green lentils (optional)

Chop the aubergine, courgette, onion, and celery into chunky bite sized pieces.

Toss in the olive oil, together with the unpeeled garlic cloves and salt, and bake in a high sided baking dish for 40 minutes at 200C, stirring halfway through the cooking time.

At the end of the cooking time, stir in the rest of the ingredients into the hot baking dish to warm up.  There should be enough residual heat in the baking dish to heat the tomatoes enough. If not, pop back in the oven for 10 minutes.

To make this dish a little more filling (and add more carbohydrate, fibre, and protein) add a can of cannellini beans, green lentils, or black beans.

Eat hot or cold. The flavours of this dish will develop if left to cool overnight.

Caponata can be cooked on the stove, frying the vegetables in the olive oil until browned and they adding the remaining ingredients.

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Creamy Tomato & Walnut Pasta Sauce

My teenage son is carb loading for the gym (it's either that or revise for his GCSEs) so I thought I'd make him some high calorie pasta sauce and freeze it in portions for a quick calorific pasta snack.

I tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 small onion, peeled and roughly chopped

1 large garlic clove, peeled and roughly chopped
1 can chopped tomatoes

100g walnuts 

200g soft cheese (vegan or dairy) or 50g cashews + 100ml water

Gently fry the chopped onion and garlic in olive oil in a sauce pan until just starting to brown.

Add the chopped tomatoes, half a can of recently boiled water, walnuts, and cashew nuts if using. Simmer uncovered for 20 minutes.

When the onion is tender liquidise with the soft cheese or additional hot water if using cashew nuts to the consistency of a thick pourable pasta sauce.  This made more than enough sauce for 500g of pasta.

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Tomato Bruschetta

I know this dish as Pa amb Tomàquet, a Catalan staple of tomato rubbed over toasted or untoasted bread and seasoned with olive oil and garlic. But more people have heard of Tomato Bruschetta.

It's a great way of using tomatoes that are starting to go soft, and stale/hard baguette, sourdough, ciabatta, focaccia etc

100g ripe tomatoes (a handful of cherry tomatoes, or 2 medium sized), roughly chopped
1tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 small garlic clove, peeled and roughly chopped

Pinch of salt

Stale bread

Whizz up the tomatoes, olive oil, garlic,and salt in a mini food processor.

Slice the bread, place in a shallow dish, and pour over the tomato pulp.

Cover and leave overnight ideally, for the flavours to develop and for the tomatoes to soften the bread. Eat at room temperature for the best flavour 

Pa amb Tomàquet is eaten as breakfast and as a snack/tapas throughout the day in Catalunya.

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Rasam, Light Curried Tomato Soup

Rasam is a quick, budget curried tomato soup thrown together in a matter of minutes.

Serves 4

1 can chopped tomatoes, or 4 large tomatoes liquidised

100g red lentils 

2 tbsp coconut or vegetable oil

1 large garlic clove, crushed

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp fenugreek seeds 

1 tsp black mustard seeds

1/2 tsp hot chilli flakes

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp turmeric

1 litre recently boiled water

1 level tsp salt

Heat the oil in a saucepan until smoking.  Remove from the heat and add the crushed garlic, cumin, seeds fenugreek, mustard seeds, and chilli flakes.

When it stops sizzling, add the rest of the ingredients apart from the salt, and return to the heat and bring to the boil.

Cover and turn down to a simmer for 30 minutes until the lentils are tender.  Stir in the salt and serve.

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Pickled Green Tomatoes

Trying @urbanfarmandkitchen's recipe for Pickled Green Tomatoes.

Unusually for me, I've pretty much stuck to the recipe. I just substituted apple cider vinegar for distilled white vinegar, and used my late father's method for working out exactly how much pickling solution you need. So follow the recipe before measuring out the quantities in the ingredients, particulary if you don't have exactly 1lb of green tomatoes (I had 250g so halved the rest of the ingredients).

1lb/450g green unripe tomatoes

1 cup/235ml water
1 cup/235ml apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1-2 Garlic cloves - peeled, and root end cut off
1 bay leaf
½ teaspoon black peppercorns
½ teaspoon mustard seed - yellow or black
1 sprig of dill (didn't have any)

Cut any larger tomatoes into chunks and smaller tomatoes in halves. You want to expose some of the interior so that they pickle all the way through.

Pack the cut tomatoes into a preserving jar. Half fill the jar with the vinegar and top up with water.  Pour the vinegar and water into a small saucepan, keeping the tomatoes in the jar. Add the  salt and sugar and warm gently until the sugar and salt have dissolved.  Leave to cool.

Poke the garlic, bay leaf, spices and fresh dill into the green tomatoes in the jar.  Pour over pickling solution when it has cooled. Tap the jar to release any air bubbles. Seal and refrigerate. You can start enjoying them within 2 days, but @urbanfarmandkitchen recommend waiting at least 5 days.

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Healthy Baked Beans

These 'baked beans' are so simple, and probably really quick with an air fryer although I have yet to experiment with one.

Serves 1

250g cherry tomatoes
1 tin white beans in water
1 small clove garlic, peeled & crushed

A few sprig of fresh parsley, finely chopped (optional)

2 tbsp extra olive oil

1/2 tsp apple cider or white wine vinegar

Pepper & salt to season

Roast the tomatoes at 180C with a little drizzle of olive oil for about 30 minutes, or until they burst.  In the interests of saving energy/money, I try to roast vegetables when the oven is on with something else.  These tomatoes went into the oven after I had finished baking bread, leaving the oven on for 10 minutes extra and then turning it off and leave the tomatoes to finish cooking in the still hot oven.  I'm guessing an air fryer would be better than turning the oven on if you don't have to.

Gently squish the tomatoes, then stir in the rest of the ingredients, including the liquid from the beans.

Serve hot or cold, with crusty bread.

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Loubia, Moroccan Bean Stew

Loubia is a hearty Middle Eastern Baked Beans, traditionally made with beef or lamb.

I based my version on this recipe from Taste of Maroc.  Their recipe includes meat, but I prefer a vegan version.

Serves 6

2 cans of haricot or cannellini beans, or 450g dry beans soaked overnight and cooked according to their instructions 

2 cartons of passata

1 large onion, peeled and diced

4 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped 

3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

3 tbsp chopped fresh coriander 

1 tsp salt

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tbsp cumin

2 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp turmeric - (optional)

1/4 tsp chilli powder  - or fresh chili peppers (optional)

2 tbsp olive oil

Fry the onion in the olive oil in a casserole dish with a lid.  When it starts to brown add the garlic and cumin, stir then add the rest of the ingredients apart from the salt.

Bring boil, cover and turn down to a simmer. Cook for 30 minutes until the onion is soft.  Add the salt just before serving.

Serve with crusty bread or couscous.

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Homemade Tomato Salsa & Cheesy Nachos

I reserved some soft (but not mouldy) cherry tomatoes to add healthy element to my son's cheesy nachos.

200g ripe tomatoes
1 small onion or shallot

1 clove of garlic

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp red wine vinegar

1 tsp ground cumin

Pinch of extra hot chilli flakes

Pinch of salt

4 handfuls Tortilla crips

2 handfuls grated cheddar

Chop the tomatoes if larger than cherry tomatoes, and blitz all ingredients in a food processor.  Leave for flavours to develop if can.

Divide the tortilla crisps into two microwaveable bowls. Sprinkle a handful of grated cheese over each bowl. Microwave each bowl for 30 seconds, and then 10 second bursts if the cheese is not melted.

Also served with Guacamole in the photo.

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Trampó, Majorcan Tomato & Green Pepper Salad

This Tomato & Green Pepper Salad is lovely and refreshing, made in a matter of minutes but is all the better for being left for a few hours for the flavours to develop.

Serve 4 as a side 

1 large ripe beef tomato, cut into 1cm pieces
1 green pepper, deseeded and cut into 1cm pieces

1/2 a sweet onion, thinly sliced

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Juice of 1/2 a lemon (optional)

Large pinch of salt  

Mix all the ingredients together and leave for a few hours for the flavours to develop if you can. 

The lemon juice was a mistake as my eyes flitted to the Moroccan Tomato & Green Pepper Salad above in my pdf of Mediterranean recipes to try, but it possibly made the salad more refreshing.

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Mexican Bean & Tomato Salad or Salsa

I manage to grow one or two scraggly coriander plants a year.  This time I decided to use my meagre harvest in a Mexican style bean salad/salsa.

Serves 4

1/2 medium onion, finely diced
1 clove of garlic, peeled and finely grated
1 small red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
1 small bag of coriander, finely chopped
2 large vine tomatoes, diced
1 tin black or pinto beans
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp lime or lemon juice
Salt & pepper

Mix all the ingredients together and leave to stand for 10-20 minutes if possible for the flavours to mingle.

We mixed half this salad with 2 mugs of cooked brown rice to make a salad, and have kept half back to have as a salad with several other vegetable dishes another day.

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Homemade Cream of Tomato Soup

Out of emergency tinned tomato soup for the first time in 10 years.  Thankfully it really is easy to make (and full of veg - but don't tell the kids)

Make 4 big bowls

1 tin chopped tomatoes, or 500g fresh tomatoes
1 large onion, peeled and roughly chopped
1 large carrot, roughly chopped
1 large stick of celery, roughly chopped
200g white potato, roughly chopped
1 clove of garlic, peeled
1 tbsp olive oil
1 litre boiling water
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 vegetable stock cubes
150ml dairy or plant based cream
1 tsp paprika 

Gently fry all the vegetables in the olive oil in a saucepan until they start to turn a golden brown in places.  Add the rest of the ingredients, cover, and bring to the boil.  Simmer for 20 minutes then liquidise.

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Patatas Bravas - Spanish Roast Potatoes with a Spicy Tomato Sauce

It's Vegan Monday in our household, and after not thinking about dinner all day I came up with Patatas Bravas at the last minute.  It is a tapas which I kind of stretched into an evening meal.  The kids verdict is that it would be miles better with pasta rather than roast potatoes!

Serves 5 as a meal

1.5kg new or roasting potatoes

2 tsp olive oil

1 large onion, finely diced

2 tsp olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, cut into slivers

1 tbsp tomato paste

1 carton passata

2 tsp smoked paprika

1 pinch of hot chilli flakes

1 pinch of sugar

Preheat the oven and a shallow baking dish with 1 tbsp olive oil to 200C.  Quarter or half small new potatoes depending on size or cut roasting potatoes into wedges.  Toss in another tablespoon of olive oil and spread out in a single layer on the baking tray once it has reached temperature.  Season with pepper and salt and bake for 40-50 minutes until crisp and golden.

Whilst the potatoes are roasting, gently fry the onion in 2 tbsp of olive oil for 5 minutes or until soft.  Add the onion and the tomato paste and fry for a minute more before adding the passata, paprika, chilli, and sugar.  Cover and bring to the boil, then remove the lid and simmer for 10 minutes until thick and pulpy.

When the potatoes are done, divide into bowls and serve with the tomato sauce spooned over.

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Roasted Tomato Soup

The local farm shop I cook for gave me about 1kg of wrinkly tomatoes asking if I could make a soup out of them.  My kind of challenge!

Makes 4 large bowls

1kg ripe tomatoes
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
1 celery stick, roughly chopped
1 tbsp tomato paste
250g potato, roughly chopped
1 litre recently boiled water
2 vegetable stock cubes

Clean the tomatoes and place in a high sided baking dish.  Drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with pepper and salt.  Bake for 30 minutes at 200C until the skins split and begin to brown.  Leave to cool and remove the skins and stalks.

Gently fry the onion in the olive oil.  Add the celery, garlic, and potato when chopped.  Fry for a few minutes then stir in the tomato paste, then add the stock cubes and hot water.  Cover and bring to the boil, then turn down and simmer for 30 minutes.

Liquidise and serve.

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Pesto Alla Trapanese (Sundried Tomato & Nut Pesto)

I can't believe I'd never come across this pesto living in Italy as a child, and in Southern Italy to boot. The first I heard of it was a passing comment on Radio 4 as I was driving somewhere.  I don't even remember the programme.  And it's not in my mum's 1970 edition of Elizabeth David's Italian Food.

As I had a jar of sun-dried tomatoes just past their use by date, this is what I came up with.

Serves 4/400g dried pasta

50g sundried tomatoes
40g blanched almonds (I used cashew nuts)
1 small clove of garlic
50-100ml olive oil
Pinch of salt

Place all the ingredients into a mini food processor and whizz.  Add olive oil to loosen the mixture to taste, so it can be stirred through pasta.

If you don't want to use too much oil, reserve a mug of the pasta cooking water to loosen the pesto as you mix it through the pasta.

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Penne with Arrabiata Pasta Sauce

We've had a meaty rugby, then cricket, club barbecue kind of weekend.  So Meatless Monday started early, on Sunday night.

Arrabiata (Angry) sauce came to mind, but without my Mum's trusty Elizabeth David books to refer to, I had to google it and of course was swamped with options.

I ended up making my basic tomato pasta sauce and adding a pinch of hot chilli flakes, and a small handful of fresh basil leaves to the sauce just before pureeing.  Simpler than I thought!

1 small onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tin of of chopped tomatoes
1/2 can recently boiled water
Pinch of chilli flakes
Small handful of basil leaves (optional)

Gently soften the onion in the olive oil over a low-medium heat.  Add the garlic once the onion is transluscent or begins to brown.  Add the tomatoes and rinse the can/pack out with the boiling water.

Cover, and simmer for 20 minutes or more for a stronger flavour.  If the sauce is too watery after 20 minutes, take the lid off and simmer to reduce a little.  If the sauce is too thick add a little water.

Before serving, add the basil leaves if using, and puree with a stick blender.

Arrabiata sauce is traditionally served with penne.  I cooked 600g of dried pasta for our family of 5 and this amount of sauce was perfect.

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Creamy Vegan Tomato Pasta Sauce

Stumbled across a promoted video on Facebook showing how to make a vegan alternative to cream in pasta sauces.

Simply liquidise 1/2 cup cashew nuts with 1/2 a cup of water and add to your basic tomato sauce a few minutes before the end of cooking.

I stirred this through pasta for the whole family and it was declared "one of the best pasta sauces ever", although this did not stand up to scrutiny (Me: "Oh really? Better than Pesto, Carbonara, or Bolognese?" Normal pre-teen grunting then resumed)

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Basic Italian Tomato Pasta Sauce

Quite surprised to find that I haven't posted my basic Italian pasta sauce on here.  Admittedly I haven't made this basic version for a long; usually I add carrot and celery to make it into a Bolognaise sauce, or the base for Shepherd's Pie, or a Moroccan fish stew.  In fact I've begun to feel that a can of tomatoes or passata goes in pretty much everything I've cooked over the last few weeks.  But today is Meatless Monday, I've a half built Ikea sofabed upstairs in the spare room, I need to fit a new seal to the dishwasher door, I've had a hospital check up for me in the middle of it all, and soon the kids will be home wanting tea.  So basic tomato sauce it is.

1 onion, finely chopped
1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tin of tomatoes, liquidised or a 500ml pack of passata
Optional flavourings: capers, black olives, chilli flakes, chopped anchovies

Gently soften the onion in the olive oil over a low-medium heat.  Add the garlic once the onion is transluscent or begins to brown.  Add the tomatoes and rinse the can/pack out with a little water to make the sauce slightly thinner than you'd want for a sauce, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes or more for a stronger flavour.  If the sauce is too watery after 20 minutes, take the lid off and simmer to reduce a little.  If the sauce is too thick add a little water.

I served with with spaghetti and grated cheddar tonight, and had the kids admitting that they liked it just as much as bolognaise sauce.

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