Showing posts with label potato. Show all posts
Showing posts with label potato. Show all posts

Monday, September 8, 2014

Using Leftovers - Roast Pork, Potato and Herb Broth with Crackle and Crispy Potato Skins

Using Leftovers - Roast Pork, Potato and Herb Broth with Crackle and Crispy Potato Skins
We got into the (awesome) habit of having roasts almost every weekend for a while there. Given the abundance of bones, I started to make a point of using the bones to make my own stocks with, rather than just throw them out. I have a bunch of both lamb and pork stock in the freezer now for adding extra awesomeness to soups and risottos. For this pork roast, we didn’t end up eating the little shank piece that came with it, nor did I salt that part correctly for crackling. So, leaving a little bit of meat on the main bone after the roast, and cutting the skin off the shank piece, I popped these bones in a stock pot and added the only flavouring items I had at that stage – onion, garlic, salt, pepper and the stalks from the various herbs I was going to put in the actual dish.
In keeping with the ‘using leftovers’ theme, when I peeled the potatoes, I made sure I did it in long strips, then salted them and the liberated pork skin and chucked them in the oven until they went super crispy, the pork skin turned into crackling and both made the most delicious garnish.
Then it was just a matter of boiling the stock for 40 minutes, and steaming the potatoes over the stock for the last 10 of those minutes, or until tender. Strain the stock, shred the meat from the bones and pour the stock over fresh herbs and greens, like you would in a Pho. Top with your crispy extras and chilli. Delicious!
Using Leftovers - Roast Pork, Potato and Herb Broth with Crackle and Crispy Potato Skins
Using Leftovers - Roast Pork, Potato and Herb Broth with Crackle and Crispy Potato Skins
Using Leftovers - Roast Pork, Potato and Herb Broth with Crackle and Crispy Potato Skins
Using Leftovers - Roast Pork, Potato and Herb Broth with Crackle and Crispy Potato Skins
Using Leftovers - Roast Pork, Potato and Herb Broth with Crackle and Crispy Potato Skins
Using Leftovers - Roast Pork, Potato and Herb Broth with Crackle and Crispy Potato Skins

Roast Pork, Potato and Herb Broth with Crackle and Crispy Potato Skins

1 bunch mint, leaves removed
1 bunch basil, leaves removed – stalks reserved
1 bunch coriander, leaves removed – stalks reserved
one roast pork bone (with a little meat left on)
4 small potatoes, peeled and diced into 1cm cubes
3 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper corns
one onion, peeled, roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and squashed
¼ broccoli, cut into florets and finely sliced
1 cup snow peas, finely sliced
1 red onion, sliced for garnish
In a large soup pot, add the bone, the herb stalks, salt, peppercorns, onion and garlic. Add enough water to cover – around 2L. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 40 minutes. After 30 minutes, put the diced potato into a steamer insert over the soup pot and leave to steam for 10 minutes, or until tender.
Removed the bones from the stock and carefully cut the remaining meat off the bone. Discard bone. Strain the stock into a clean pot. Discard the other flavouring ingredients. Bring the stock back to the boil.
Divide the potato, pork, broccoli, snow peas and herbs into 2 bowls. Pour over the stock and leave to sit for 5 minutes before sprinkling the potato skins, crackling and chilli on top.
Enjoy!
Using Leftovers - Roast Pork, Potato and Herb Broth with Crackle and Crispy Potato Skins
Using Leftovers - Roast Pork, Potato and Herb Broth with Crackle and Crispy Potato Skins
Using Leftovers - Roast Pork, Potato and Herb Broth with Crackle and Crispy Potato Skins
Using Leftovers - Roast Pork, Potato and Herb Broth with Crackle and Crispy Potato Skins

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

One Pot Potatoes - Diced Potatoes with Lentils and Olives


I don’t tend to eat potatoes very often. As in, normal, white potatoes. And it’s not because of the bad-wrap they got in the carb-hating phase that swept the world. I’m just not a big fan of them. Unless they’re roasted, I tend to find them pretty boring. A sweet potato I can microwave or boil and eat without anything else done to it. A white potato for me always needs a little extra help. I know other people will disagree with me. I know some people love them. That’s the brilliance of difference.

I did have a few potatoes left over from when I bought them to do a roast (because then they are an absolute necessity), and when I was given some lamb chops by a wonderful friend of mine (from her parents’ sheep farm, no less!) I thought they could be the perfect side. One of my favourite ways of preparing potatoes is this combination of fry/boil in a pan. I’m sure there’s a technical term for this type of preparation, I don’t know what it is. I just know that it’s easy and results in extremely flavourful potatoes. It also means that I can cook lentils in with it in the one pan.

Whilst you can serve these potatoes with any other meats and veg you have on hand I think this combination works extremely well. The caramelized sweet grilled figs, the rich juicy lamb and the salty creamy textured potatoes just….work, you know? The potato was enough to serve two for dinner and me for lunch the next day. The accompaniments were just for the dinner.

Diced Potatoes with Lentils and Olives
5-6 baby potatoes
1 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 sprig rosemary leaves, minced (about 1 tbsp)
¼ cup uncooked French lentils (du Puy lentils), rinsed and picked through
1 cup water
½ tsp sea salt
Good few pinches of black pepper
6 olives, de-pitted and finely sliced
Sprinkling flat leaf parsley, chopped
Splash of grapefruit juice (or lime)

 Served with
4 Lamb chops
4 Figs, halved
1 Sweet paprika, halved lengthwise, core removed
1 Small zucchini, sliced into 1cm slices, lengthwise

 
Peel and dice the potatoes into 2cm chunks. In a high sided frypan with a lid (or a makeshift lid of aluminium foil), heat the olive oil to medium heat. Add the garlic and rosemary and cook until fragrant, 1-2 minutes. Add the potatoes and lentils and stir well to coat in the garlicky oil for about 2 minutes. Crack some pepper over the top to taste. Add the water and sea salt, mix through and turn the heat up to bring to the boil. Once there, turn down to low, cover with the lid and allow to cook until the lentils and potatoes are tender – around 25 minutes.

After about 10 minutes, heat your BBQ, lightly oil and grill the vegetables. Place the figs cut side down and don’t turn. The zucchini and paprika need to be turned after about 5 minutes on each side. Grill the lamb to your liking, I do mine about 3 minutes either side for a touch of pink in the middle.

When the potatoes are ready, turn the heat off and stir through the olives, parsley and a splash of grapefruit juice to ‘brighten’. Check for seasoning.

Serve with the lamb chops and grilled vegetables.

 

Sunday, May 26, 2013

One Dish, Two Ways - Italian Potato Salad/Italian Potato Bake

My cousin is about to head off on a European adventure, and seeing as she will be away for her birthday, she decided to have a bit of a get together before she went. I offered to bring a dish and was told maybe a potato salad. The rest of the food being served was going to be Italian, which got me thinking. Italian Potato Salad? Does such a thing exist? I've never eaten a potato salad made with Italian flavours - sounds like experiment time!

I guess I should say up front, that I've never been the hugest fan of potato salad. I think because a lot that I've eaten have had a really strong, overly 'mayonnaise-y' ness to them, and not a lot of content beyond boiled potatoes and peas. And boiled potatoes are one of the blandest foods in the world. I like to pimp mine out a bit more. 

The previous night I had fried up some hot salami with slices of garlic for a different dish and thought that was the perfect start for Italian Potato Salad. I didn't have enough potato to make a salad large enough to share, so I added some sweet potato to the mix. And I had an abundance of red capsicums, so I roasted up a few to add a lovely sweetness and new texture to the mix. The sauce was made simply with greek yoghurt, dried oregano, sun dried tomatoes and seeded mustard. The result was pretty darn impressive. Something I would eat a whole plate of as a meal.

Unfortunately (but luckily for me), it was forgotten in the fridge at the party, and I got to take it home with me. Being a cold night, and my husband hoping for a hot dinner asked - could it be heated? Well...yes. The sauce is just greek yoghurt. I don't see why not! I poured the whole thing into an oven dish, added some thinly sliced Provolone cheese and baked it for 20 minutes until warmed through and the cheese was golden. Heaven!

So here's a dinner perfect two ways - Italian Potato Salad and Italian Potato Bake. (I forgot to take photos of it until it was out of the oven. Sorry!)

 
 
 

Italian Potato Salad/Bake
6 baby potatoes, quartered
2 small sweet potatoes, cut to similar size
2 small red capsicum
half hot salami sausage, thinly diced
2 large cloves garlic, sliced
300g Greek Yoghurt
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
5 sun-dried tomatoes
2 teaspoons whole-seed mustard

Put the potatoes into a pot of water and bring to the boil. Once boiling, add the sweet potato. When potatoes are tender, but not completely soft, strain out water and rinse with cold water to stop cooking. Store in fresh cold water until ready to assemble.

Meanwhile, roast the capsicums in a hot oven until the skin starts blistering. Place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap to sweat a few minutes so you can peel the skin off. Discard innards and slice into strips. Set aside to cool.

Fry the salami in a medium hot pan, once starting to crispen and release oils, add the garlic slices and cook until everything is toasty. Drain really well on paper towels.

To make the sauce, blend the greek yoghurt, oregano, paprika and sundried tomatoes in a food processor or blender until well mixed and the tomatoes are chopped. Add the mustard and pulse a few times to distribute.

Combine all of the ingredients and add the sauce a bit at a time to ensure it's not too saucy. I ended up with too much sauce. Serve as potato salad.

To make the bake:
Heat oven to 180c
Pour potato salad into a casserole dish, add Provolone slices or thinly sliced/grated cheese of choice over the top and bake for 20 minutes or so until cheese is toasty and the sauce bubbles slightly add the edges.

This photo is of it served to the rear with a super-quick seafood marinara pasta I cooked while the potato salad became a potato bake!

Friday, April 26, 2013

Comfort Food - Parsnip, Potato and White Bean Soup with White Chocolate

As promised in my Chocolate Chilli Dressing post, I experimented with another one of the chocolate recipes I discovered on the Hershey website - Potato-Parsnip Bisque with White Chocolate. Autumn has well and truly set in and the nights are brisk and chilly. The days waiver between warm and cooler, but all in all I am starting to crave comfort foods. Soups and stews and roasts and pudding and chocolates. So I was excited to try this soup with white chocolate, combining two of those things! I'm a bit strange in that I like both dark chocolate and white chocolate. Milk chocolate I can take or leave. So the idea of some white chocolate melted through a parsnippy soup sounded perfect. I am eating a bowl of this for a late lunch as I type, ugg boots on, watching Mad Men. It's creamy and thick and peppery and perfect for this cooler weather. Truly comforted.

The initial recipe was a bisque, and passed through a fine china cap. But I wanted mine thicker, so I skipped this step. Not to mention that I don't own one of those. It also called for heavy cream, but I wanted it to be a bit healthier, so I added a tin of white beans for extra fibre and used milk. I served it with some crispy bacon bits, but I actually would've preferred some crispy fried chorizo or salami bits. The fennel in these sausages would've taken it to another world of yum!





Parsnip, Potato and White Bean Soup with White Chocolate
serves 6
1 tbsp grapeseed oil
1 leek, quartered then finely diced
1 big clove garlic, diced
1/2 tsp salt
2 parsnips,  peeled, then medium diced
1/2 cup sweet white wine
6 small potatoes, peeled then medium diced
750mL vegetable stock
250mL water
2 bay leaves
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
2 cups milk
40g or so of white chocolate - 16 sqaures of Dream, finely cut
pepper, to serve

Place a medium pot over medium heat, add the oil and allow to heat. Add the leeks, garlic and salt. Allow to cook until the leeks become translucent. Add the parsnips and mix well, coating in the leeks. Add the wine, stir it through then reduce it by half.

Add the potatoes, stock, water, bay leaves and nutmeg. Turn the heat up, bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook for 15-20 minutes or so until the potatoes and parsnips are tender. Add the white beans, and cook for a further 5 minutes or so.

Turn off heat, allow to sit for 5 minutes or so. Remove the bay leaves. Using a stick blender, blend until smooth. Return to the stove top and heat to medium. Add the milk, stir through and allow to heat to just below boiling.

Add the white chocolate at this point, stirring carefully, but briskly to allow it to mix through completely. Taste for seasoning and adjust as necessary. Serve with fresh pepper.