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Monday, April 14, 2008

Poor Man's Potatoes

This recipe is dedicated to Cindy over at Where's The Beef?. I hope to see you make it Cindy! :-)

I recently bought my first ever cookbook, Frank Comorra's Movida book. I've only been baking less than a year. I'm starting to enjoy that more and more, but that's for another post. I'm more hesitant to "cook" as it's much more free form but I couldn't resist the Movida book because I love the restaurant's food and also it was 40% off. I really enjoyed the Poor Man's Potatoes both times I went to Movida and thought they were the best baked potatoes I've ever tasted. Hence I attempted them for the Bloggers Banquet 2.

I found the potatoes to be very delicious. It wasn't quite as good Movida, but it was sure close. The potatoes are so soft and are infused with the flavour of garlic, bay leaves, olive oil, capsicum and the parsley dressing (ajo y perejil). I have to be honest and say they aren't the easiest thing to make. From peeling the potatoes (I made a double batch) to finally taking them out of the oven, it was a good 2 hour process. So I won't be making these everyday, but I will make them occasionally.


Poor Man's Potatoes (Patatas A Lo Pobre)

Ingredients
60 ml extra virgin olive oil
1 brown onion, cut into large wedges
fine sea salt
3 bay leaves
1 red capsicum, seeds and membrane removed and cut into 1 cm slices
1 green capsicum, seeds and membrane removed and cut into 1 cm slices
1/2 garlic bulb, skin on but broken into cloves
1 kg waxy potatoes, such as nicola or kipfler, cut into 5-8 mm slices
750 ml olive oil (you may not need it all)
1 1/2 tablespoons ajo y perejil

Method
1) Heat extra virgin olive oil over high heat. Add onion, bay leaves, sprinkle with sea salt and stir. Reduce heat to low-medium and cover and cook for 5 minutes.
2) When onion is soft, add capsicum and garlic. Cover and cook for 20 minutes or until soft. Stir occasionally.
3) Add potatoes and enough olive oil to cover the potatoes fully. Increase heat to high just below boiling point. When bubbles appear, reduce to low-medium heat and cook gently for an hour or until tender.*
4) Take vegetables out of oil and spread onto large baking tray. Season with sea salt and ajo y perejil. Cook in 220C oven for 30 minutes or until edges of potatoes are a little crispy.

Garlic and Parsley (Ajo Y Perejil)

Ingredients
2 large hanfuls flat leaf parsley, sprigged
4 garlic cloves
100 ml extra virgin olive oil

Method
Blend all ingredients in a food processor into a medium puree.

*Note: The vegetables are suppose to confit for an hour. Confit is when the temperature of the oil remains below 100C. The oil can be reused to confit other vegetables and meats.

8 comments:

  1. Hey Thanh,

    I didn't realise you'd only been baking for less than a year! That's awesome; your cakes always look so yummy.

    xox Sarah

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  2. Thanks, Thanh! It's now bookmarked. Unfortunately they're not the ideal quick-and-easy prep food for my camping trip this weekend, so they'll have to wait at least a week or two. :-(

    ...and you got the book 40% off? What a find!

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  3. P.S. Holy crap, that's a lot of oil! It'll be el cheapo brand for me... and then maybe a heart bypass. ;-)

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  4. Posting free recipes are not only illegal but pointless

    I'm sure people who rather go to REAL cooking websites than your amateurish instructions for creating fatty foods for fat obese people like yu

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  5. Sarah, yeah I've only been baking since May last year. i find baking quite easy. It's much like chemistry, and I was very good at chemistry. You follow instructions closely, make occasional changes to suit your own tastes and voila, 95% of the time the result is good.

    Cindy, have fun camping. I'll wait to see when you make these.

    The book was 40% off because all books at Myer one weekend was 40% off. I bought up big on books that week.

    It's a heap of oil, but the oil can be reused. It stays fairly clean. Heart bypasses are optional.

    Anonymous, it is not illegal to post recipes. You cannot copyright a recipe, only how it is expressed. So as long as you reword it, it is ok to reproduce.

    I know I'm not the best cook, but I'm just telling others what good foods I've tried.

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  6. "I know I'm not the best cook, but I'm just telling others what good foods I've tried."

    There's not enough webspace in the whole galaxy to accomondate your needs.

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  7. Alas, I never got the opportunity to try the potatoes myself but after reading through the recipe I think I'll definitely have to give them a try - they sound too good not to!

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  8. Ellie, these potatoes are a lot of effort but really delicious. Put more of the ajo y perejil sauce as suggested for a more fragrant flavour.

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