Suddenly it’s Autumn, and we have empty beds. The Robinson children have gone to Uni, even their rooms are empty, and there is a little less help in the kitchen, but the pool is still warm and the beaches are glorious, so what’s for dinner? It’s getting darker, and the summer dresses are finding their way back into the wardrobe, so maybe it’s time for potatoes.
We roast them with rosemary, we smother them in garlicy alioli, and we make really delish easy potato salad with pesto.
But with all three children now in Barcelona, where there are streets full of bars selling nothing but patatas bravas and beer, they have become connoisseurs and I have had to up my game.
Here is the best bravas sauce yet, no ketchup, no mayo, no diary at all in fact, this is magic. I use the blender so chopping doesn’t have to be pretty.
One red onion, 3 cloves of garlic, chopped roughly and sauteed in olive oil.
Add in a big heaped desert spoon of paprika, a teaspoon of chilli powder (maybe a bit less, mine is chipotle and it is smoky not bitter or fiery) and a can of crushed tomatoes. So now you have a spicey tomato sauce but it doesn’t quite look like it would in a bar in Barcelona? It looks a bit too much like something you’d put on spaghetti, though probably not for the kids?
Transfer to the blender, (I use a Nutribullet but a deep jug and a hand blender would be fine) and then I add a couple of roasted red peppers, they add to the pimiento flavour and give great colour. The temptation now is to add a dollop of this red and fiery gloop to maybe mayo or phili because you want it to be a bit less scarlet and bit more, well more like mayo or ketchup, or just more authentic looking.
And here is the magic ingredient - tasteless, white, genius, lurking in the back of the fridge with no apparent purpose, tofu. It changes the colour enough to move it away from spaghetti sauce, it solves the problem of too much fire, it blends like a dream, this is perfect.
I use roasted new potatoes. I don’t want them to look like they came from the freezer or the deep fat fryer. I did a test to see if they were the same roasted from raw or better boiled for a moment first. The boiled won hands down. They just need a minute, popped in boiling salted water just long enough for the water to come back to the boil. Then roasted with olive oil and salt. Leave out the rosemary, it gets in the way.
I’m excited, I hope the kids approve, I hope they come home soon.
Anyone else want visit in October?
Fantastic. Sounds delicious