this week I have been mostly eating potatoes

I seem to have accumulated a few foody pics on the camera, so here they are with a few explanatory recipe notes.

Spanish Stew & Tortilla

I picked up some interesting-looking pork and fennel sausages in Waitrose the other day, made by the people at Unearthed. We also have a big sack of potatoes from Hazel's parents which we're gradually working our way through, so this seemed like a good excuse for a Spanish stew and potato omelette extravaganza.

First, the stew:


You've got your sausages, obviously, plus a 500g pack of boneless chicken thighs, a couple of onions, some garlic, some Peppadew peppers, a couple of tins of tomatoes and a tin of beans - I've got cannelini beans, but any old white beans would do; haricot beans, butter beans, that sort of thing. The amounts as shown here will make about four portions.

Cook the onions and garlic a bit, bung the meat in, cook that a bit, throw everything else in, add a bit of thyme and paprika, maybe a dash of red wine, and leave it to cook.


Meanwhile, the tortilla. Now most recipes for this would have you cook the potatoes slowly in a frying pan in several batches. I can't really be arsed with that, though, so a profitable short-cut is just to dice them up, slosh a load of olive oil over them and then stick them in the oven for half an hour.


Then beat up half-a-dozen eggs in a bowl; I threw a bit of grated cheese in as well, though this is no doubt sacrilege to the tortilla purist. Stir in the spuds. Then pour the whole sloppy mess into a hot oiled non-stick pan.



All you need now is a bit of green salad and a large glass of wine.


Thai Fishcakes & Noodle Salad


What I've got here is 400g or so of white fish (this is haddock, as it happens), a few spring onions, some garlic, a lime, some ginger and chilli, some Thai curry paste, some Thai spice powder and some parsley and coriander (out of a jar, though fresh coriander would be much better). This will make enough for two people.

Divide the fish in half. Chop half of it fairly finely, and throw the other half in the food processor along with the other ingredients (well, don't throw the whole lime in, just squeeze the juice out of it). Whiz it around for a minute or so until it's a smooth-ish paste. Then take the blade out and stir the chopped fish in.


Make the mixture into little patties (lots of small ones is better than a small number of large ones, as they'll only fall apart) and fry them in some sunflower oil in a non-stick pan.


By this time you'll have made the noodle salad by blanching some ready-cooked noodles for a couple of minutes, and then mixing them with some chopped Peppadew peppers, chopped spring onion, lime juice, sesame oil and fish sauce. All you need then is a few salad-y leaves, and a cold beer.