Showing posts with label baked. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baked. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 5

Tomato Smothered Potatoes

If I’m going to be honest, I have to say that even though vegetable dishes where consumed at home, meat was definitely the star. Family menus were usually planned around the meat, the vegetables being an afterthought. That’s not to say though that the vegetables dishes we ate were boring. On the contrary they were quiet good, just not as appreciated I guess.
Both my mother and my paternal grandmother prepared this recipe. I’ve simplified the original method because my mother’s version is a little complicated (I think). My mother likes to deep-fry the potatoes in oil, on the stove. After the initial frying she bakes the potatoes with onion and tomato in the oven. I just throw everything onto a baking dish and into the oven. I find it much easier that way. Deep-frying can get a bit stressful sometimes. The finished dish is best described as tomato smothered baked potatoes.
The recipe I’m showing today was often served with bbq chicken and garlic mayonnaise. This is one vegetable dish in which I’m happy to pass up the meat.

Components
500g smallish waxy potatoes, peeled and halved
2 or 3 pickling onions, peeled and halved
About a dozen ripe red truss tomatoes
1 tsp dried Greek oregano
Sea salt
Fresh black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil

Process
Heat the oven to 200c.
Place the potatoes, onion and tomatoes onto a baking dish.
Pour over a generous drizzle of oil. Sprinkle over the oregano, salt and pepper. Using your hands give all a mix, so as to combine all the elements.
Place into the oven and bake for about 30 minutes. The potatoes and onion should be golden and tender, the tomatoes cooked and somewhat collapsed.
Allow the veggies to cool a bit (about 5 minutes).
Remove the skins from the tomatoes, leaving the tomatoes still in the dish. Lightly toss the components together. The tomatoes should break up a little, coating the onion and potato with the juices and oil in the pan.
Return to the oven for another 5 minutes and serve immediately.
Enough for 2.

Friday, July 6

Beef Sausages Baked with Potato, Onion & Bay

I am forever trying to come up with exciting ways to dish up the humble sausage. This is one method of many. It’s undemanding and just the thing for those nights when one starving, but not in the particular mood required for complex food preparation.
This dish will be one hundred times better if you use first-rate sausages. Purchase them from a fine butcher, and inquire as to what he puts in the sausages. If he is not sure, keep walking and try someone else. Needless to say, keep clear from supermarket sausages as well. My past experiences have proven them to not be worth the trouble cooking.
The same goes for the potatoes. I like King Edwards when it comes to roasting. Desirees are a good alternative. Baked potatoes tend to have more flavour if you leave the skin on them. Less effort for more flavour- seems like a good idea to me.

Ingredients
6 first rate beef sausages
5 small King Edward potatoes, halved
3 small onions, halved
4 bay leaves
Thyme sprigs
Duck fat
Sea salt
Fresh black pepper
A few drops of Muscat vinegar
Dijon mustard, to serve

Method
Preheat the oven to 180c.
Place all the ingredients except the vinegar and mustard in a baking dish in one layer. Use the duck fat to anoint the individual pieces of sausage and vegetable.
Sprinkle the potatoes and onions with a touch of salt and pepper. Bake for 1 hour.
During this time, turn the sausages and vegetables over as they brown, making sure everything cooks evenly.
Five minutes before removing from the oven, sprinkle a few drops of vinegar into the cut side of the onions.
Serve straight from the tin with Dijon mustard. Enough for 2 people.

Saturday, February 17

Mushrooms Baked with Thyme and Butter

Food writers often complain cultivated mushrooms lack flavour and body. And to an extent this is true. These mushrooms are definitely delicate in taste compared to their wilder cousins, but here in Australia, we don’t have much choice when it comes to funghi. Certainly there are limited amounts of Slippery Jacks and Pine mushrooms available during autumn. Cultivated Truffles from Tasmania are available during winter (I await in anticipation), and wild Morels during spring. They are all expensive and you need to know where to find them or be acquainted with an informed supplier. Otherwise the options we have in Australia are to use dried Italian porcini or canned Chanterelles from France. Trompettes de mort and Girolles are available in the dried form, and numerous European oils infused with Cepes and both black and white Truffle.
In the meantime, I don’t mind cooking with the cultivated version. Patience is a virtue, and that is the beauty of cooking with seasonal produce. Good things come to those who wait, and I look forward every year for these culinary delicacies.

Ingredients
6 large flat mushrooms
120g cultured unsalted butter
Fresh thyme
Sea salt
Fresh black pepper
6 cloves garlic, unpeeled

Method
Remove the stalks from the mushrooms. Freeze the stalks for stock. Lay the mushrooms in a baking dish.

Place 20g of butter in the center of each mushroom.
Lay a few sprigs of thyme over each mushroom and scatter the baking dish with the cloves of garlic. Season with salt and pepper.
Bake at 200c for 45min to an hour or until tender.
The mushrooms will decrease in size, and thus improve in flavour, whilst absorbing all the luscious butter.
Serve immediately. Enough for 2 people as a side dish.