Provencal Potato Bake

I love my side dishes. I really do like to pep up a meal with a tasty side dish. When making a main that is a bit plainer, a steak or lamb chops just pan fried, I like to make the sides full of flavour. This was one of those instances. I served this with some pan-fried lamb loin chops which were just seasoned with some salt and pepper. 

I really loved this. Although I love anything that combines capers and olives. I am not keen on rosemary, I find it a bit too strong for me no matter how little I use. I had the parsley all chopped to sprinkle on top before I photographed and served but forgot about it. It didn't really matter, it still looked and tasted excellent. I loved how crispy that they ended up. 

Recipe from delicious November 2011 - Provencal Potato Bake

Sweet & Spicy Potatoes and Pumpkin

Nice quick little post with a side dish that I made recently. I have talked before about playing around with your side dishes. It really makes so much difference to your meal. I served this with pickled pork and cabbage fried with onion, garlic & ginger. It was all ever so good. Oh, and I have heaps of the potato & pumpkin left so I think I might use it in a frittata or something on another night. Oh and one recommendation, I used butternut for this dish but it was not firm enough. I would definitely suggest a firmer pumpkin. For those in Australia, Queensland Blue or Kent.

Sweet & Spicy Potatoes and Pumpkin

2 tbps brown sugar (I used a US tbsp though so 1 tbsp + 2 tsp)
1 tsp hot smoked paprika (if you don't have hot, use 1 tsp smoked paprika + 1/4 tsp chilli powder)
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil (about, I just poured some in)
1 tsp honey
500 g pumpkin, chopped
4 potatoes, cut into eighths


Combine brown sugar, paprika, allspice & salt in a plastic bag and shake to combine. Add olive oil and mix. Add pumpkin & potatoes and shake and massage until all are well coated. Place on a foil lined tray and drizzle with honey. Bake for 30 minutes at 180 C or until done.

Fish with Lemon-Roasted Potatoes and Fennel Chilli Relish

This is another recipe I made ages ago. Bill's original recipe was for baked snapper. However, I didn't want to cook a whole fish so I just pan-fried a fish fillet. Unfortunately the fish I picked, I can't remember what now, was just awful and I didn't end up eating the whole meal. I guess that my opinion of this recipe has been coloured by inferior ingredients. Perhaps I will give it another go with a whole fish. The potatoes were very good though. 

Fish with Lemon-Roasted Potatoes and Fennel Chilli Relish

Ingredients: 

• 2 fish fillets
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• olive oil

Method: 

• Heat olive oil over a medium heat. 
• Season fish with salt & pepper. 
• Pan fry for a few minutes each side or until cooked through. 

Lemon-roasted potatoes

Ingredients: 

• 300g chat potatoes, unpeeled, quartered
• 1/2 lemon, finely sliced 
• 1 bay leaf (optional) 
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper 
• 1 clove garlic, unpeeled, crushed  
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Method: 

• Preheat the oven to 180C. 
• Place all ingredients in a bowl and toss until potatoes are coated in oil. 
• Spread on a baking dish and cover with foil. Bake for 20 minutes. 
• Remove foil and bake a further 20 minutes or until golden brown. 
• Serve with freshly ground black pepper.

Fennel chilli relish 

Ingredients: 

• 1/2 fennel bulb, finely chopped to 5mm dice
• 1 red chilli, finely chopped 
• juice of 1/2 a lemon   
• 2 tbsp parsley, finely chopped 
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 
• sea salt 
• freshly ground black pepper

Place all ingredients in a bowl and combine. 

Honey & Mustard Roasted Potatoes and Pumpkin

I have talked before about how I believe it is just as important to spend time on making good side dishes as it is to make good main meals. This potato and pumpkin dish was so easy but so very tasty. I adapted this recipe over at Allrecipes to make this. I really enjoyed it and would definitely make it again. I served this with pickled pork with mustard sauce, braised turnips and steamed broccoli. The sweetness of the honey really added something to the meal. I would highly recommend the whole combination.

Honey & Mustard Roasted Potatoes and Pumpkin

Ingredients: 

• 4 small potatoes, quartered
• Wedge pumpkin, cut into chunks
• 1 tbsp butter, melted
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
• salt & pepper

Method:

• Pre-heat oven to 190 C. 
• Line baking tray with foil (this makes clean up easier). 
• Combine butter, honey, mustard and a pinch of salt & pepper. 
• Add potatoes and pumpkin and toss to combine. 
• Spread onto tray and bake for 30 - 35 minutes stirring a couple of times.

Potato & Feta Pancakes

I love long weekends. That one extra day off gives me the opportunity to unwind just that little bit more. The unfortunate part is that you have to head back to work. It is unfortunate that work has to be part of life. Although I do think that I would go stir crazy if I didn't work but there are still times when I think how nice it would be if I didn't have to. I dutifully buy my lottery ticket each week. Although the chances of actually winning it are minuscule and winning a substantial amount of money is even less likely, still people do win and $2.15 a week is not going to break the bank. 

Another reason to love long weekends, well any weekend actually is that it gives me a chance to cook another of Bill's gorgeous breakfast recipes. This, however, ended up being lunch by the time I had decided what to make and actually got it made. I really enjoyed it though. I didn't have quite enough potatoes, not sure how I managed that, so I used some sweet potato as well. I had some dill in the fridge to use and I really like dill with potato so used that in place of the mint in the original recipe. I think next time I would add some grated parmesan to them. Since it was lunch time I served these with a salad of rocket, tomato & avocado. It was so good and I will definitely make these again. If for breakfast I would probably add a side of grilled or roasted tomato and sautéed mushrooms or some bacon. 

Potato & Feta Pancakes

Ingredients: 

• 1/2 kg potatoes, peeled and grated
• 1 small onion, grated
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp chopped dill
• 1/4 cup crumbled Feta cheese
• 1/4 cup plain flour
• salt and pepper
• vegetable oil to fry

Method: 

• Combine grated potato & onion with a little bit of salt and drain in a colander for 20 minutes. 
• Squeeze out excess moisture. 
• Add remaining ingredients and mix to combine, your hands are best for this.
• Heat the oil in a large frying pan and add tablespoons of mixture (depending on the size you like).  
• Squash a little to make flat pancakes.  Cook on both sides until golden brown.

I am so tired and I am heading off to bed very shortly but I just wanted to get something posted. I was looking through things last night and realised that I have so many things that I have made from Sydney Food that I haven't yet blogged about. I also have a number of other things that I want to post too. It has been hard to go back to work after a couple of weeks off. Haven't been feeling well or sleeping well either so it is all just a bit of a "perfect storm" of blah at the moment. 

I made this a while ago now. I couldn't get any veal at the time but my wonderful butcher gave me some wonderfully tender beef although I can't remember exactly which cut he gave me now. ***oops*** I would definitely make this again. The left overs were very good too. I served with spicy roast sweet potato and steamed broccoli & cauliflower. 

Parmesan veal schnitzel with creamed potatoes

Ingredients: 

• 8 veal escallops
• 1 cup fresh breadcrumbs (I made them from wholemeal bread)
• 1 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup parsley 
• 2 tbsp finely chopped thyme 
• 1 teaspoon sea salt 
• freshly ground black pepper 
• 1/4 cup milk 
• 2 eggs 
• 1 cup plain (all-purpose) flour 
• 1/2 cup olive oil

Method:

• Place veal escallops on a board and flatten with a mallet. Place breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, parsley, thyme, salt and pepper in a bowl and mix well. Place milk and eggs in a bowl and beat lightly together. Place flour in a bowl.
• Dip veal first in the flour, then egg wash and finally in breadcrumb mixture. Continue until all veal is coated.
• Heat olive oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Place veal in frying pan in a single layer, being careful not to crowd, and cook for two minutes until golden brown on one side. Turn veal and cook for a further two minutes. Remove from pan and keep warm until all the veal escallops are cooked. Serve with creamed potatoes.

Creamed potatoes 

Ingredients

• 800g potatoes suitable for mashing
• 1 cup cream (I used natural yoghurt)
• 75g butter 
• 1 tsp sea salt

Method:  

• Place potatoes in boiling water and cook until tender. 
• Remove from heat, drain and mash potatoes in saucepan. 
• Beat yoghurt & butter into potatoes with a wooden spoon until smooth. Season with salt to taste. 

Bill's Lamb Cutlets with Skordalia and Parsley salad

Well, summer has arrived finally. Goodness it has been hot here the past few days. It is so draining and I haven't felt like doing much of anything lately. I guess however the heat really did have to turn up at some point. It is just such a shock to the system when it turns up all at once and doesn't gradually heat up. 

It was time to get back to Bills. I have a couple of other recipes that I have made from Bills Sydney Food to post but I just had to post this one from last night first. I will admit that a day of 35 C temperatures was probably not the time to be making this. I was so hot by the time I had finished cooking and served it up that I thought I was going to melt. The flavours of this meal completely made up for all the heat in  the cooking and the eating though. 

I had started this on Sunday afternoon but decided that it would be better to give the lamb rack longer in the marinade so left it overnight and cooked it last night. I think this really was worth the extra time in the marinade, even though I did have to find something else to make on Sunday night. Thankfully though, this was a really quick recipe to make so was easy to make after work. The lamb needed longer to cook than Bill's recipe suggested. I cooked for longer but it was still way too pink for my liking. I find it difficult to determine when a rack is done to my liking. After the standing time, I sliced the rack into cutlets for the pictures, while doing this I reheated my fry pan and then cooked the cutlets for about 2 minutes on each side so they were perfect after that. I really enjoyed the flavours, the harissa went perfectly with the lamb. 

I was most impressed with the skordalia though. It truly was the highlight of the meal. The gloriously creamy lemony garlicy mashed potatoes. Done in a processor while pouring in a bunch of olive oil. It was sticky and very much the consistency of homemade mayonnaise however it tasted incredible. I have to admit that I am not sure it is a good thing to have discovered this incredible side dish or not. Being packed full of olive oil it is certainly not healthy but oh my goodness it is so, so good. Then again isn't everything naughty good. This will be saved for special occasions only. The raw garlic in it was fabulous but I would love to try it with some roasted garlic or even better some of the cold-smoked Australian garlic that I have in the cupboard. 

Lamb Cutlets 

1 tbsp tomato paste 

1 tbsp harissa paste 

3 tbsp olive oil 

2 garlic cloves, crushed with salt

freshly ground black pepper

4 x 4 cutlet racks of lamb (I had a 1 x 5 cutlet rack and it was plenty for 2 meals) 

Combine first 5 ingredients in a bowl and then pour over lamb and rub in. Marinate in fridge for at least 1 hour, preferably overnight. 

Pre-heat oven to 220C. 

Heat an oven proof frying pan until very hot. 

Place lamb racks, fat-side-down, in the pan and cook for 2 minutes. 

Turn racks over and place in the oven for 10 minutes (very rare, I left for 13 minutes but think that 18 would have been more to my liking). 

Remove from oven and rest for a further 10 minutes. 

Slice racks into cutlets. 

Skordalia

3 potatoes, peeled and diced 

4 cloves garlic

pinch of salt 

1 tbsp lemon juice 

3/4 c. olive oil 

1/4 c. milk

Cook potatoes in boiling water until soft. Drain well. 

Place in food processor with garlic, lemon juice and salt and start processing. 

Drizzle oil in, in a slow stream, as for mayonnaise, until it is all incorporated. 

Add milk slowly until combined. 

Serve at room temperature. 

Parsley Salad 

2 white onions, finely sliced (I used red) 

1 tsp sea salt 

1/2 c. parsley, roughly chopped 

1/4 c. mint leaves, roughly chopped 

1 tsp sumac 

1 tbsp olive oil 

Place onion and salt in a bowl and toss to combine. Leave for 5 minutes and then rinse and dry. 

Mix onions with parsley, mint and sumac. Drizzle with oil just prior to serving. 

(This would have been better with a drizzle of vinegar or lemon juice in place of the oil or sub half the oil for lemon juice)

June 2005 - Airport Potatoes

I seem to be quickly getting through the recipes now, although not getting them posted quite as quickly. I had made the recipe from this issue on the weekend, the same day that I made the Florentine Pears from my last post. The cover recipe from issue #39, Bill Granger's Beef & Noodle Stir Fry with Chinese Broccoli looks just amazing. I think that just the colour of the background helps in it too. It didn't fit with my vegetarian month.

It is another month that is low on vegetarian recipes. I have noticed while looking through the issues that the first couple of years seemed to have a lot, then the next 3 or so years are a little bit bleak and the last 2 years there have been a decent range of recipes again. There is even the odd vegan recipe in there these days.

After looking through the recipes the only one that I wanted to make, besides Ben O'Donoghue's Cheesy Garlic Bread, was Jill Dupleix's Airport Potatoes. Jill describes the inspiration behind these as trays of potatoes in the airport at Rome. The recipe sounded really good and the taste was just sensational. I think that this could be a true rival of the traditional potato bake/gratin at an Aussie bbq. It has the added advantage of being a lot lower in fat too without all that cream. The only change that I will make when I make it next time is to added onion slices in layers with the potatoes. It was just superb. The potatoes were beautifully cooked and lovely and creamy. I used some baby Lady Cristel potatoes that were just perfect in the dish. A waxy potato is needed so that the do not break up while being cooked and mine held together perfectly. Jill suggests that this can be used for a side dish or an entire meal on its own. Now I will confess here that while this is a vegetarian/vegan friendly recipe I served it with a Herb & Mustard roast lamb and veg. I am not sure that I could just have a whole meal of the potatoes.

Airport Potatoes

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1kg potatoes, peeled(I didn't peel mine)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• sea salt and pepper
• 400g can chopped tomatoes
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves crushed
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano (I used Italian Mixed Herbs)
• 1tb salted capers rinsed well
• 2 tbsp roughly chopped parsley
• 200g punnet cherry tomatoes, halved
  

Method

• Heat the oven to 190 C.
  
• Slice the potatoes about 1/2 cm thick and roughly layer over the base of an oiled roasting dish seasoning with salt and pepper between the layers.
  
• Add 1 cup (250 ml) water to the dish and cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile combine the canned tomatoes, oil, garlic, oregano, capers and half the chopped parsley.
• Remove dish from the oven, remove the foil and pour over the tomato mixture. Top with cherry tomatoes and return to the oven, uncovered, for 30 - 40 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked through.
  
• Serve with remain parsley scattered on top.
  

April 2008 - Jamie Oliver's Potato & Rosemary Rolls

Issue #70 is just packed full of wonderful recipes and I went back and forth trying to decide what to make. The luscious chocolate fondant with mint chocolate ice cream on the cover looked so rich and lovely. The mint ice cream would have just been a wonderful touch. I am not a huge fan of chocolate fondants though. They always look so good but I find myself strangely disappointed with them. I think it normally has to do with the quality of the chocolate used to make them. I don't have any decent chocolate in the house at present so there is no point making them.

The Roast Capsicum & Tomato Soup with Spinach & Goat's Cheese Muffins looked really good and would make a lovely lunch time meal. However, red capsicums were ridiculously expensive when I went to buy some. I thought that I could just make the muffins, but discovered that the smell in the fridge that had been getting worse and worse was actually the goat's cheese...oh dear, what a waste, so no muffins either.

Phillip Johnson's Poached Quinces sounded really nice and there was also a Spiced Quince Trifle recipe that used the poached quinces. All of it sounded so great. The poaching liquid is nicely spiced with vanilla, cloves, star anise and cinnamon but it used a whole kilo of caster sugar! That is for 6 quinces but it is still a lot of sugar. Plus quinces still haven't hit the stores here yet. I would have thought that the would be in stock by now, hopefully they will show up soon.

Jill Dupleix's Kumara & Pancetta Tart was another option. This is a very easy looking tart and with the addition of a nice green salad would make a wonderful lunch. I am always looking for things that I can make for lunches as I come home from work for lunch and need to have things that I can grabs relatively quickly. I don't want to be cooking when I come home so things like this tart and salads are great especially in the summer. It is getting easier now as the days are starting to cool down so I can just heat up some left overs, and I have nice soups and stews in the fridge to keep me going. I ended up using my kumara in a meal on the weekend so didn't have any to make the tart with.

In the end I decided to make Jamie Oliver's Potato & Rosemary rolls as I had made Chorizo & Bean soup last night and I thought that the rolls would go really well with the left over soup for lunches for the rest of the week, and probably into the weekend. This was a really easy recipe to make. I only made half of it as a full recipe makes 12 rolls and that is too many for me to eat before they are stale and while I realise that I could freeze them, they just wouldn't be the same. The dough came together quickly and I loved the addition of the semolina into the dough. The flavoured oil that the potatoes were doused in was terrific, although I did find that the anchovy flavour didn't blend as much as I would have hoped. I would probably leave them out the next time and just add a touch more salt. I would highly recommend making these, they are easy and tasty.

Potato & Rosemary Rolls

Makes 6

Dough

Ingredients

• 100 g fine semolina
• 400 g strong flour (I needed probably another 50 - 100 g as it was quite sticky)
• 2 tsp salt
  
• 7 g (2 tsp) dry active yeast (or 1 sachet)
  
• 2 tsp caster sugar
• 325 ml lukewarm water
  

Method

• Pile semolina and flour onto a clean surface and sprinkle over salt.
  
• Make a well in the centre and pour in half the water and then add yeast and sugar to the water.
  
• Leave for a few minutes for the yeast to start to froth and then start mixing in the flour until you have a slurry then add the rest of the water. Work in the rest of the flour and knead for 5 minutes or until you have a smooth springy dough.
  
• Put it in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a clean tea towel and leave to prove in a warm place for 30 minutes or until doubled in size.
• Knock back and then flatten out with your hands. Sprinkle with potato mixture (below) and fold over, then knead to mix in the potato.
  
• Divide into six (or more if you want smaller rolls) and place on a greased tray. Place in a warm place for 20 minutes to rise.
  
• Pre-heat oven to 200 C while rolls are proving.
  
• Drizzle over a little olive oil and bake for 15 - 20 minutes until cooked through and golden.
  

Potato Mixture

• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 rosemary sprigs, leaves picked, roughly chopped (I didn't chop them)
  
• Zest of 1 small lemon
  
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 2 anchovy fillets
  
• 2 tbsp olive oil
  
• 350 g boiled potatoes, roughly broken up (still warm)
  

Method

• Crush garlic, rosemary and lemon zest with a little sea salt in a mortar & pestle.
  
• Pound in the anchovies, stir in oil, lemon juice and a few pinches of pepper.
  
• Scrape mixture into a bowl, add still warm potatoes and toss to combine.
  

April 2002 - Potatoes with Swiss Brown Mushrooms

On to another month of wonderful delicious magazines. I have to say that I am really enjoying doing this. There is just so much in each of them to read besides all the recipes that can be made. There have only been a couple that I have struggled to find something that I really wanted to make but even those ones I enjoyed reading the articles. It has also meant that I haven't needed to buy any other magazines for a while now, oh except for my other obsession Doctor Who magazine. :)

This issue contains one of the recipes that I have made the most over the years. It is Ainsley Harriott's One-pot Chunky Beef Bourguignonne. I have made the recipe for friends, for family and just for myself and it has been universally declared one of the best. Everyone that I have served it to has requested the recipe and gone on to make it themselves. It has a full bottle of red wine in it. I like to use a Cabernet Sauvignon and it must be a good one or the end product isn't as good. It is rich and glorious and very much a winter meal. It is not feeling much like winter at the moment so I am actually going to make something else from this issue. I am continuing on the idea of making something new and different. I have made the bourguignonne so many times that it wouldn't have been a challenge really.

One of the recipes that I considered making was Maggie Beer's Pickled Quinces. I love quinces. I remember one place that we lived when I was a kid had a couple of quince trees and Mum used to make quince jam and stewed quinces. They are a rather old fruit although they are starting to make a bit of a come back and they can be purchased in store for a very small window each year. When they are in store they are pretty expensive though. These pickles sound so good but unfortunately quinces are not in store presently so I can't make them yet.

There is a Stephanie Alexander feature in this issue. It was around the time of the release of her book Cooking & Travelling in South-West France. I have to admit that I haven't even looked at this book. I do like Stephanie Alexander's work but I do not have a lot of her books. I did recently buy her new book Kitchen Garden Companion and it is great some wonderful information on how to grow plants and then recipes to use the produce. The recipe that I decided to make from the feature was Potatoes with Swiss Brown Mushrooms. It is such an easy recipe but a very tasty one. It would make a nice side dish with a roast dinner. I served it as Stephanie suggested, with a nice salad.

Potatoes with Swiss Brown Mushrooms

Ingredients:

• 2 - 3 large, flat Swiss Brown mushrooms
• 3 potatoes, peeled
• 1 large clove garlic
• 3 tbsp parsley, chopped
• 2 tbsp duck fat
  
• Sea salt
  
• Ground black pepper

Method:

• Remove stems from mushrooms but keep. Slice caps in to 1 cm thick slices.
  
• Slice potatoes into 5 mm thick slices.
  
• Chop up the mushroom stems, garlic and parsley together.
  
• In a large frypan heat the duck fat over a medium heat.
• Add potato slices to the pan and cook for 3 minutes turning regularly. Remove.
  
• Add mushroom slices to the pan and cook 2 minutes turning regularly.
  
• Return potatoes to the pan with the stems, garlic and parsley mix and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover with a lid, leaving it ajar and turn the heat down as low as possible.
  
• Cook until potatoes a soft and nicely browned, approx 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  

February 2003 - Corn Salad and Spicy Potatoes with Tomato Salsa

Moving right along to issue #13. I really wanted to make the Duck Breasts with Berries but I could not get any duck breasts. I might as well have asked for hen's teeth as duck breasts at the couple of places that I enquired. I was told that they could special order me a whole duck but I didn't want a whole duck, I just wanted two breasts. Maybe one day I will be able to get them and come back to this recipe but I am not going to hold my breath.

I, instead, found my way to the "cooking with Bill Granger" section and discovered not one but two recipes that I wanted to try. He had a whole section devoted to a Mexican feast. I quite enjoy Mexican food and most of these recipes looked to be quick and easy so I chose two from the same page, Corn Salad and Spicy Potatoes with Tomato Salsa. I would have made it three with the Watermelon Vodka Juice but I didn't have any vodka in the house. I have made something similar in the past though. Bill used vodka, ice, sugar syrup and chopped watermelon blended up. I used to freeze chunks of watermelon to blend up with vodka and sugar syrup. That way you don't have ice watering things down.

The corn salad and the spicy potatoes with tomato salsa were very good. I particularly liked the corn salad. Everything was fresh and it was light and clean tasting. As part of Bill's feast he served it all with fish tacos. I had no interest in going there, so I pan fried a lightly seasoned pork leg steak and it worked very well with the two sides. The only thing I changed flavour wise was in the corn salad. It called for coriander leaves. I cannot stand coriander leaves. I have no problem with ground coriander seeds but the leaves just taste like soap to me. So I will always either substitute it or make something else.

Corn Salad

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 40 ml olive oil
• 3 cups of fresh kernels from 3 - 4 cobs of corn (depending on size)
  
• 20 ml lime juice
  
• 1/2 red onion, finely sliced
• 1/2 green capsicum (I used red), finely sliced
• handful of coriander leaves (ugh! I used flat leaf parsley)
  

Method:

• Husk the corn and remove as much of the silk as possible. With a sharp knife slice down each cob to remove the kernels, or used a corn stripping tool if you have one.
  
• Heat oil in a fry pan and add corn and fry stirring constantly until cooked. This will take about 3 - 4 minutes. I let it brown a touch just to add to the flavour.
  
• Transfer to a bowl and season with salt and pepper and add lime juice and leave to cool.
  
• Before serving add remaining ingredients and toss to combine.
  

Spicy Potatoes with Tomato Salsa

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 60 ml olive oil
• 40 ml lime juice
• 1 tsp tabasco, or to taste
• 2 tsp paprika (I used smoked paprika)
• 1 kg kipfler potatoes, scrubbed clean and halved (I just used baby potatoes quartered)

Tomato Salsa

• 1 punnet cherry tomatoes, halved
  
• 2 spring onions, finely sliced
• handful of flat-leaf parsley leaves
  
• 12 mint leaves
• 20 ml olive oil
  
• 20 ml lime juice
  

Method

• Preheat oven to 200 C.
  
• Combine all ingredients for the potatoes and toss thoroughly to combine.
  
• Turn out on a baking tray and bake in the oven until done, mine took about 30 minutes, Bill suggest an hour but mine were cut smaller.
  
• While potatoes are cooking combine all ingredients for the salsa and set aside for flavours to combine.
  
• Serve potatoes topped with the salsa and sprinkle with salt and ground black pepper.
  

January 2004 - Beef Fillet with Spicy Potatoes and Horseradish and Herb Cream

I am pleased with the progress that I am making so far. I have all my recipes for the rest of January and February picked out, although there are several different options in some magazines. Now I just have to make the food. I don't see that this is going to be a problem as I just love to cook and since I live on my own there is no one else there to do it if I don't. I also have been reasonably careful about choosing recipes that are easy to make for one person, or two portions so that I have some leftovers.

In the January 2004 magazine there were a number of options to choose from - Bill Granger's Chicken Noodle Salad but I have eaten a lot of chicken lately and I needed something different. Kingsley Sullivan's Baked Eggs recipe almost won out and I will make it one day but I wanted something for dinner not breakfast. I finally decided on another Valli Little recipe - Beef Fillet with Spicy Potatoes and Horseradish & Herb Cream. This had to be one of the best meals that I have made in a long time. It was full of a huge variety of flavours and they blended well to produce a very enjoyable meal. I did, unfortunately, over cook the beef fillet so it was no longer pink inside but the meat was not dry to tough thankfully. My favourite part though would have to be the horseradish & herb cream. The smooth, creaminess of the creme fraiche was enhanced by the horseradish and chives to produce a glorious sauce that had me going back for seconds when finishing up the potatoes. I look forward to using the rest of it soon.

Beef Fillet with Spicy Potatoes and Horseradish and Herb Cream

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 5 tbs (100ml) olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tbs finely chopped thyme leaves
• 650g beef fillet, trimmed of fat and sinew
• 2 red capsicum
• 750g potatoes (pontiac, desiree), peeled, cut into 3cm cubes
• 1 tbs sweet smoked paprika
• 150ml creme fraiche
• 2 tbs horseradish sauce
• 2 tbs chopped fresh chives
• 2 tbs balsamic vinegar
• 100g baby rocket (I used baby spinach)
  

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C.
   
2. Combine 1 tablespoon olive oil, the garlic and half the thyme, then rub into the beef. Set aside to marinate for 15 minutes.
   
3. Grill the capsicum until the skin is blackened and charred. Place in a plastic bag and leave until cool, then remove skin and seeds.
   
4. Slice capsicum into thin strips and set aside.
   
5. Heat a lightly oiled large frypan over high heat, add beef and cook on all sides to brown. Transfer to a baking tray and season with salt and pepper. Cook in oven for 10 minutes (it will still be quite rare, so cook a little longer if preferred). Cool.
   
6. Place potatoes in a bowl with 2 tablespoons olive oil, the paprika and remaining thyme. Spread potatoes on a large lined baking tray, and roast for 20-25 minutes or until cooked through and crisp.
   
7. Place creme fraiche, horseradish and chives in a bowl, and season with salt and pepper.
   
8. To serve, combine remaining olive oil and vinegar, season, toss with capsicum strips and rocket. Slice beef into 0.5cm slices. Place potatoes on plates, top with salad, then beef. Drizzle with horseradish cream.