Potato, Broccoli and Spring Onion Mash

We don't post very often recipes for side dishes exclusively, but we had the opportunity recently to cook a very nice and so brilliantly simple mashed potatoes dish that we had to give it the spotlight. We started this with the classical recipe for champ in mind, wich is basically mashed potatoes with butter, milk and spring onions.

With that in mind, we mixed things up a little by using cream instead of butter and we added another ingredient to the recipe, some crisp broccoli.

For 1 kilo of spuds, we used
250 grams of cream (24% fat-feel that cholesterol),
about 4 spring onions and
250 grams of broccoli. 

Regarding the last ingredient,  we only cut the flowers and used only those, finely chopped. The ideea is that the  broccoli doesn't need cooking as it will be mixed with the hot potatoes, and get done by the residual heat. In all honesty, we have to admit that we just ate the rest, all that crunchy goodness.

Boil your spuds, mix them with the cream, salt and pepper,  then mix in the broccoli and the finely chopped onions, only the green part. The result is surprisingly interesting for such a simple recipe, with a nice smoothness from the cream and some subtle  crunch from the greens.

We served it on the weekend with  some slow-roasted lemon and garlic chicken, so stay tuned for that recipe also.

Enjoy,

Warm Potato Salad/ Salata calda de cartofi

One of the most cooked meals back in my parent’s home was something called “Oriental Salad”, which is basically potato, pickles and boiled egg salad. Not much of culinary wonder piece, but, trust me, it would sure hit the spot. 

Oh, and by the way, that is one of the 3 or 4 dishes that my younger sister knows how to cook. So, 4^th of July and everything, I wanted to cook a nice, warm, summer, potato salad that was both light and flavoursome. 

The ingredients are as it is:

500 grams of boiled new (red) potatoes- rinse them under cold water then pat them dry with a towel. Do not peel them, the red skin will bring a gorgeous touch to the dish;

150 grams of bacon, cut into thin strips

2 chillies, one green and one red

2 hard boiled eggs, cut into sections

2 oranges

2 tbs of chopped fennel leaves

2 tbs of chopped parsley

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Start of by cutting the potatoes into cubes the boil them just until they are cooked enough, but be careful not to overcook them or they will crumble, keep trying them out. Meanwhile, fry your bacon strips, leave them to cool off for a minute so you can handle them, then use a knife to dice the meat into small pieces. Use one orange for its juice and the other one cut into small cubes. Mix all the ingredients together, nice and easy, you want to keep everything intact.

Despite the fact that this recipe had bacon and egg, the end result is a very light and fragrant  dish, with a very nice kick from the orange and the fennel and the awesomeness of bacon (maybe I should trademark that….). You can pair this dish with a Bordeaux style rose (made from a cabernet or merlot grape) or with a light, young red. We had a 2009 Portuguese red made in the same region as the Port wine (Douro) that really went well with the salad.  

By the way, I also tried to add some yogurt and Kalamata olives to the dish, it works just great, but I wanted the potatoes to not be covered in the pictures, I just loved that red skin. 

In casa parintilor mei una dintre cele mai  des pregatite feluri de mancare era salata orientala, practic cartofi fierti, muraturi si oua fierte. Nu e chiar cea mai tare inovatie culinara, dar cateodata era exact ce iti lipsea. Ah, si sa nu uit, asta este si una dintre cele 3-4 feluri de mancare pe care chiar si sora mea stie sa le faca. Deci, cu 4 iulie in gand, am vrut sa pregatesc o salata calda, de vara, care sa fie si usoara dar si plina de arome.  Am folosit: 500g of cartofi rosii noi fierti pe care am pastrat coaja,150g bacon, fasii subtiri, 2 ardei iuti, unul rosu, unul negru, 2 oua fierte tari, 2 portocale, 2 lgite frunze de fenicul, 2 lgite patrunjel tocat, ulei de masline, sare si piper. Cartofii se taie in cuburi destul de mari si se fierb mai tari. In timp ce se fierbi cartofii, se prajeste putin baconul si se lasa la racit, o portocala se stoarce si se pastreaza sucul, iar cealalta se taie cuburi. Amestecati ingredientele cu atentie pe farfurie, adaugati si ierburile. Chiar daca contine cartofi si bacon, preparatul este foarte usor si proaspat, feniculul si portocala merge foarte bine cu minunatia de bacon. Puteti servi salata cu un roze sau cu un rosu tanar si light. Noi am ales un rosu portughez 2009 cu un nume interesant (vezi poza) , care se face in aceeasi regiune ca si Porto.   Am incercat sa adaugam si putin iaurt si masline kalamata, se potriveste bine, dar nu am vrut sa acopar cartofii in poza, imi place la nebunie  coaja lor rosie.
 

Enjoy,

Mr. G.