All posts tagged: potato

Smokey hummus and roast veggie trumpets (and a giveaway)

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This post was made possible thanks to the folks at Lisa’s and Farrah’s , who know a thing or two about quick and easy meals. Scroll to the bottom of this post to enter the giveaway. I love hummus. My absolute favourite way to consume chickpeas. Who’s with me? I love hummus slathered, spread, dipped or dolloped. I have absolutely eaten hummus with a spoon. Lisa’s is a beloved name in dips and their latest creation is the new Lisa’s Smokey Hummus. Delicately pair Lisa’s Smokey Hummus with the savoury and sweet flavours of roasted vegetables, honey and miso. I’m so pleased with how these turned out. I tested this recipe out on two hungry men who devoured them with glee. Super easy to assemble, hearty and full of flavour, this recipe is sure to be put on rotation at your house. I’ve used Farrah’s wraps which are generously portioned. My recipe uses one wrap, cut in half and cone folded to form two cute trumpets. You will need a microwave for this recipe meaning …

Fish at work

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It doesn’t matter if your co-workers love fish, zapping a fish lunch in the staff microwave is just bad manners. I love fish, especially smoked fish but I’ve always been careful not to have bring fish to work. Smoked fish pie and fish curries – while delicious – are dishes I enjoy at restaurants or at home. This smoked fish recipe is work-place appropriate. Because it is served cold, no one else needs to know you’re enjoying some yummy smoked fish. Kahawai is a firm white fish commonly found in New Zealand and most of the time is served hot smoked. Reasonably priced at around $25NZ per kilo for boneless sides, a 250gram (half pound) fillet will set you back less than $7NZ. If you can’t get a hold of smoked kahawai, feel free to use any smoked fish fillet – hot smoked trout would be a great substitute. Spring is just around the corner here and in my garden, the rosemary bush and onion weed is flowering so I’ve used these as garnish along with …

The Koala’s Taters

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The aioli I made today paired wonderfully with hot smoked salmon, roast broccoli spears and The Koala’s special potatoes. Our kitchen is mostly my domain, but The Koala has a few recipes up his sleeve, one of them being these fried potatoes. These potatoes are easy to make and uses very few ingredients. We usually have these with steak or fish and the crunchy outer gives way to a fluffy interior. Koala’s Taters (The Koala’s special recipe) Serves 2 Ingredients 3 medium potatoes 1 cup cooking oil Salt Preparation In a medium saucepan, bring 1 litre of water to the boil. Peel the potatoes, leaving whole. Once water is boiled, add potatoes and cook for 15 minutes. Drain potatoes and once cool enough to handle, cut into 1.5 to 2cm (about 3/4″) thick slices. Heat 1 cup cooking oil in a deep skillet or a saute pan. Once oil is hot, using tongs carefully add potato slices to the oil in a single layer. Fry for 10-15 minutes until golden, turning once. Remove potato slices …

Monday Bunday: Molang

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Happy National Potato Day! 19 August is National Potato Day and while “national” refers to USA, the internet makes the world such a small place. Potatoes are tasty, versatile and good for you. Not a week goes by that I don’t eat a potato and today’s Monday Bunday features a potato shaped rabbit who goes by the name Molang. Think of it as Korea’s answer to Sanrio’s Hello Kitty, My Melody and Little Twin Stars…only better. Molang is a small and lovable animal. He’s very curious and a big dreamer. Molang loves to have fun and to give kisses. But what he loves most is to eat strawberries. As soon as Molang catches a whiff of this fruit, its cheeks turn a little pinker and its eyes shine a little brighter. Molang loves strawberries but it also likes to eat everything else. He particularly loves traveling everywhere/around the world to discover new flavours and tastes. Then, Molang likes to share all his lucky finds with his friends. Hmmmm…I love strawberries, eating and travel. Oh my gawd. I …

Smoked Salmon and Urenika

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If you like colourful, accessible food, this one is for you. This recipes shows off the lovely purple Urenika potato but you can substitute any good quality potato and the flavours will be the similar. Coloured potatoes contrast beautifully with smoked salmon and lemon so if you can, opt for colour potatoes. The deep purple Urenika or Maori potato is precious here in New Zealand. They are pretty boring looking the outside, and their secret is within. The small knobbly spuds can be found at most farmers markets but are absent from supermarket chains and as there is no mass farming of these potatoes. It’s as shame as they are quite beautiful to look at and taste earthy. I guess their rarity makes them more special. I’ve heard these potatoes can be quite easy to grow. In any case, at the end of summer, I poked a few sprouting potatoes into a planter box. The tomatoes were finished so I figured I had nothing to lose. A plant that looked liked nightshade sprouted up and …

Crunchy Roast Potatoes

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I had these with pan-fried flounder, but these potatoes are great with just about anything. Very easy. I  give these potatoes a little once over with the peeler if they are developing eyes. Keep your eyes peeled! But you can fully peel them if you prefer. Crunchy Roast Potatoes Ingredients 4 medium potatoes 2 tablespoons cooking oil (I used avocado oil, but use whatever is available) 3 cloves garlic, chopped 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika 3 tablespoons breadcrumbs Salt and pepper  Preparation Pre-heat oven to 200°C. Cut potatoes into thick 2 cm slices and then cut again so you get small cubes. Transfer potatoes to a shallow roasting dish. Add oil, garlic, paprika and breadcrumbs. Salt and pepper generously. Mix well. Bake for 30-40 minutes until golden.

Forage something and cook with it

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There is loads of onion weed in the garden again and a recent post on Alessandra Zecchini’s blog reminded me of the onion weed dumplings I made last year. I’m loving daylight savings time and it’s nice to be able to cook and photograph in natural light after work. I made these potato cakes for a pre-dinner snack but I think it will be easy to find another reason to eat these. I used the bottom 10cm of the plant which is the white/green base. It’s crisp rather than stringy. Thoroughly wash the onion weed and don’t use any that may have been sprayed with yucky chemicals. Otherwise, happy foraging! Onion Weed Potato Cakes Makes 8 Ingredients 2 large potatoes 1 egg, beaten 1/2 cup chopped onion weed 3/4 cup grated cheese salt (garlic salt optional)  black pepper Oil 8 onion weed flowers for garnish  Preparation Preheat oven to 180°C. Peel the potatoes and remove the skin. Continue peeling the potatoes until it gets too hard to grip. Reserve for another use – about a …

Wedges Are Friends With Homemade Burgers

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  As much as I like fast food, homemade burgers with real beef patties you have formed yourselves are world apart. Every time we make burgers (and it’s becoming quite a regular occurrence) we manage to find this and that in our fridge until the burger becomes a towering monstrosity. So this time, even though I thought we had virtually nothing, there was still cheese to be melted, an onion to be sliced and fresh rocket from the garden. Not a towering world wonder, but still mighty good. With plenty of practice, I’ve perfected oven baked wedges. These are a perfect friend for your homemade burgers. Oven Baked Spicy Wedges Ingredients 3 large potatoes 1 tablespoon oil 1 tablespoon flour 1 tablespoon chili seasoning* (Mild, try 2 tablespoons for medium) Salt Pepper Preparation  Pre-heat oven to 200°C / 390°F.  Cut potatoes in half lengthwise and then into quarters and then eighths. All lengthways. You know, like wedges.  Place in a clean, airtight plastic bag.  Add all the other ingredients, twist the top tight and give …

We don’t have feijoas coming out our ears.

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Really we don’t. Our tree is giving us a respectable 3 to 6 fruit a day. Totally manageable. This week, I learned that feijoas (pronounced fee-jo-ahs) thrive in our sub tropical climate and also don’t have any natural pests here. Every day, I check the lawn under and gather up any fallen fruit. Although Tofu doesn’t seem to be interested in feijoa this autumn, he could just be trying to trick me into nonchalance. I’ve caught him hoeing into them in other years so I’m not so easily fooled. I’m still squirreling away all the macadamia nuts that are dropping onto our lawn. I haven’t bought a macadamia nut cracker yet so I’m just collecting and collecting. The only way I can get them open right now is using a brick and smashing the nuts on concrete. But it’s not pretty and kind of caveman like to be honest. I hope my neighbours don’t see me smashing bricks and nuts in the backyard…and eating the results. The nuts have a great flavour, but aren’t crunchy. I’ve already …

Herb Chicken with Garlic Potatoes, Beetroot Chutney and salad.

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I can’t be bothered thinking up a post heading today. It is what it is. Herb Chicken with Garlic Potatoes, Beetroot Chutney and salad. Herb Chicken Serves two Ingredients 2 chicken breasts, sliced into 1 inch strips 2 tablespoons of dried herbs – I used oregano 1 tablespoon oil 1 tablespoon soy sauce Generous twist of sea salt Generous crack of pepper 1 tablespoon flour 1 clove garlic, finely chopped Preparation Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Chill for 30 minutes. Add a little oil to a hot pan, pan fry chicken until golden. Garlic potatoes Serves two Ingredients 3 medium potatoes, peeled and into cubed Salt Pepper 3 cloves garlic, chopped roughly half an onion, diced Oil for shallow frying A knob of butter for flavour Preparation Boil potatoes for about 15 minutes. Drain and set aside. Add a generous amount of oil to a hot pan. Add onion and garlic and cook until softened. Add butter and potatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until golden brown. Serve with a salad.

Moki Moki Moki!

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So you might already know that my favourite fish is salmon. I adore white fish too, but white fish is white fish to me. Whether it’s $40 snapper, or $25 Tarakihi, or $10 Moki. I don’t have a preference, I’ll eat them all. Maybe this horrifies you. Maybe it doesn’t. What it does mean though, is that I will never pay $40 for snapper when a $10 Moki will do the job swimmingly. Herb Encrusted Moki burgers Serves 2 hungry punters for a big lunch or normal dinner Ingredients 1 fillet firm white fish. About 10cm x 20cm size. About 400-500 grams (up to 1 pound) Half a cup breadcrumbs 2 tablespoons dried herbs 1/2 teaspoon salt Generous grind of black pepper Knob of butter, melted A handful of salad greens 2 slices of tomato Fresh buns Mayonnaise Preparation On a plate, mix breadcrumbs, herbs, salt and pepper. Cut the fillet into 2 square pieces. Brush melted butter onto fish and push onto breadcrumb mixture so that all sides are thickly coated. Heat a non-stick …

$5 for 5kg

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  I find it hard to pass up 5kg of potatoes for $5. 10kg for $10 is a common occurrence but who can eat 10kg of potatoes before they go funky? I don’t have an army to feed, so 5kg is more reasonable. Loose pototoes go for $2-3 per kilo. So even if you give away half of your 5kg bag, you are still better off. Now, what to do with all these pototoes? We’ve got lemons, sage and rosemary in the garden at the moment, so lemon, sage and rosemary wedges was calling out to be made. Lemon, Sage and Rosemary Wedges A spring time lunch for two. Ingredients 4 medium potatoes 1 tablespoon flour Zest of 1 lemon 1 tablespoon fresh chopped sage and rosemary 2 tablespoons oil Salt Pepper Sour Cream Cheese Preparation Preheat oven to 200°C. Cut potatoes into half and then into wedges. Place in a plastic bag and add flour, lemon zest, oil, salt and pepper. Shake well. Arrange potatoes onto a lightly oiled oven proof dish. Stand every piece …

Almost Fish and Chips

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Lemon pepper fish with potatoes dauphinoise, salad with lemon ginger dressing. Lemon pepper fish came out of a box. Potatoes Dauphinoise Ingredients 3 potatoes 3 cloves of garlic 1 teaspoon dried herbs (optional) Half a cup of cream Plenty of salt and pepper 1 tablespoon oil Preparation Preheat oven to 175°C. Peel potatoes and slice into 2mm thick rounds. Peel and finely chop garlic. Coat the bottom of an oven proof dish with oil. Arrange 1 layer of sliced potato on the bottom of the dish. Drizzle with a cream and season with salt, pepper and a pinch of dried herbs. Repeat last 2 steps finishing with a layer of potato. Bake at 180°C for 45 minutes. Divide into desired portions and serve. Lemon Ginger Dressing Ingredients Juice of 1 lemon 1/4 cup oil 1 teaspoon mustard powder 1 teaspoon minced ginger Pinch of Salt Ground Pepper 1 teaspoon sugar Preparation Whisk all ingredients together. Can be refrigerated, just give the dressing a whisk/shake before serving.

Bangers and Mash

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With lamb sausages, champs, peas and red cabbage. Champs Ingredients 3 potatoes, peeled and chopped Splash of milk 1 stalk of spring onion, sliced finely Knob of butter Salt Pepper 1 egg Preparation Boil potatoes for about 20 minutes until tender. Drain potatoes. Heat milk, butter and spring onions gently in a small pot until the butter has melted. Mash the potatoes with a pinch of salt. With a spoon, quickly stir in the egg and then the warmed milk mixture. Serve immediately.

Cottage Pie Dreams & Shepherd’s Pie Potatoes

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I had a dream last night about cottage pie where the top was thinly sliced potato instead of the usual mash. So I had to make it for dinner. I guess some people have dreams and go on and become prophets. I have dreams and go on to eat dinner. I figured 3 layers of potato and 3 layers of cheese would be enough to do my dream justice. Layer of meat and vegies. Layer of potato, layer of mild cheese, layer of potato, layer of havarti, layer potato, layer of mature cheddar. Baked to golden. Nom. Sunday night dinner: Shepherd’s Pie Baked Potatoes Do you know the difference between a Shepherd’s Pie and Cottage Pie? Shepherd’s has lamb, Cottage has beef. These baked potatoes are great portable food. Maybe for a party or a picnic and I can testify that these are good eaten cold too. I used sausages, but you could use mince also. Ingredients 4 medium potatoes 2 lamb sausages or about 150grams mince 2 mushrooms, sliced 2 tablespoons diced onion 2 …

Purple fleshed kumara

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When I saw these at my online organics shop, I had to buy them. But once they were boiled and mashed, they turned out much darker than I had hoped for. Purple fleshed kumara mash with meatloaf dinner. I vowed to try it again – next time with some white potato in the mix so that the purple colour could pop.