No, I didn’t eat the photos. I haven’t even eaten these potatoes all that recently, which is a tragedy, because they are possibly my favourite food in the world. And, actually, I probably do have photos of these potatoes somewhere, which I will add at a later date. But this post is a bit ad-hoc because I have become involved in Surprise Last-Minute Opera this week, and so my blog has been rather neglected (and probably will be for a few more days). I wanted to write something, at leastt so that you didn’t think I had run away to join the… opera… hmm…
(Actually, the opera thing is fairly exciting – I got this email on Monday that some singers from Opera Australia were putting on a small production of Tosca this weekend and needed a few more people for the chorus, so I duly put my hand up, had rehearsal on Tuesday and Wednesday, and will be singing tonight and tomorrow night – just two choruses, but hey, it’s a chance to see Tosca and sing some Puccini, neither of which are things I’ve done before. And it’s going to be a good and rather intimate performance, too – 5 soloists, ten or so people in the chorus, and all performed in a smallish church, so that the audience will really feel in the middle of things rather than at a distance.)
Anyway, recipe! Everyone always asks me for my roast potato recipe, and it’s not really a recipe, but since I can make it in my sleep – which, coincidentally, is about how I feel right now – here goes! These potatoes should be golden and crispy on the outside and nicely soft inside, with a happy garlicky rosemaryish personality. They go with everything. Personally, I like them with a tuna salad, because then I can pretend I am being healthy. Or alternatively, they are great as part of a whole collection of roasted vegetables which you might serve with meat or stuffed mushrooms, but could just as easily serve as their own meal, with a big bowl of pesto or salsa verde or garlicky white bean dip or aioli on the side. Yum. Why aren’t I having this for dinner tonight?
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(Oh dear. I really have no idea how many potatoes I usually use!)
750 g potatoes. Maybe. Really, use however many you would normally use for a roast potato side dish. Do not use new potatoes – pick all-purpose or floury ones
2 red onions, sliced in the wrong direction so that they are little half moon shapes
3 tablespoons of olive oil. I am totally making this quantity up.
a teaspoon or two of dried rosemary, or three sprigs of fresh rosemary
2 teaspoons or so of garlic powder. Yes, I know it’s disgusting, appalling stuff, but it is the best way to get the garlic flavour through the potatoes.
salt, black pepper
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This was an entirely serendipitous recipe, born out of the fact that my dinner really needed a salad to go with it, and what I had in the house was carrots. And spices. And orange juice. It’s sort of based on a recipe by Allegra McEvedy, but the flavour profile has moved from the Middle East to India or thereabouts. Basically, I didn’t have the pumpkin seeds and cumin that she recommended, but I did, as it turns out, have sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, and a bottle of panch poron, a whole spice mix composed of fenugreek, nigella, cumin, black mustard seed and fennel seed.
