03 May 2014

IHCC - Here's to the Taters, Nigel!



... 500 grams of tiny Yukon Golds ... a Nigel Slater recipe ... a tasty side dish for baked cod ...



This week's challenge from the I Heart Cooking Club was to find a  root vegetable recipe from Nigel Slater's vast collection of work. I have been enthralled by his potato recipes for the past few weeks, so I thought I'd extend the tater love and go for one more goodie!


So, this week, I went for a glorified hash brown recipe ... Fried Potatoes with Olives and Capers. These were perfect with a baked filet of cod and steamed broccoli. We loved them and think that if one wanted a meatless version of the meal, one could crack an egg over top of the finished dish and let the egg cook up. With toast, this dish would be a worthy breakfast.

The potatoes are scrubbed and cooked in simmering water until they are barely tender, drained and cooled. When you can handle them, you slice them into thick slabs and let them dry up a bit. Heat a fry pan over high heat and add a glob of butter and a tablespoon of olive oil. Lay the taters in one layer, lower the heat a bit, and leave them to crisp up on the outside, then turn them to crisp on the other side ... you have to play with the heat a bit to keep the taters crisping and NOT burning.

Mince up some fresh parsley, drain and rinse a couple tablespoons of capers, chop a few tablespoons of good green olives, and zest a teaspoon of lemon peel.  When the tatties are crisped, bring them from the pan with a slotted spoon, sprinkle on Kosher salt and plenty of black pepper and sprinkle on the parsley, capers, lemon zest, and olives. Toss gently and serve piping hot. So good.



Honestly, we were gobbling these taters and wondering is I put too much olives and capers on ... I was imagining some snotty 'top chef' judge bitching and moaning about the taters losing their identity with all those toppers. SB laughed and said if that were the case we could steal all the good stuff off their plates a la ... 'you're not eating that, right?' 'Right!' 'Okay, I'll just take those capers off your hands ... nom, nom, nom.'




... to think I developed a taste for capers in my 50's ... where the Hell have I been all these years? ...

Check out the IHCC's Rootie Patootie Share this week ... just click the link !



10 comments:

  1. The combination of olives and capers with potatoes sounds fabulous, especially as a side to baked cod (but I love your suggestion of serving them for breakfast with an egg!)

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  2. I just bought the first new potatoes from Italy last weekend. I like capers and olives ...

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  3. Your photos of this dish are making me drool. These taters look completely mouthwatering! I love how crispy they look and I know the salty briney olives and capers made for a very nice pop of flavor! Delicious!

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  4. Wow, this is such a delicious looking potato dish! We love potatoes and capers is one of my favourite ingredients! This would be a hit with my family! yums!

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  5. You win. I was in my 60s before I even TASTED a caper. Where have we been?? This does look like a great dish.

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  6. Oh yes! I just bought some Yukon gold potatoes! This looks delicious.

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  7. I love capers now, but couldn't stand them a few years ago! The idea of adding capers and olives to potatoes sounds so good to me.

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  8. Hooley dooley - this looks like my dream potato dish. I could happily just eat a meal of this, but I foresee this featuring very soon next to the Sunday roast chook :-)

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  9. You can never have too many capers in my book! ;-) They look fabulous on top of the potatoes--I know I would love this dish.

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  10. We love Yukon Golds -- gotta try this one.

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