Globecooking recipe : Patatas bravas (Spain) #readcookeat

In The Time of Our Lives by Jane Costello (you can read my review here), a trio of friends head off for the holiday of a lifetime to Barcelona. There weren't a great deal of references to food, but I did manage to jot down a few Spanish dishes that got a mention - tapas (p71), patatas bravas (p247), gambas pil pil (p345) and paella (p358). One of the characters is from Florence so Italian cuisine also crops up - "Roberto cooked his signature dish that night, risotto ai carciofi" (p245).

As a keen globe-cooker, I've already tried and blogged about some of these dishes, so you might like to check out my take on :

Cuttlefish Ink Paella

Green Pepper & Caballitas Tapas

I investigated Gambas Pil Pil - I found a recipe here that explains that it's sizzling prawns in garlic, chilli and olive oil - and risotto ai carciofi (artichoke risotto - see Jamie Oliver's version here). For the #readcookeat challenge, I decided to recreate Patatas Bravas though, as it's such a classic Spanish tapas dish.

Patatas Bravas

ingredients :

a drizzle of olive oil

5 cooked potatoes 

1 large onion

2 cloves of garlic

half a Knorr Mexican Flavour Pot (or chilli powder to taste)

1tsp paprika

 1 tin chopped tomatoes

This is a great dish for using up leftover cooked potatoes. I used up some baked potatoes (I always throw some potatoes in the bottom of the oven when I cook the Sunday roast so they can be reheated later in the week) but boiled potatoes would work too or even frozen wedges

Chop the onion and garlic and gently fry in olive oil. 

Add the chopped cooked potatoes and cook on a fairly high heat so that they get slightly crispy and coloured.

As I had some Mexican Knorr Flavour Pots, I used one of these but you could use dried spices instead. They're pretty fiery so go easy - I only used about a third of one.

Add the tin of tomatoes and the Knorr Flavour Pot.

Heat through, stirringly frequently, and season (with salt and chilli/paprika) to taste. Add a little water to the sauce if necessary.

I served this with some garlic lime salmon but it would go with most meats or fish and would also be lovely with a runny fried egg on top.

Linking up with the Spain round-up on Bloggers Around The World