Monday, June 9, 2008

Polly Testo

Last week I visited Kitchen Goddess and discovered that she is looking for folk to test recipes for a forthcoming book. Being anxious to participate George (KG) and I exchanged a couple of e-mails and hey presto I am an official recipe tester!

The only problem is that some of her recipes are going to be difficult for me to test due to an insufficient supply of ingredients; more often than not this is in terms of herbs, spices and anything vaguely exotic. Dunne's Stores has come on in leaps and bounds over the past twelve years or so; but still to my knowledge do not supply things like Ros Hanan????...

Anyway, I was just checking up on George's latest post and came across Sally at Pink Bites who has awarded Kitchen Goddess a lovely accolade of Blogging Mentor which no doubt she truly deserves. Her own blog is a delight, full of amusing anecdotes, reviews and some fabulous recipes so she really is someone to look up to, so well done Kitchen Goddess.

By strange coincidence Pink Bites has a photo of a heart shaped potato and tells us how 2008 has been declared as International Year of The Potato; by none other than The United Nations! Now as if this isn't daft enough; in my desperation for something different to cook I tested a dish comprising of boiled potatoes and little else...

"Papas Arrugardas (Canarian potatoes) are potatoes cooked in salt water (sea water is traditional) until the skins are dry and wrinkled, doesn’t sound so appetising does it? Do take my word for it though, they are stunning. Traditionally they are served with a mojo sauce however I decided against this, not wanting the piquancy of this sauce to interfere with the rest of the meals components."

Being Irish this was the obvious choice for me; after all we do like our spuds! It was a Friday evening; which is always a culinary disaster in this household due to the disruption brought upon us by LB's gymnastic training. Food has to be quick, nutritious, cheerful, filling and tasty.

By amazing coincidence I had already prepared a lovely free-range roast chicken for us to eat cold with a salad of green leaves, tomato and red onion. I also prepared a simple tomato sauce for us to eat with the chicken and at the last minute decided to jazz up my humble organic new potatoes by cooking them in the fashion recommended by Kitchen Goddess.

Admittedly I did get a couple of funny looks from DG as we prepared the food together; while enjoying a well earned glass of Spanish Rioja. Once he had read and inwardly digested the 'recipe' he was eager to try the results and so took over much of the cooking. As we both use salt as a condiment to compliment our food it was agreed that nothing else would be spiced or seasoned; save a very small dash of chili flakes to the tomato sauce...


Papas Arrugardas:

  • 1 kg Small potatoes
  • 4 Tablespoons Rock Salt
  1. Wash the potatoes thoroughly in fresh water but do not peel, add potatoes to saucepan of fresh water with 4 tablespoons of rock salt.
  2. Bring to the boil and simmer fast for approximately 20 minutes or until tender and cooked.
  3. Drain the potatoes, leaving small amount of water in the pan.
  4. Return the potatoes to the pan and boil off remaining liquid, keeping the potatoes moving until the skins are dry. Remove, any excess salt (not all the salt) from the skins with kitchen roll and serve in separate, warmed bowl."

The preparation was exceptionally easy, as outlined in Kitchen Goddesses recipe above. I was a little skeptical about things, but my fears were unfounded as the end result was lovely. I can't enlarge upon George's description of Papas Arrugardas, but what I can say is that for very little effort and the addition of a few tablespoons of salt potatoes need never be boring again.

Despite my Irishness I am not as fond of the humble spud as many. However, I can just imagine this dish going down particularly well with a nice leg of Spring lamb. When I've tried this combination I'll let you know about the results in a future post.

Meanwhile, many thanks must be extended to Kitchen Goddess for having the imagination to introduce her readers to what can only be described as a winner! Why not become a recipe reviewer and give them a try; write your own review linking back to Kitchen Goddess and hey presto...



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you Polly !! :)

I'm so glad you enjoyed them.

Polly Pierce said...

Hi George, I know it wasn't the most adventurous of dishes to test but nevertheless I did enjoy them!

I will try a few of the other recipes soon and write a post with a link for them too, honest!