Wednesday 13 April 2011

Tapas for two

On Saturday Mr. Sprinkle and I took a trip to the Organic Farmers' Market in Stoke Newington.  A great little market where you can find an excellent selection of meat, fish, cheese, bread, vegetables, greens and pick up a coffee or small meal.  We went at a dangerous time i.e. right before lunchtime and went crazy picking up sausages, wild garlic, potatoes, cheese, lettuce and delicious sandwiches from "The Mushroom Table".  These consist of mushrooms fried in a bit of olive oil with herbs served on tasty bread with a wonderfully generous amount of freshly grated parmesan on top.  Simple is sometimes the best way forward.  Bearing that in mind and inspired by the warm, sunny weather we decided to turn our kitchen into a mini-Madrid tapas place for the evening. 

On the menu: patatas bravas inspired by a Jamie Oliver recipe, fried chorizo, cheese from the market, bread, olives, a salad, and a bottle of wine (Chianti, I must admit).  I used cooking chorizo from Brindisa which I picked up in my local food mecca, The De Beauvoir Deli. The bread and olives were also from the deli.



The salad was made up of chopped lettuce, sliced tomatoes, diced feta cheese, sunflower and pumpkin seeds. I dressed the salad with olive oil, vinaigrette, salt and pepper. 



Patatas bravas for 4 amigos: 
500g of potatoes
1-2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
1 can of tomatoes
sherry vinegar
smoked paprika
fennel seeds
1 peeled diced onion
1 peeled and finely chopped carrot
2 peeled and finely chopped cloves of garlic

1. Boil the potatoes for 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile make the sauce by frying the garlic and onion in a bit of olive oil for a few minutes then add the carrot. Add the canned tomatoes and a tablespoonful of sherry vinegar after another few minutes. Stir and bring the sauce to a boil then lower the heat and let it simmer.
3. Cut the potatoes into bite-sized pieces.  Pour olive oil into a pan and fry the potatoes until light brown.  You will probably need to fry them in batches. Place the potatoes in a dish with a sheet of kitchen towel as you finish frying them.  Fry the rosemary with your last batch of potatoes. Sprinkle the potatoes with the rosemary, smoked paprika and fennel seeds.
4. Serve the patatas with the sauce. 






It was a perfect little meal to wrap up a gorgeous day - I think I will be making more tapas this summer! 

The Organic Farmers' Market in Stoke Newington is on every Saturday from 10am to 2.30pm at William Patten School on Stoke Newington Church Street, N16 0NX.

The De Beauvoir Deli is on 98 Southgate Road, N1 3JD

Proper posts on both are coming up.

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