Tuesday 25 July 2017

Boldly Going Where No Spud Has Gone Before

"What did you say this was?" asked OH.
"Patatas bravas," I tell him.
"Pardon?"
"Patatas bravas."
"What is it exactly?"
"Oh. Patatas bravas... con huevos."
"Are you speaking foreign at me. What is it in English?"
"Patatas bravas. With eggs."
"I give up."*

I can't help it... Patatas bravas is the dish! It is what it is. The English just won't do here as bold potatoes is the direct translation, which in itself is essentially meaningless. Just how are these potatoes being bold? They are hardly out fighting a war or making eye contact on the tube with Londoners. They are merely in a pan, being delicious, as all potatoes should be.

At the weekend I tried a new (to me) greengrocer in town as my train was early enough to catch the shops before they shut, so I picked up some gorgeous veggies. Two fat aubergines, Two big kohlrabi  and seven medium-sized sweet potatoes  for £3. For this dish, I used three of the potatoes and one aubergine... the aubergine to take the place of oily chorizo to make this dish more veg-packed and less fatty.

To begin, the sweet potatoes were peeled and chopped and roasted in a pan with some olive oil. Half hour medium oven should do it, as they don't seem to take the same time as regular spuds.

When they were nearing the end of their cooking, I sweated a small onion, two garlic cloves, the chopped aubergine, a chopped salad tomato and a generous shake of Aldi patatas spice (it was only 49p in the special aisle, but you could just use smoked paprika, thyme, marjoram and parsley). Adding the cooked potatoes to the pan, I then stirred in half a carton of passata.

As the sauce began to bubble, I made four wells and cracked in some eggs.

 You need to pop a lid on to get the whites to set. A bit of extra parsley on the eggs there!

 Finally I served it up with some olive bread (YS from Asda 10p) - all the better for dunking in that egg yolk.

A hearty, low fat, filling veggie meal. Sweet potatoes are lower GI than regular potatoes too.

Very much needed as the weekend was a bit too carb heavy, slightly denting my efforts to shrink. Back on it!

*disclaimer... not entirely how the conversation went! If anything it was the clarity of my Spanish at fault.

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