Easy Roasted Potatoes and Sausages.

This meal is as easy as 1, 2, 3... though there are some secrets. 
To have the crunchy and attractive potatoes boil them for about 5 minutes, it will remove the excess of starch from the potato cubes and seal the potato surface. The potatoes will come out with a  crunchy crust and they will be really soft and tender inside. Don't use ready potato herbs mixes: the only herbs you need are rosemary and a bay leaf... Serve the dish with a very simple salad, don't overdo with the dressing as well, just some good olive oil.... Try it to believe it!!!


 

INGREDIENTS: 
Servings: 2

4 fresh sausages
4-6 potatoes
2-3 sprigs of rosemary
1-2 bay leaves
salt
EVO oil

1. Peel potatoes and cut them in equal cubes.
2. Wash them well to remove the starch.
3. In a saucepan cover potato cubes with cold water, bring water to boiling and boil potatoes for 5 minutes. Drain them well.

4. Pour some oil in a roasting pan  and put the potatoes inside, salt them and distribute rosemary over, add bay leaves cut in 2-3 parts.

5. Peel the sausages and cut them into 3 pieces. Put them over the potatoes.
6. Cook the dish in a preheated oven at 220C for 20 minute, then turn the sausages over and cook for about 10-15 minutes more.

7. Remove the sausages from the pan and turn the potatoes over, brown potatoes for 10 minutes more till they are nice and golden.

8. Serve the potato cubes mixed with the sausage pieces and some rockets salad aside.      

 ENJOY !!!

Pumpkin Velvet Soup

What about a creamy soup without cream?  And what about a nice orange colour to enliven you mood in rainy weather? This recipe can be enriched with many different extras if you don't mind having more calories in your food.  



INGREDIENTS: 
Servings: 4

800g pumpkin
2 carrots
1 celery
1 small onion
1 big potato
salt
bay leaf
chilli to taste
EVO oil
  

1. Slice onion and  cut into pieces carrots and celery.  
2. Pour some EVO oil in a saucepan and brown the veges a bit.

3. Peel pumpkin and potato and cut them into medium cubes. 
4. Add pumpkin, potato, bay leaf and some chilli to taste to the browned veges and pour about 750-800 ml of vegetable broth (you may use water and veg stock).

5. Cook at a medium heat for about 40 minutes, to see if it's ready, try to smash with a fork a carrot piece, as it's the most hard to cook, it should be soft.  
6. Keep aside for a bit. Then smash everything with a blender.
Note: you may enrich the dish with some cream at this stage.
7. Add some salt if needed.

 8. If you had some pumpkin seed with it, you may roast them on aluminum foil in the oven, peel them and add to the dish as a decoration.  
  I also use a rosemary sprig for decoration and to add some more flavour to the dish. Enjoy!!!

  

Note: You may also add some bread croutons to the dish...

   

Golden scalloped potatoes

Today I decided to go back to my teen-age.... When I was quite ignorant about healthy cuisine and when I had to cohabit with the climate that didn't give any chance to have so many fresh green veggies during winter season, so we used to eat veggies that could be stored: like potatoes, carrots, cabbage, beetroots and so on... Oh dear, that is not so bad to tell you the truth but my cooking was different....
So, today's dish will be kind of a tribute to my adolescence! 

INGREDIENTS: 
(dose to your liking, here is for 2 persons)

4 potatoes
200g mushrooms
mayonnaise
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
pepper
rosemary
salt
EVO oil

1. Slice mushrooms and cook till golden colour with garlic cloves (cut into halves), salt and EVO oil.

2. In the meanwhile, peel potatoes and slice them with the use of a mandolina. Slice the onion the same way.  


3. In a glass/ ceramic pot spread couple of spoons of mayonnaise and start arranging 1/4th of potato slices in a layer, spread some more mayonnaise over the potato layer, then distribute some mushrooms.
4. Salt a bit each layer of potatoes.
5. Arrange one more layer of potato, then mayo, then onion rings, pepper and chopped rosemary.
6. One more layer of potato slices - mayonnaise - mushrooms (you can add some more onions if you want to).

7. Last layer will be: potato - onions - rosemary and pepper - mayo (in order to have a nice and golden colour of the top and not to burn onion rings).
  

8. Cover with a aluminum foil and cook for about 30 minutes at 220C, then uncover and finish cooking to have a nice crisps on top.    This is what you'll have at the end. Sorry for the burnt sides of the pot, but you cannot avoid it....


Here I served the potatos with the sautèed chicory and Roasted Pork Loin (check for a post HERE) as a suggestion :-)

Perch, potatoes and Co....

They usually place potatoes on top the fish....  This one is an inverted version and you will see how wonderfully soft and juicy the potatoes will result!




INGREDIENTS: 

400g perch
3 medium potatoes
1/2 medium onion
cherry tomatoes
black olives
capers
oregano
black pepper
salt

 1. Peel potatoes and cut them into thin slices, you can do it with the mandoline slicer, it's much faster and easier. 
2. Slice onions rings, olives, cut tomatoes in halves, chop capers.


3. Pour some oil in a baking pan and dress the bottom first with the potato slices, then with the onion rings, add salt, pepper and some oregano.

 

4. Wash fish fillet and take off all the fishbones, dry it with a paper towel.
Put it on top the potatoes, add chopped capers, olives, salt and some more oregano.

  5. Salt cherry tomatoes and finally arrange them  nicely on top the fish.
6. Spray with some EVO oil.
7. Cook in te oven at 200 C for about half an hour, check if the potatoes are ready. The fish will be ready for sure.

  

 Enjoy!!!