Urban foodie

Posts Tagged ‘sage’

An Easy Potato Supper

Monday, January 12th, 2009 by urban foodie

An Easy Potato SupperThis is a gorgeously easy, frugal and tasty supper that is perfect for January when energy levels and bank accounts are at their lowest ebb. It’s from that master of unpretentious real food, Nigel Slater, from his fabulous book Appetite.

Just potato, bacon and stock with a generous hand of sage to bring a delightful herby savour. It takes just a few minutes to put together and uses only half a packet of bacon/pancetta, so you can keep the rest for another supper later in the week - like Baked Eggs with Kale or Bacon Cabbage and Potato.

Ingredients
From Appetite, by Nigel Slater (as ever I have tweaked to my taste, but that’s the beauty of the Slater recipes they are made for adapting to the meal you cook them for).

Waxy potatoes - 14 smallish ones
Olive Oil
Butter
Bacon or pancetta
Good chicken stock (fresh or a quality bouillon - I used the stock from my Christmas cider and mustard baked ham)
4 sage leaves
1 leek - optional

Feeds 2/3

1 Heat the oven to 180 C, slice the potatoes into £1 coin thick slices, slice the bacon and leeks too
2 Fry the potatoes until just golden
3 Butter a shallow baking dish or roasting tin and layer the potatoes, bacon, sage and leek (if using) into the dish, add just enough stock to reach to top layer, dot with butter and pop in the hot oven
4 Forget about it and go and have a nice sit down, after about an hour it is ready, serve with bread for mopping up the abundant sauces

Fresh Herbs

Sunday, July 27th, 2008 by urban foodie

Fresh HerbsHello, I’m back!

Apologies for a couple of weeks of silence but I have been holidaying in South West France, the Lot-et-Garonne region, wine and musketeer country. I thought I’d have an internet connection to keep in touch when I was out there but it proved to be intermittent at best and the pull of the sunshine, the view (vines and sunflowers on undulating hills) and a good book were just too strong to keep me slaving away at it.

I’ve a couple of other things to post about, not least a great trip to the strange and marvelous Albi cathedral (and gorgeous restaurant we found just steps away, of course!), but first I wanted to share with you my revelation about fresh herbs.

At home I usually have a packet of parsley, thyme or basil in the fridge - bought ‘fresh’ in a bunch they clearly pack a stronger punch than their dried cousins but then, at the house where we were staying (my Dad’s) there was rosemary, sage, thyme and bay, I picked them one evening to make a little bouquet garni to go in the lentil and goat’s cheese stew bubbling on the stove and the explosion of flavour was amazing.

I had not fully appreciated that herbs picked off the plant were so MUCH richer, deeper and more fragrant. As a foodie I am now totally sold on growing my own, I know that home grown veg is infinitely better, but without the space (my balcony is 1.5mx1m) I can’t see that happening - although a tomato plant or two are looking distinctly possible - herbs, however, are the next best thing and will make a real difference to your meal.

Plans to turn the balcony into a mini herb garden are afoot!


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