Patatas Bravas recipe

Much apologies because this has been a long time coming! I'm going to load up the recipe as directed by Jamie, but will also let you know what we did differently.

So Patatas Bravas actually means 'fierce potatoes', and these can be found in just about any tapas bar around the world in any number of variations. The thing that makes ordinary potatoes fierce is the spicy tomato sauce they're cooked and served in!

This recipe serves 4 as tapas, we used it as a side but had plenty left over!

You'll need:

• 4 medium potatoes, peeled and halved
• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
• 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves picked
• 1tsp sweet paprika
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 tsp sea salt

For the bravas sauce

• olive oil
• 1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
• 3 fresh red chillies, deseeded and roughly chopped
• 1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped
• a few sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves picked
• 1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
• 1 tbs sherry vinegar
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

The sauce is where we improvised a little and used the Five Brothers Summer Tomato Basil Sauce. After trying every available tomato sauce a few years back this is the one we settled on as the best. It has great flavours, good spices, but most importantly it tastes like tomato. We used it instead of the can of chopped tomatoes, and were able to use less of the thyme and garlic. No skimping on the chillies though!

So, what you'll need to do first is parboil those potatoes over a medium heat for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until they're starting to get tender but still holding their shape. Drain in a colander and leave to steam dry until cool.

Meanwhile, put a pan on a low heat and start your bravas sauce. Add a lug of olive oil and, once hot, add the chopped onion and sliced garlic. Cook for 5 minutes or until the onion is soft but not coloured. Add the chillies, carrot and thyme leaves and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the tinned tomatoes, sherry vinegar and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for 15 minutes or until the carrots are soft and the sauce is nice and thick.

While your sauce simmers, put a large frying pan on a medium heat and add 0.5cm of olive oil. Cut your potatoes into large bite-sized chunks. Once the oil is hot, carefully add your potatoes to the pan. You'll want to cook them for around 8 minutes, turning occasionally until golden all over. You'll need to do this in batches so that you don't overcrowd the pan. Add your garlic and rosemary leaves for the last minute of cooking.

Transfer the potatoes, garlic and rosemary onto a plate lined with kitchen paper to drain, then scatter over the paprika, fennel seeds and a good pinch of salt and toss together until well coated.

Carefully tip your sauce into a blender or use a hand blender and whizz until lovely and smooth - to be honest because we'd used the different sauce we kept it a little chunky and didn't blend. Have a taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Serve in a jug next to your potatoes, or if you'd rather be more traditional - as we did - pour the sauce over the potatoes and toss then serve. Keep any leftover sauce for a pizza base or pasta.

Enjoy!
xoxo