Recipe: Patatas Bravas

A great authentic Spanish tapas dish

This is great when teamed with other tapas dishes to create a tasty Spanish-themed spread. The sauce alone is yummy and can also be used over things like pork, calamari or even Spanish omlettes. If I’m just making this for myself I like to make it with shredded pork or a simple chicken breast.

 

Ingredients:

1.5kg potatoes (I tend to use white potatoes)

6 ripe tomatoes

3 dried chillies

1 onion

1 clove of garlic

paprika

plain flour

white wine vinegar

salt and pepper

water

oil (I prefer olive oil but it works with any)

Serves: 5-6 tapas portions

How to make:

Peel and cut your potatoes into bite size chunks (they are best small but really any size will do, just adjust your cooking times). Put these in a pan of water and leave to boil for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, peel and finely chop the onions, garlic and dried chillies and fry in a pan with oil. Do this for around 10 minutes, until the onions turn transparent then transfer these to a saucepan. While this is simmering roughly chop your tomatoes. The potatoes should now also be cooked enough so remove from the heat, drain and leave to one side for the moment.

In the saucepan add 1-2 teaspoons of paprika (depending how spicy you like it), a tablespoon of white wine vinegar and stir. Add your tomatoes to the pan and stir again then leave to simmer for 5 minutes. Add a level teaspoon of plain flour to 200ml of water, mix and then add to the saucepan. Give the whole sauce a good stir and leave to simmer for approx 15 minutes to reduce the sauce.

In the mean time fry the boiled potato chunks in the frying pan you used for the onions etc, adding a bit more oil if needs be. With this you’re just looking to crisp up the outside of the potatoes and, depending what oil you use, turn them a nice golden colour (I used olive oil for the ones in the picture which doesn't brown the potatoes as much as something like sunflower or vegetable oil but I prefer the flavour).

To serve, liquidise the sauce, season with salt and pepper to taste and run through a sieve to get rid of the tomato skins and seeds. Then serve the sauce over the crispy potatoes and enjoy. (note – the sauce can be served hot or cold)