I have to admit, I was feeling pretty on top of the world this morning due to a range of things that I carefully, and painstakingly wrote on my little Notebook computer. Mistake! The bugger of a thing crashed and I lost it all! Now I can try to recount everything perfectly for you ( and do know dear reader, that I'll do my utmost!) but I can't promise the first time round magic of the other :(
But here's to trying-
Today's a Saturday, and I'm glad to say I've been able to RELAX a little bit-to laze about and read my food blogs (almost crack for me I'm beginning to realise).
I may not have said before, but I'm an exchange student (Australian) currently living in rural France, and there just happens to be another Aussie exchange student who lives in the village closest to me, so each day, with nothing much else to do, I wander down (we live in the hills a bit) and we meet up and hang out for the day. Turns out when you wander down and back each day and its a 2 hour wander, you end up in need of a quiet Saturday! But again, besides the point, I never could stop a tangent before it was already out!
So my friend and her host mum were coming for dinner. This excited me greatly to begin with because it meant EXTRA time looking at recipes than usual, AND that I got to cook. The weather here at the moment is really the opposite of summer, which normally would get me down and mopey (you've yet to learn how temperamental I can be) but yesterday it was right up my alley, because I'm not much one for a 'light summer salad' or easy to assemble, no-cooking cooking. I like to chop and bake and saute and roast and leave to brew. AND I like a good tomato-based sauce. Which leads me to today's (or last nights) recipe.
Spanish Herbed Potatoes coated in Romesco Sauce paired with Chicken, Pancetta and Caramelised Onion Baked Meatballs.
I found the original of this recipe on the Smitten Kitchen blog, and it caught my eye, because it involves basically all my favourite things- crispy, herby potatoes and a bright red tomatoey sauce.
For a long time I have held my mothers bolognaise in a very special place in my heart. I have memories from as long as I can remember of intense quantities being prepared and the warm, hearty, cheesy Lasagne's that I knew (or hoped, anticipated even prayed) would follow. Also, of drinking it like soup from my bowl, pouring it on my toast for brekkie, spreading it in a sandwich for lunch.. Have I made my point that there really is a good chance my blood is 50% bolognaise?
So when I say I liked this sauce a lot, when I say I might even sometimes maybe even possibly prefer it to a bol, THAT MEANS A GREAT DEAL.
But enough of my Italian sauce wet-dream, here is the recipe for the Spanish alternative...
Ingredients-
Romesco Sauce-
450ml can of tomatoes (pureed or whole, I prefer whole for more texture)
1 small jar of roasted peppers (preferably garlic, though you can easily do it yourself)
5 ancho chillies (I didn't have any, so I used 2 good teaspoons of dried chilli's and it still had a great effect)
3 tablespoons of raw almonds
2 tablespoons of blanched hazelnuts
1 cup of extra-virgin olive oil
1 slice of thick, real bread (think Ciabatta rather than Wonder White)
1 clove of garlic, chopped
1 tablespoons of chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/2 lemon, for juicing
1 tablespoon of brown sugar (optional, if you like a bit of sweetness to counter the chillies)
A good splash of balsamic vinegar
Another good splash of Worcestershire sauce
A Pinch of sea salt
Potatoes-
700 G of bake-able potatoes, I suggest Kipfer or Yukon Gold
1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
4 to 5 cloves of garlic, peeled
6 bay leaves
6 springs of thyme or rosemary if you so desire
2 tablespoons of chopped parsley
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to season
Chicken, Pancetta and Caramelised Onion Baked Meatballs-
500 grams of chicken breast, cut into roughish strips or chunks
1 egg
3 tablespoons of freshly chopped parsley
3 slices of thick bread (again think Ciabatta-style) or 1 cup of breadcrumbs (I used breadcrumbs)
1 packet of pancetta
1 onion, chopped into smallish strips
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
3 tablespoons of olive oil
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
1/3 cup (80ml) of milk
Method-
Potatoes-
Preheat the oven to 200°C.
Depending on how much time you have to cook the potatoes, you can either cut them, or simply leave them whole if they aren't too big.
In a large roasting pan, mix the potatoes with at least 2 TB of the olive oil, the herbs, and the garlic. I like to give the potatoes a nice rub with all of the herbs, and particularly the garlic cloves to enhance the flavour a little.
Put in the oven and bake for a minimum of 30 minutes if you cut your potatoes, up to an hour and a half if you didn't.
After they have been baked, transfer to a suitable pan (sometimes your roasting pan is perfect anyway) and continue to cook on the stove-top until they are crispyer! I like to crush them a little and let the flesh brown too.
Romesco Sauce-
Prepare your chillies by cutting off their stems, and removing their seeds. Then you'll need to soak them for around 15 minutes in warm water for softening.
Place the almonds and hazelnuts on a tray in the oven for around 10 minutes or until they are golden and give off a scent. Be careful because they really don't take long to burn quickly.
While your waiting for the chillies and nuts, heat a fairly deep frying pan over high heat with 2 TB of olive oil, then add the slice of bread and fry until it is golden on both side and remove from heat.
Return the pan to heat and add the chillies, and capsicums. After 2 minutes add the tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce and salt. Leave for 3 or so minutes, until the excess water has evaporated, then turn off heat.
In a food processor, pulse together the garlic, fried bread, and nuts until roughly chopped (not too fine).
Add the tomato mixture and turn the processor on to slow, then slowly pour in the remaining olive oil (I don't like my sauce too oily so I definitely used a lot less than suggested, around about half a cup maximum I would say)
At this point, taste your sauce and add whatever you need according to your tastes.. I think I would have added some more lemon juice in hindsight so you may want to adjust a bit too.
Heat the sauce again when the potatoes are being fried, then serve the sauce drizzled over the potatoes and sprinkle with freshly chopped parsley.
Chicken, Pancetta and Caramelised Onion Baked Meatballs-
Preheat oven to 180°C
Place the bread to soak in the milk for 4 or so minutes.
Heat a pan and a 1 tablespoon of oil over medium heat, then add the chicken when hot. Cook the chicken for 8 or so minutes until white on the outside (not golden) and not cooked properly on the inside.
Remove the chicken from heat and place in blender, add the pancetta to the pan and cook until crispy, then place in the blender.
Cook the onion slowly over a low heat in the same pan until it has softened and is a deep golden brown colour, add in the garlic for the last 5 minutes ( you can add a little water to help the caramelising along if you like).
Add the onion, garlic and bread to the blender along with the meats and give it a quick blitz until its of a texture small enough to form good ball, but not super-fine, because I like myself some TEXTURE.
Place the chicken mixture in a large bowl, then add the egg, tomato paste (if you chose to use breadcrumbs add now) and mix with your hands until well combined. If the mixture is dry add either oil or remaining milk, and of course if it is wet, add more bread.
Form liberal balls with a tablespoon and put in the oven for a shortish amount of time, until gorgeously golden on top and serve with the Romesco Potatoes.
Sorry I don't have any photo's for this post. I assure you it looked perfect, which is exactly why my camera decided to die :)
If you want pictures of the Romesco Potatoes, check out Smitten Kitchen's post- http://smittenkitchen.com/2010/03/romesco-potatoes/
