ROOTS & WINGS

41. ROOT: Patatas Bravas

Outward crunchy, inward soft potatoes and a (more or less) hot tomato sauce... aren't the simplest things the best? (And did you know that the dish's name stems from Spanish bravo for angry, which fits well for a hot sauce?)

Anyway, these are a staple on EVERY Tapas Bar menu, be it in the tapas' "homeland" Spain, in Germany, or Tokio.

I must admit that, true to some clichés, I'm a true Deutsche Kartoffel, and this my fave tapa. And so it's only logical that I found it in a potato cookbook, by Norwegian cook Ina-Janine Johnsen, called Kartoffelglück (Potato Heaven).

This made it a ROOT, because they evoke memories from spending long summers during Summer / Semester vacations at my parents' house on the mountain slope above the Mediterranean sea in a teeny nest called Begur, two hours north of Barcelona.

Dad had fallen in love with Catalunya before he'd even met Mom – or I was there – in 1969, when he was down there for work / vacation with his friend Paul, whose company he led and made big after Paul's death a few months later. When he retired, he'd vowed to move back there and laze about his Life's Evening (which would only last 10 years, at least there).

At the change of the millennium, he bought the house cheap and after five years, and a poopload of money, it was a colorful, habitable place with a big, open kitchen, a nice garden with big grill and a mountain garden with a little guest house.

My child- / (Young) Adulthood was not ALL sunshine and roses – after all my parents were my parents (let's leave it at that) – BUT: these were the nicer memories with my parents.

It was especially great when family / friends from Germany and beyond visited us. We'd not only go sightseeing and tourist bashing in Lloret but hold barbecues, starting with tapas while the stew on the stove, meat on the grill, or such would cook to perfection. We'd eat no earlier than 11 PM – ye gotta like it – and talk, laugh and drink through the night.

I'm actually writing this recipe at the 9 in. long, roughly hewn, dark wood table hosting 8-10 persons – which is also a "star" in my novel series: both Laura and Vince have one; he from a flea market in NYC, she, like me, from the remains of the sale of her dead parents' house.

Tables and food... quite the CHARACTERS, eh?

But I digress, sorry. You rather want some savory yum than me reminiscing about the past.

So off to the kitchen! In that hour you'll invest now, you can prep a real load for your next party... or linner.





Serves: 3-4 (6-8) snack portions To go with other snacks, in Spain usually onion & calamari rings, roasted vegs, and something fish-y. I ate them in 2 main courses. More below.

Prep Time: ~ 1 hr

Degree of Difficulty: Easy




WE NEED I HALVED the recipe once more, as I'm ALONE, and these taste BEST when eaten FRESH (on the same day.


500 gr (1 kg) / 1 lb. 2 oz. (2 lb. 4 oz.) waxy potatoes
1-1,5 (2-3) tbsp olive oil
Salt
Pepper


Sauce

1/2 (1) red onion
2 (4) garlic cloves
olive oil
1 (2) tsp smoked paprika powder
1/8 (1/4) tsp) Cayenne pepper
200 (400) gr / 7 (14) oz. chopped tomatoes
1/2 (1) tbsp tomato puree
salt
pepper


OPTIONALLY:

fresh parsley For garnishing
Chilisauce For more Oomph!




WE DO

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C / 390°F and line a baking sheet with baking paper.


2. Cut the potatoes into bite-sized pieces – in my case about 2 cm / 0.75 in. – and put them in a bowl. Add olive oil, season with salt + pepper, and mix thoroughly with your hands / a spoon, until every bit is coated. Bake the potatoes until golden-brown + soft, 30-40 minutes. => According to recipe Mine were done in the late 20s – so keep an eye on them


3. Peel + finely chop onion + garlic. Heat about 1 tbsp olive oil in a non-stick pan, and sauté them. Add smoked paprika + cayenne pepper, pour in the chopped tomatoes, and bring to the boil. Then let simmer for 20 minutes.


4. Puree the sauce and season it with tomato puree, salt + pepper. For even more Oomph!, add chili sauce to your liking.


5. For the Tapas Bar feeling, fill the potatoes into a deep bowl, and drizzle them with part of the sauce, while serving the rest of it in a smaller bowl – so people can decide how much they want with their patatas. Gustatory pussies like me less, for example. If you fancy it, finely chop some parsley for garnishing.



Guten Hunger & Buen provecho!