Patatas Bravas, try n°2 / 2ème essai

Version française ci-dessous

We had this great Spanish diner with my (Spanish) flat mates and I told them I wanted to cook some patatas bravas with homemade salsa brava. I thought they would have a mother/grandmother/auntie traditional recipe to share with me but unfortunately they told me it was not the kind of tapas that was prepared at home and they would usually have some in a bar or a restaurant. So no grand ’ma recipe…

It seems that a tapas bar in Madrid served the sauce for the first time in the 60s and that it’s called « brave » because it is spicy…

I searched the internet for recipes and found that there was actually two ways to prepare the traditional salsa:

• As weird as it sounds, there is a recipe without tomatoes: it’s made of olive oil, flour (or starch), stock and chili
• The other one is with tomato, which can be either fresh tomatoes or peeled tomatoes (or passata).

I wanted to cook one with fresh tomatoes but it’s not really the season so I’ve used a mixed of good quality peeled tomatoes and tomato sauce.

The salsa was really good although it didn’t really taste like the one you have in bars in Madrid… I suspect they add some mayonnaise in the sauce because it can be paler than a typical tomato sauce and also a bit creamier.  And the whole diner was amazing: they had bought some morcilla (a sort of black pudding made from meat blood – it doesn’t sound nice but trust me it’s amazing!), mejillones en escabeche (mussels in an oily sauce), octopus and had cooked some chorizo in cider, calamares a la romana (battered and pan-fried squids) and a kind of gazpacho (salmolejo which is the same but without peppers and cucumbers but more bread). Therefore, a very light diner :D.

Ingredients (for 4)

• 3 large potatoes, peeled and cut into 2/3cm chunks
• Around 300g of peeled tomatoes and their sauce or a combination of peeled tomatoes and passata
• 1 onion
• 3 garlic cloves
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp dried chili
• 1 tsp pimentón de la vera or paprika
• 2 tsp vinegar

Preparation

• Pre heat the oven to 200°
• Cook the potatoes’ chunks in boiling water for 4/5 minutes and then place them in a ovenproof dish
• Pour 2/3 tbsp of olive oil, add salt and a bit of pepper and put in the oven. Put them under the grill after 20 minutes and cook again during about 10/15 minutes until they are well coloured (don’t forget to turn them over from time to time).
• Chop the onions and the garlic
• Heat a large sauce pan with 3 tbsp olive oil and cook the onions on low heat for about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 3 more minutes.
• Add the tomatoes, chili, pimentón, vinegar, salt and pepper and let it reduce for about 15 minutes until it get thicker.
• Put in a food processor and pulse until you get a  smooth sauce
• Serve the warm potatoes with some salsa as tapas « para compartir » 🙂

***

Ingrédients  (pour 4)

• 3 pommes de terre, pelées et coupées en morceaux de 2/3 cm
• Environ 300g de tomates pelées avec leur sauce ou un mix de tomates pelées et de passata
• 1 oignon
• 3 gousses d’ail
• 3 CS d’huile d’olive
• 1 cc de piment séché
• 1 cc de pimentón de la vera ou paprika
• 2 CS de vinaigre

Préparation

• Préchauffer le four à 200°
• Précuire les pommes de terre dans une eau bouillante salée pendant 4/5 minutes puis les mettre dans un plat allant au four
• Verser 2/3 CS d’huile d’olive, ajouter le sel, un peu de poivre et enfourner. Passer en mode grill après une vingtaine de minutes et poursuivre la cuisson 10/15 minutes jusqu’à ce qu’elles soient bien colorées (ne pas oublier de les retourner de temps en temps)
• Ciseler les oignons et l’ail finement
• Faire suer les oignons dans une poêle avec 3 CS d’huile d’olive pendant 5 minutes. Ajouter l’ail et cuire encore 3 minutes
• Ajouter les tomates, le piment, le pimentón, le vinaigre, sel et poivre et laisser réduire pendant 15 bonnes minutes
• Mixer jusqu’à obtention d’une sauce relativement homogène et épaisse
• Servir sur les pommes de terre chaudes dans une assiette à partager

Étiquettes : patatas bravas, pommes de terre, potatoes, salsa brava