Roasted Crushed Potatoes with Shallots, Garlic & Herbs

These delicious roasted spuds are an ideal accompaniment to a wide range of main course meals from simple sausages to roasted poultry, beef or even pan grilled steak or chicken breast. Excellent dished out onto a foil tray and popped onto a barbeque.


Ingredients:

• 1lb Unpeeled Potatoes - (Good roasters are Maris Piper or King Edward) - the smaller the better but bigger potatoes can be cut in half.
• 8 to 10 Shallots, peeled but keep whole.
• 3 or 4 large garlic cloves, peeled and gently crushed.
• 5 or 6 Sprigs of Rosemary and Thyme (use dried if you wish)
• 1 or 2 Sage leaves (be careful how much sage you use, it's a powerful herb and can easily smother the other flavours).
  
• 2 Bay leaves
• Walnut or Extra Virgin Olive Oil (two totally different flavours, olive oil is quite acceptable but use walnut if you can, the nutty flavour goes brilliantly with this dish).
• Coarse ground salt and black pepper.

Method:

1) Begin to pre-heat your oven to 180C (gas mark 4-5) while you prepare the potatoes.

2) Put the potatoes, shallots, garlic and half of the herbs into a pan and cover with water.

3) Bring to the boil and simmer until a sharp knife just pierces the potatoes.

4) Leave to cool slightly in the hot water for five or ten minutes then strain in a colander and allow the potatoes etc to steam dry.

5) Oil a roasting tin with a little of the walnut/olive oil.

6) One at a time, crush the potatoes using a large spoon. They don't want to be mashed up but just kind of broken apart and add them to the roasting tin.

7) Place the remaining contents of the pan (shallots, herbs etc) in among the potatoes and sprinkle the remaining un-used herbs over the top.

8) Drizzle the walnut/olive oil all over the top of the potatoes and place in the oven for an hour (longer if needed) until the potatoes are golden and crispy on the outside but soft and fluffy on the inside.

You can either serve them immediately or allow them to cool and re-heat them, quickly in a hot oven or on the barbeque in a foil tray.

Deeeelicious.

Japanese Egg Fried Rice - Benihana Styleee

When a 20 year old Rocky Aoki arrived in New York City from Japan in 1959 he was convinced it was the land of opportunity. Just five years later he took the $10,000 he had saved plus another $20,000 that he borrowed and opened a Benihana steakhouse on the West side of Manhattan.

His ground breaking idea to bring the chefs out from the kitchen to prepare the food in front of customers (on specially designed hibachi grills) was an instant hit. The restaurant was such a success that it paid for itself within six months.

Here's a recipe for egg fried rice just like that served at Benihana, prepared by chefs with pre-cooked rice on those open hibachi grills.

Serves: 4
Ingredients:

• 4 cups cooked rice (long grain)
• 1 cup frozen peas (thawed)
• 2 tablespoons carrot (grated or chopped)
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 1 1/2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• Salt & Pepper to taste

1. Cook the rice following the instructions on package. Pour the cooked rice into a large bowl and allow it to cool in the refrigerator.

2. Scramble the eggs in a wok or pan over a medium heat. Separate the scrambled chunks of egg into small, pea-sized bits while cooking.

3. When the rice has cooled to near room temperature, add the peas, carrot, scrambled egg and diced onion to the bowl and gently toss all of the ingredients together.

4. Melt 1 1/2 tablespoons of butter in a large frying pan over medium/high heat until completely melted and add the bowl of rice and other ingredients into the pan.

5. Add the soy sauce plus the salt and pepper and cook the rice for 6-8 minutes over heat, stirring regularly. Serve.

Serving suggestion.

This rice makes a great meal on it's own but it can also be served as an excellent accompaniment to our delicious Chicken Teriyaki recipe.