Fresh Potatoes with Garlic Herbs and Spices

The recipe for these potatoes comes to me from Bulgaria. They can be served as a delicious side dish or as an appetiser alongside a dipping sauce of your choice.

Ingredients:

1.5 kg of fresh potatoes
10 cloves of garlic
125ml olive or vegetable oil
Salt to taste
Fresh ground black pepper
Sweet or hot paprika
Sprig of fresh thyme
4 tbsp pine nuts (optional)

Preparation:

For recipe "Fresh potatoes with garlic and spices" Heat the oven to 200 C.
Wash potatoes well and scraped, then dried in kitchen roll.
Peel the garlic and cut into thin slices.
In a large bowl, stir the garlic, olive oil, salt, black and red pepper.
Thyme was washed and dried, after which the leaves are removed and half of them were added to the garlic mixture.
In a bowl, pour the potatoes and mix everything well.
Potatoes are loaded into a fireproof dish.
On top, sprinkle with pine nuts.
Fresh potatoes with garlic and spices bake 40 minutes, stirring 1-2 times.
When serving, sprinkle with the remaining thyme.

Notes:

Feel free to vary the herbs and spices to make this excellent dish your own.

Thanks my lovely Stela xxx

Thai Style Chicken and Pineapple

Chicken and pineapple dishes can be found all across the tropics, from southern China to Antigua in the Caribbean. This recipe adds courgettes as an interesting flavour and texture, and ginger gives a nice spicy note to this delicious exotic dish. It is surprisingly simple to make. 

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 medium sized free range organic chicken (or four breast fillets), deboned and cut into 1cm thick (1/2") slices.

2 cloves of garlic, finely sliced.

Thai fish sauce (see Method below).

Thai light soy sauce (see Method below).

2 medium onions, peeled and simply quartered.

2 small courgettes, rougly chopped.

1 fresh pineapple, peeled and cut into generous chunks.

A thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped.

1 red pepper, deseeded and cut into large pieces.

The green tops of a bunch of spring onions cut to about thumb length.

2-3 bird eye chilli peppers, finely chopped (hot!).

1 level tablespoon of palm sugar or soft brown sugar

Oil for stir-frying.

3-4 teaspoons of cornflour (cornstarch).

2 cups of chicken stock.

Finely chopped spring onions and fresh coriander leaves for garnish.

Method:

Marinate the chicken in the garlic and a splash each of fish sauce and light soy sauce. Set aside while you prepare the fruit and vegetables.

Assemble all the fruit and vegetables in a bowl and toss to mix well. Heat about 2 tablespoons of oil in a wok and stir-fry the mixture at high temperature until the onion begins to turn translucent. Add the sugar, 1 cup of chicken stock and a generous splash each of fish sauce and soy sauce then stir to mix. Lower the heat to a simmer and cover with a lid. Mix half the cornflour with some water and use this to thicken the mixture. When the mixture starts to bubble again, pour it into a large derving dish, making room for the chicken. Set aside and keep warm.

Add the remaining cornflour to the meat and stir to mix and coat the chicken pieces. Clean the wok then add another 2 tablespoons of oil, then heat until very hot before adding the chicken. Stir-fry until the chicken begins to brown, then add 1 cup of chicken stock and a generous splash each of fish sauce and soy sauce then stir to mix. The dry cornflour protects the texture of the meat and later helps to form a nice sauce. Once the chicken is ready, pour over the pineapple and vegetable sauce, mix and garnish with finely chopped spring onions and fresh coriander leaves.

Serving:

Serve on a bed of plain steamed rice.

Enjoy!