Potatoes from pots in June’s kitchen
We always grow some new potatoes in pots to get an early crop. You only get a couple of boilings but the flavour is so good and it’s really easy to do if you haven’t got space to grow rows of them in the garden. We always stagger planting so that we have a pot ready to harvest each week.
This is a great tasting dish which can be served as a main or as part of a tapas meal
Herby new potatoes baked with tomatoes, feta and olives
Serves 2 as a main course or 3-4 as a side dish
Takes about an hour
350g new potatoes
Good knob of butter
Good glug of olive oil plus extra for drizzling
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 red onion, peeled and roots trimmed
½-1 tspn cumin seeds, lightly dry fried then crushed in pestle and mortar
2 peppers, skinned and sliced (see Quick tip)
½ chilli pepper, deseeded and diced (optional)
Good handful oregano, torn
2 tspn caster sugar
1 tblspn white wine vinegar
400g canned chopped tomatoes, drained of juice
10 black olives
75g feta cheese
S&P
- Pop your potatoes into boiling water and cook for about 15 minutes until just tender. Drain then plunge into cold water then drain again. Cut lengthwise into quarters, or into thick slices.
- Cut the red onion into half through the root then into wedges.
- Heat the oil and the butter in a frying pan and add the onion and the garlic. Cook gently until just softened.
- Add the crushed cumin seeds, the chilli and ¾ of the oregano. Heat then sprinkle in the sugar and stir until dissolved. Add the peppers and any juices in the bag, then pour in the vinegar and add the tomatoes. Stir well to combine and heat through.
- Season well with salt and pepper.
- Tumble the potatoes and olives into a medium sized shallow oven dish then spoon over the tomato topping.
- Crumble over the feta cheese then scatter over the remaining oregano. Drizzle over some olive oil and pop in the oven 200C/180fan/400F/gas 6 and bake for about 25-30 minutes until the top layer is starting to tinge with brown and the tomatoes are bubbling
Serve hot on its own with a squeeze of lemon, a spoonful of natural yoghurt and fresh green salad. Alternately serve with chicken roasted with olive oil, a squeeze of lemon and flavoured with oregano and thyme.
Quick tip
To skin your peppers – cut your peppers in half removing the stalk and seeds and preheat the grill to high. Put a little olive oil on the skin side of the pepper and pop under the grill, skin side up. Grill under a high heat for about 5-10 minutes until the skin is blistered and burnt looking. Transfer the peppers into a freezer bag, seal and leave to cool. Once cool the skin should peel away very easily.
Slice thickly for this recipe or keep in the fridge for a few days in a little olive oil to enjoy in salads