Tag: side dish

Dauphinoise potatoes

~ Sophie ~ Leave a comment

Decadent treat food. Creamy, delicately textured and rich in flavour. Good enough to eat completely on their own and still feel delightedly fulfilled, but especially good with a medium-rare steak or a slice of garlicky roast lamb – and of course some steamed green beans or a pile of sauteed spinach. Feeds 4-6.

  • 1kg large, waxy potatoes, peeled
  • 20g unsalted butter
  • 500ml double cream
  • 150ml milk
  • 1 clove garlic, finely grated
  • Salt and black pepper
  1. Pre-heat oven to 150C fan (170C)
  2. Take a wide, shallow ceramic baking dish around 2 litres capacity and grease the inside generously with half the butter
  3. Slice the potatoes 2mm thick (ideally with a mandolin)
  4. Place the potatoes in the dish in orderly, overlapping layers
  5. Whisk the cream, milk and garlic. Season well and pour gently over the potatoes
  6. The cream should just cover the potatoes. If it doesn’t, add a touch more milk. Dot with the rest of the butter and pop in the oven
  7. Bake for 1-1½ hours until the top is bubbling and golden brown, and the potatoes are completely soft when you poke a thin, sharp knife down into the dish
  8. Remove from the oven and leave on the side for 15 mins before serving, to allow the potatoes to lose some of their molten heat and firm up a bit

New potatoes with lemon and almonds

~ Sophie ~ 1 Comment

A warm potato salad with a delectable combination of flavours and textures.

  • 500g new potatoes, left whole unless they’re big in which case cut into halves or thirds
  • 1 preserved lemon, skin only finely chopped (pith and flesh discarded)
  • Juice of ½ lemon
  • 50g flaked almonds, toasted (just give them a couple of minutes in a dry pan over a low-medium heat until golden brown)
  • 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • Small handful parsley, chopped
  • Small handful mint, chopped
  • ½ tsp salt
  1. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil and cook the new potatoes for 12-18 mins (depending how big they are) until tender
  2. While they’re cooking, mix the other ingredients together in a small bowl
  3. When the potatoes are cooked, drain them and tip them back into the pan
  4. Pour the dressing over them, gently mix through and leave to stand for a minute or two before serving

Serve as a side dish at a barbecue, alongside a lovely medium-rare grilled steak or simply with hummous and a crunchy green salad.

Roast potatoes

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Crisp and crunchy on the outside, fluffy and soft on the inside. Pure potato magic. And luckily also incredibly simple to make.

There are no quantities on this recipe because it’s the same however many potatoes you make. And you’ll want to make loads, I guarantee it.

  • Floury potatoes, peeled and cut into chunky, roast potato-sized pieces
  • Veg oil
  • Salt
  1. Pre-heat the oven to 190C fan (210C)
  2. Half fill a large pan with water and bring to the boil over a high heat
  3. Tip the potato pieces in with minimal splashing
  4. Stick a lid on and bring to the boil, then take the lid off and cook for 5 mins
  5. Drain the potatoes and pop them back into the pot. Hold the lid on with both hands and shake the pot to roughen up all the edges
  6. Leave to one side with the lid off to let some of the steam escape and the potatoes dry out a bit
  7. Choose a roasting tin which the potatoes will fit into in a loose single layer, not all crammed together
  8. Pour veg oil into the roasting tin until it just covers the bottom of the tin. Not deep, just a slick
  9. Put the tin in the oven for 5 mins to let the oil heat up
  10. When it’s hot and the oven is back to temp, pull it out and quickly tip the potatoes in
  11. Gently spread into a single layer, sprinkle with salt and turn the potatoes over once in the oil
  12. Stick them in the oven and leave them alone for 30 mins
  13. Then take them out, turn them over carefully and put them back for another 15-20 mins until golden and crisp all over

They should make an amazing crisp rustling sound as you put them into your serving dish. Top with a pinch of flaky salt and eat up immediately with lashings of gravy.

Coleslaw

~ Sophie ~ 1 Comment

Beautiful shades of orange and palest green, crunchy and creamy with the yoghurt, mustard and vinegar cutting the richness of the mayo. A brilliant side dish for burgers or pulled pork, or make it a bit more special by scattering with finely chopped parsley, nigella seeds and toasted pumpkin seeds.

  • ¼ white cabbage, cored and finely shredded
  • 3 carrots, peeled and grated
  • 4 heaped tbsp mayonnaise
  • 3 heaped tbsp plain yoghurt
  • 1 tsp dijon mustard
  • 1 tbsp cider vinegar
  • Pinch of sugar
  • Salt and pepper
  1. Mix everything together and taste to check seasoning. Eat straight away

Fry bodi

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A tasty side dish of green beans and tomato, eat it with grilled chicken and rice and peas. You can add a finely chopped chilli to spice it up if you like.

  • 1 tsp veg oil
  • 1 ripe tomato, finely chopped
  • ½ a small onion, finely chopped
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 200g fine green beans, trimmed and cut in half
  • Salt and pepper
  1. Heat the oil in a small saucepan on a medium heat
  2. Add the onion with a pinch of salt and cook, stirring often, for about 5 mins
  3. Add the tomato and garlic and give it a stir, cooking for a further 2 mins
  4. Put in the beans and 2 tbsp water, stir together, season and cover
  5. Cook for around 8 mins, stirring occasionally, until the beans are tender

Potato wedges

~ Sophie ~ 1 Comment

A great side dish for almost anything. Or just eat a big bowl of them on their own, drizzled with chilli sauce or dunked in hummous.

  • 500g potatoes
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp garlic powder
  • Black pepper
  1. Pre-heat oven to 180C fan (200C)
  2. Peel the potatoes and cut into wedges
  3. Tip into a roasting tin and add the rest of the ingredients. Mix together with your hands
  4. Roast for 30-40 mins until soft on the inside, golden on the outside and crunchy round the edges

You can easily make these with sweet potatoes instead, just roast for a shorter time. Change up the spicing to suit whatever you’re serving them with.

Sausage and chestnut stuffing

~ Sophie ~ 1 Comment

Delicious savoury stuffing, although I always cook it on the side and never stuffed into anything. Eat it with a lovely roast chicken, a turkey or just on its own with a pile of roast potatoes and gravy.

  • 350g sausage meat (or just plain sausages squeezed out of their skins. Don’t look at the skins afterwards, they’re a bit weird)
  • 1 large onion, finely chopped
  • 1 stick celery, finely chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 2 tbsp oil
  • 1 pouch (180g) cooked whole chestnuts, chopped into small pieces
  • 2 eating apples, peeled and cored
  • 40g fresh breadcrumbs
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • Large handful of fresh herbs – soft ones like sage, chives, thyme, parsley – chopped finely
  • Salt and pepper
  1. Heat the oil in a small pan and cook the onion, celery and garlic over a low heat until completely soft
  2. While it’s cooking, dice the apple finely
  3. Add the apple to the pan and cook for a couple of mins
  4. Take off heat and cool
  5. In large bowl combine the cooked onion, celery and apple with sausage meat, chestnuts, herbs, egg, breadcrumbs, salt and pepper
  6. Pre-heat oven to 180C fan (200C)
  7. Either put the stuffing into a shallow dish and fork the top to give it peaks, then bake for 30 mins or form into walnut-size balls and bake on a baking tray or around the roast for 15 mins

Rocket and orange salad

~ Sophie ~ 1 Comment

Tangy, peppery and fresh. The most summery of salads.

  • 60g rocket
  • 1 orange
  • 1 small bunch parsley, roughly chopped
  • 1 tbsp tiny capers
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt and pepper
  1. Prep the orange by cutting off the top and bottom and then cutting down the curve of the orange with a sharp knife, taking off all the pith. Then cut between each segment, leaving the membrane attached to the orange. Keep the juice that comes out and squeeze out the empty orange husk to get the last of the juice from it
  2. Lay the rocket on a platter, sprinkle over the parsley and capers, then add the orange segments
  3. Whisk together the olive oil and orange juice and season. Drizzle over the dressing just before serving and serve straight away

Jewelled rice

~ Sophie ~ 2 Comments

Beautiful steaming rice, studded with deep pink and green. A gorgeous combination of textures and flavours, and a great accompaniment to spiced chicken shawarma or aubergine.

  • 100g whole blanched almonds
  • Bunch of spring onions, trimmed and left whole
  • 300g basmati rice
  • Cinnamon stick
  • Salt
  • 1 lime, zest and juice
  • 100g pomegranate seeds
  • 2 preserved lemons, skins chopped finely
  • Bunch parsley, finely chopped
  • Small bunch mint, finely chopped
  • 1 tbsp brown mustard seeds, toasted until they start to pop
  • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt and pepper
  1. Roast almonds in a dry pan until golden, or spread on a baking tray and roast in the oven at 180C fan for 7 mins at 200C. Then roughly chop them
  2. In a hot pan, griddle the spring onions briefly and then slice into 1cm pieces
  3. Rinse the rice and boil a pan of salted water
  4. Tip the damp rice into the boiling water, add the cinnamon stick, stir and cook for 10 mins
  5. Drain and combine with rest of ingredients except pomegranate seeds. Check the seasoning
  6. Spoon out onto a platter and sprinkle the pomegranate seeds over. Serve straight away

Beetroot and dill salad

~ Sophie ~ 2 Comments

So pretty, so easy, so tasty!

  • 500g or so of raw beetroot
  • 20g fresh dill, finely chopped
  • 1 tbsp baby capers, rinsed
  • 1 tbsp sherry vinegar
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • Salt and pepper
  1. Trim the stalks and roots about 3 inches from the body of the beetroot and scrub clean
  2. Bring a big pan of salted water to the boil and pop the beetroots in
  3. Simmer for 45 mins to an hour, depending how big the beetroots are. When cooked, they should be tender enough to slide a sharp knife into
  4. Once cooked, drain the beetroots and leave to cool. Slide the skins off – deeply satisfying!
  5. Cut the beetroot into little wedges, and sprinkle over the dill and capers. Dress with the oil and vinegar, season and toss together gently

You can add some crumbled feta on top, some toasted hazelnuts, or just have it as is.