Cheese and pickle roast potatoes with chilli-dressed leaves
A tray of these for dinner is just about the best thing I can think of to eat. Squashed, crisp-edged potatoes, tossed and baked in pickle brine to give them a subtle but important chip-shop-vinegar feeling. Once hot and crisped, the potatoes are topped with cornichons and cheese and finished with a chilli and bitter lettuce salad, though the potatoes are also good just on their own. Pickle brine is often thrown away but it is highly seasoned gold. It is acidic, a little salty and usually a little sweet, so it instantly adds depth like a splash of vinegar would, but in a more mellow way.
Serves 4 / Prep time: approx 30 mins /
Cooking time: 1 hour 15 mins at 200°C
- 1kg new potatoes, scrubbed clean
- 10 cornichons, roughly chopped, plus 100ml of the brine from the jar
- 100ml extra virgin olive oil
- 3 fresh red chillies
- juice of 1 unwaxed lemon
- 100g Comté cheese or vegan mature Cheddar-style cheese
- 1 head of radicchio or other bitter lettuce
Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil, add the scrubbed new potatoes and cook for 10-20 minutes, depending on their size, until they are just cooked. Drain and leave the potatoes to steam dry in a colander.
Season and tip the potatoes into a roasting tin, toss them with 50ml cornichon brine, 2 tablespoons olive oil and salt and pepper, then roast for 15 minutes.
Remove the tin from the oven and, using a potato masher, squish the potatoes until they crack and expose some of the soft, fluffy insides. Pour over another 2 tablespoons of olive oil and return to the oven for another 30-40 minutes, turning the potatoes halfway, until golden and crispy.
To make the chilli dressing, prick the chillies with the tip of a sharp knife (this stops them exploding when they are cooked).
Using a pair of metal tongs, hold the chillies one at a time over a gas flame until they’re blackened and blistered all over. If you don’t have a gas hob you can do this in a dry frying pan. Once they are all blistered, put them in a small bowl, cover and leave for 15 minutes. This way, they will steam in their own heat and the skins will peel off easily. Once cool enough to handle, peel the chillies, open them and scrape out the seeds.
Discard the seeds and finely chop the flesh. Put in a mixing bowl with the remaining olive oil (70ml) and the juice of 1 unwaxed lemon and mix well. Season to taste with sea salt and black pepper.
Once the potatoes are golden and crisp, add 50ml of cornichon brine while they are still hot, then toss with the roughly chopped cornichons and a generous grating of cheese.
Tear the radicchio into bite-sized pieces, season with salt and toss in the chilli dressing.
Tray bake lemon dhal with pickled green chillies
Dhal is a staple of our weeknight cooking. I never get bored with it. I have a few favourites I make on rotation: coconut, lemon and now this tray baked tomato one. This dhal is made in the oven, so it’s very hands-off. The tinned tomatoes are roasted first to give a deeper hit of flavour. Serve this with a pot of rice, some parathas, some salted yoghurt and chutney.
Serves 4 / Prep time: approx 20 minutes / Cooking time: 1 hour 30 mins at 200°C fan
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 2 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 x 400g tins plum tomatoes
- 2 tbsp ghee or other cooking oil
- 2 unwaxed lemons
- a thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled
- 8 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
- 2 green chillies, sliced
- 2 tsp golden caster sugar
- 50ml white wine vinegar
- 1 tsp sea salt
- a bunch of coriander (30g), chopped
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- a cinnamon stick
- 1 tbsp Kashmiri chilli powder (or ½ tsp if using other chilli powders)
- 1 tbsp yellow mustard seeds
- 300g split red lentils
- 1 x 400ml tin coconut milk
- 800ml hot vegetable stock
- 250g paneer or firm tofu
- warm rice, parathas or roti, yoghurt and chutney to serve
Preheat the oven to 220°C/200°Cfan.
Add the coriander and cumin seeds to a high-sided baking tray and roast in the oven for 2-4 minutes until fragrant.Remove from the oven, tip into a pestle and mortar and crush the seeds then return to the tray. Drain the tins of tomatoes and add to the tray.
Use a potato masher or the back of a large spoon or fork to crush the tomatoes to release their juice and flatten them a little, and spread them evenly over the tray.
Add the ghee or oil, then grate in the zest of 1 lemon and the ginger and add the cloves of garlic. Toss the tomatoes in the spices and roast for 30 minutes until sticky and intensified in flavour.
Once the tomatoes have had their time, remove them from the oven and stir in the turmeric, the cinnamon stick, the Kashmiri chilli powder and the yellow mustard seeds.
Add the split red lentils and pour over the coconut milk and stock. Cover tightly with foil and return to the oven.
After 40 minutes, carefully take the tray out of the oven and remove the foil. Stir the dhal, then season well with sea salt. Tear the paneer or firm tofu over the top of the dhal and squeeze over the juice of the lemons. Return to the oven for a further 15 minutes or until the edges of the paneer are beginning to turn golden, the dhal is creamy and the lentils are soft.
Serve with rice, parathas, yoghurt and chutney and the pickled chilli and coriander mixture. This will keep in the fridge for up to 7 days.
To make a quick pickle, put 2 sliced green chillies, 2 teaspoons golden caster sugar, 50ml white wine vinegar and a teaspoon of salt into a small bowl and mix well.Add the zest of an unwaxed lemon. Stir through a bunch of chopped coriander, stems and all. Put in the fridge to keep cool.
Sesame and chilli oil noodles
Lucky and Joy is a Chinese-influenced restaurant local to me in London, with brightly painted walls and food that slaps you in the face with flavour. For the last year or so, I’ve been eating their sesame noodles most weeks. This is a quick version of cold sesame noodles I made when I was craving them but they were closed for a holiday. It uses tahini as opposed to Chinese sesame, which is not traditional in any way, but it is what I always have at home so …
Serves 2 as a main, 4 as a side / Prep time: approx 15 minutes
- 150g medium dried egg noodles
- 1 tbsp peanut butter
- 2 tbsp tahini
- 1 tbsp soy sauce or tamari
- 1 clove of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
- 2 tsp toasted sesame oil
- 2-3 tbsp chilli oil or chilli crisp
- a bunch of spring onions (about 6), trimmed and finely sliced
- 4 tbsp toasted sesame seeds (white, black or both)
Cook the egg noodles in boiling salted water for a minute less than the packet instructions, until al dente. Drain and rinse under cold water.
To make the tahini sauce, whisk together the peanut butter, tahini, soy sauce and garlic. Add the sesame oil and 75-125ml of room-temperature water, depending on the thickness of the tahini, and whisk until you have a smooth, pourable sauce about the thickness of double cream.
Toss the cold noodles in the tahini sauce and scoop into bowls, then top each with 1-2 tablespoons of chilli crisp, adding a little at a time until it’s the right kind of heat for you (you can always serve extra on the table).
Scatter over a trimmed and finely sliced bunch of spring onions and finish each bowl with a tablespoon of toasted sesame seeds.
An edited extract from Easy Wins, by Anna Jones (4th Estate, RRP $59.99).
