Lighter fried potatoes with a spicy sauce...

Today's post will be about a side we had this week that I just didn't get around to talking about. Roughly translated to "fierce potatoes", the recipe for this Patatas Bravas, is a lighter take on the classic Spanish tapas dish.

Russet potatoes, peeled or not (we typically leave the skins on), are cut into small cubes, covered with water and brought to a boil. Because they are only about 1" in size, the cubes bounce around in the bubbling water for just a few minutes, until they become crisp-tender. As they drained, we began the next part of the recipe by heating together a nob of butter with a drizzle of olive oil until the foam from the butter subsides. The potatoes are slid into the hot pan and left to develop a beautiful golden crust - to get the best results, only stir the potatoes a couple of times during this process. Let them sit first for a good 2 to 3 minutes and then stir, wait a couple more minutes and stir once again. The potatoes then get an extra bite with a dusting of ground red pepper and a couple cloves worth of minced garlic.

To minimize dishes, the potatoes are scooped out from the pan to make space to prepare the spicy sauce. This speedy dipping mixture is simply softened diced peppers and onions mixed with a small can of tomato sauce. Ground red pepper turns on the devilish heat in the sauce - adjust this to your taste... use as little as 1/8 teaspoon or as much as 1/2 teaspoon if you enjoy a slight burn. We went with a heaping 1/4 teaspoon and we both enjoyed the level of heat. As is, the sauce is kind of chunky from the vegetables, so for a more pleasant texture, process the sauce in a food processor or blender. The crispy potatoes were tasty enough by themselves, but dunked into the thick sauce brought them to a new height with an alluring bite.

Recipes
Patatas Bravas