Poor Man's Potatoes

This recipe is dedicated to Cindy over at Where's The Beef?. I hope to see you make it Cindy! :-)

I recently bought my first ever cookbook, Frank Comorra's Movida book. I've only been baking less than a year. I'm starting to enjoy that more and more, but that's for another post. I'm more hesitant to "cook" as it's much more free form but I couldn't resist the Movida book because I love the restaurant's food and also it was 40% off. I really enjoyed the Poor Man's Potatoes both times I went to Movida and thought they were the best baked potatoes I've ever tasted. Hence I attempted them for the Bloggers Banquet 2.

I found the potatoes to be very delicious. It wasn't quite as good Movida, but it was sure close. The potatoes are so soft and are infused with the flavour of garlic, bay leaves, olive oil, capsicum and the parsley dressing (ajo y perejil). I have to be honest and say they aren't the easiest thing to make. From peeling the potatoes (I made a double batch) to finally taking them out of the oven, it was a good 2 hour process. So I won't be making these everyday, but I will make them occasionally.


Poor Man's Potatoes (Patatas A Lo Pobre)

Ingredients
60 ml extra virgin olive oil
1 brown onion, cut into large wedges
fine sea salt
3 bay leaves
1 red capsicum, seeds and membrane removed and cut into 1 cm slices
1 green capsicum, seeds and membrane removed and cut into 1 cm slices
1/2 garlic bulb, skin on but broken into cloves
1 kg waxy potatoes, such as nicola or kipfler, cut into 5-8 mm slices
750 ml olive oil (you may not need it all)
1 1/2 tablespoons ajo y perejil

Method
1) Heat extra virgin olive oil over high heat. Add onion, bay leaves, sprinkle with sea salt and stir. Reduce heat to low-medium and cover and cook for 5 minutes.
2) When onion is soft, add capsicum and garlic. Cover and cook for 20 minutes or until soft. Stir occasionally.
3) Add potatoes and enough olive oil to cover the potatoes fully. Increase heat to high just below boiling point. When bubbles appear, reduce to low-medium heat and cook gently for an hour or until tender.*
4) Take vegetables out of oil and spread onto large baking tray. Season with sea salt and ajo y perejil. Cook in 220C oven for 30 minutes or until edges of potatoes are a little crispy.

Garlic and Parsley (Ajo Y Perejil)

Ingredients
2 large hanfuls flat leaf parsley, sprigged
4 garlic cloves
100 ml extra virgin olive oil

Method
Blend all ingredients in a food processor into a medium puree.

*Note: The vegetables are suppose to confit for an hour. Confit is when the temperature of the oil remains below 100C. The oil can be reused to confit other vegetables and meats.