Recently, when a German friend reminded me of these wonderful fried goodies, they seemed like the perfect accompaniment to my attempt to bring a little bit of Spain with us for our weekend dinner; not just because I haven't quite mastered the finer Spanish arts with potatoes such as croquettes, but also because patatas bravas seems to be a form of glorified roast potatoes. In addition, they reminded me just a little bit of my childhood (although my dad would refer to them as "krumpli lepény"). And when I found out that Sam had never tasted these deliciously irresistible treats, I knew I had to incorporate them into our next meal.
My German friend recommended
this recipe, but I found the onion content rather high, and there's an equally good one on the
BBC Food website. Having said that, this is really one of those recipes that can be done by eye according to the cook's preference.
So, as always, it starts with grating the onions and potatoes:
As you can see, I used a mandolin on the julienne blade to get nice, clean, thin, slices, as I find that using a cheese grater tends to "mush" the vegetable flesh too much. This way you get a nice crisp finish. Also, I find that in this way you get less of the liquid which many recipes tell you needs to be eliminated to achieve the best finish.
Then mix with the eggs and flour to make it all stick together:
Scoop out large serving spoonfuls into hot oil in a frying pan, like so:
It is perfectly fine to shallow fry these, just give them a few minutes on each side; there is no need for a deep fat frier.
And that's it! They're done pretty quick:
Ok, so whilst they're not the most aesthetically pleasing food creation, they are one of the most delicious, and had Sam in fits of saying "More, more!", followed by "these are like crack!" and finally "I've found heaven and it's in the shape of a potato pancake!". There were many more, but some are less appropriate to mention here!
So I can safely say that this is a whole hearted 10/10 from Sam, with requests for them again the following day! :)
The complete dish was home made chorizo in red wine (using up the chorizo we brought home from Barcelona!), peas, and the reibekuchen drizzled with bravas sauce. A bit of a European fusion meal
