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The Omnivore

The column for those who like to swing more than one way… foodwise

This space has undergone a massive change in the last few months. It moved from land to water. No, I haven’t grown gills nor am I web-footed now. My partner, with whom I share cooking duties mainly on weekends, bought a boat recently and now resides in it. That means that space is limited and food storage carefully planned. It also means that for the time being I have got the Regent’s Canal as a backdrop. With coots, geese, and ducks as noisy neighbours. I also have the privilege of witnessing the most wonderful sunrises and sunsets. Lucky me!

The recipe below attests to the change of circumstances I mentioned before. Patatas a lo pobre (poor man’s potatoes) is a simple, punch-packing dish. I first had it in southern Spain many years ago. It can be a side dish, or a main with tofu or similar meat substitute (to carry on the vegan vein). In my case, I had fish cakes with mine. (I know. Please, read the name of the column).

Piece of advice: do keep an eye on your potatoes. True, you don’t want them hard, but you don’t want them too soggy either. A couple of mine ended up getting slightly burnt.

As usual, both ingredients and cooking instructions were taken directly from The Guardian’s Feast supplement.

Patatas a lo pobre

Prep 15 min Cook 55 min Serves 4

500g green peppers (ie, 3 large ones or 4 small) 750g maris piper potatoes 150ml extra-virgin olive oil 2 large brown onions, peeled, halved and thinly sliced (about 475g net) 1¼ tsp fine sea salt 4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped 20g flat-leaf parsley, leaves and stalks, finely chopped 1 lemon, cut into quarters

Cut the peppers in half, take out and discard the stalks, pith and seeds, then cut the flesh into irregular pieces about 4cm at their widest point. Cut the potatoes into irregular pieces about 3cm at their widest point.

Put the oil in a wide frying pan on a medium heat and, once hot, add the onions, peppers and salt, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 18 minutes, until the onions and peppers are soft. Add the chopped garlic, stir for a couple of minutes more, then add the potatoes and cook, stirring from time to time, for 25 to 30 minutes, until the onions are caramelised, the peppers are browning and the potatoes are soft and fudgy.

Spoon off some of the residual oil (save it to fry bread in, or for a salad dressing, or to flavour another dish), then mix through the parsley. Transfer the potatoes to a platter and serve with the lemon quarters for squeezing over.

Shoutout to my these Tablers

Jessica Archuleta for a magical story about a magical event

Roshan Daryanani for a mouth-watering story on bread

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