PixieCooks

This is the perfect side dish for the thyme-stuffed chicken; the crusting is the same mixture as the stuffing and the soothing creaminess is the perfect foil for the salty bacon. If you’re not serving it with something fairly salty you might want to season it before cooking (there’s no need to go heavy on the salt, especially given the cream and butter health attributes, a good cracking of black pepper is wonderful)

Serves 1/2 but easy to scale up
Ingredients

• Enough Stuffing mixture to form a thin layer on the bottom of your casserole dish (see thyme-stuffed chicken for the recipe)
• 1 Large(ish) potato, washed and sliced thinly
• 100ml/Scant 1/2 Cup Double/Heavy Cream
• Small Amount of Butter
• 1 Large Clove of Garlic, finely sliced
• The leaves from 2 Stalks of Thyme

Method
Press the stuffing into the bottom of the dish to form a thin crust. Lay slices of potato over the crust, overlapping to form layers.

Sprinkle the garlic and thyme over the potatoes and pour over the cream (slowly, it will take its time finding the gaps to flow to the bottom). Dot with butter (you could leave that out, but it won’t go as golden)

Bake in a hot oven for around half an hour – until golden brown.

I’ve given up chips (fries) and crisps (chips) for Lent (again), but I’ve decided that these are distinctly more potatoey than anything else and therefore don’t count.

They take spice very well, but too much powdered spice will burn, so go a bit canny if you use it instead of the lemon pepper suggested here. I’ve had great success with smoked paprika and cumin seed, garlic salt and chilli flakes, and rosemary and thyme.

Ingredients

• Appropriate quantities of potato for the numbers you wish to feed (I’ve used all kinds of potato from King Edward to Jersey Royals with great success)
• Vegetable/Groundnut/Sunflower oil
• Freshly Ground Black Peppercorns to taste (a rough grinding – if your mill turns them to powder, grind in a mortar and pestle instead)
• Lemon rind to taste

Method
Scrub the potatoes clean and cut out any eyes or nasty bits (life is too short to peel a potato and all the good bits are in the skin, anyway) then chop lengthways into chunky wedges.

Put the wedges in a pot of cold, salted water (as a rough guide, if it comes out of the ground, put it in cold water, if it comes from above the ground, put it in boiling water) and bring to the boil. Boil for about five minutes – the wedges should yield easily to a knife point but remain intact (or intact ish. Any roughened edges will crisp up and be yummy…).

Use a vegetable peeler or sharp knife to remove the lemon rind in fingernail sized pieces (use an unwaxed lemon for preference) and be careful not to get the bitter white pith with the rind.

Drain the potatoes well and put into a bag with sufficient oil to lightly coat all the wedges, and the seasonings. They can be left in this bag, in the fridge, up to overnight if you want.

Pre-heat the oven to 200C (180c Fan assisted/F/Gas Mark), put the wedges on a baking tray and cook in the oven for twenty minutes, turning after 10minutes.

The wedges should be crispy and beginning to caramelise a little bit. Serve with fish, chicken or anywhere you would chips.

I was out for lunch with m’colleagues the other day at an italian buffet place (I work with boys, quantity is important to them) and whilst they got stuck into the pizza and pasta on offer I had a wee look at the salad bar (not to say I abstained from the pizza or pasta, for I did not, I just didn’t eat enough to sink a ship). The potato salad, in particular, was incredibly good and I (after several mouthfuls and a fair bit of thought) worked out that it was due to the thyme.

This recipe is not that salad (it was of the more traditional mayonnaisey variety), but it is completely lush.

If you’re ever in Glasgow and craving an Italian buffet lunch, you should check out Azzimo – the spicy chicken pasta and the equivalent pizza are both highly recommended and at just shy of £7 a head it’s well worth it.

Serves ~4
Ingredients

• Roughly 16 New/Salad Potatoes (I used Charlotte)
• 1/2 Medium Red onion, Sliced paper-thin
• The Leaves from 6 Stalks of Thyme
• 3Tbsp of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1Tbsp Lemon Juice
• 2 Rashers Bacon (I used Ayrshire Middle bacon which has back and streaky – or Canadian and American – within the same slice. But whatever unsmoked you like is fine)

Method
Wash and boil the potatoes for around 15minutes (until tender to the point of a knife). If there are any larger potatoes in the mix, cut them in half.

Whilst the potatoes are boiling prepare the dressing. Mix the oil, lemon juice and thyme in a large bowl, add the onions, ensuring they are sliced as thinly as you can cut them (the trick is that the rawness will “cook” out of them with the lemon juice and the warmth of the potatoes, so they need to be very thin)

Grill or fry the bacon until it is cooked but not too crispy, and pat dry with kitchen paper. Using scissors, cut into very thin strips (similar to the onion) and mix with the rest of the dressing.

Drain the potatoes well and whilst they are still warm add them to the dressing and mix well.

The salad is best still warm, but okay cold. It will keep in the refrigerator, but let it come back up to room temperature before serving.

I really like tinned tuna – it’s tasty, versatile and with some judicious shopping it’s also cheap – but I’ve never got on particularly well with tuna steaks; I’ve always ended up finding them a bit dull and no more special than tinned. This recipe however was my tuna game changer, it’s seriously delicious.

I’ve tagged it 2* difficulty but that’s really because it needs to be marinated which isn’t hard but does require a bit of planning.

Serves 2
Ingredients

• Marinade
• 3Tbsp Soy Sauce
• 4Tbsp Soft Light Brown Sugar
• 1 Garlic Clove, Minced
• 2 Tuna Steaks
• Noodles
• 2Tbsp Peanut Butter
• 1/2 Tsp Chilli Flakes
• 1Tbsp Soy Sauce
• Around 2 Tbsp Boiling Water
• Sufficient Noodles For 2 (I used brown rice noodles that cook in hot water for 5 minutes)
• 3 Spring Onions/Scallions, Chopped

Method
Add all the marinade ingredients (except the tuna) to a pan and heat very gently, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Allow to cool and pour over the tuna, ensuring all sides are covered. Marinade for 30-60minutes.

Once the tuna is marinaded, fry in a hot pan using a small amount of vegetable oil for 1-2 minutes on each side. Don’t move the steak once it’s in the pan until you’re turning it, the trick is to make a crispy, yummy, crusty bit with the glaze.

Add all the noodle ingredients (except the noodles and spring onions) to a bowl and microwave for a minute (if you keep your peanut butter in the fridge, take it out a couple of hours beforehand so it’s not like trying to chip bits off a rock). Stir to combine, and add more boiling water if required to bring the consistency down to that of mayonnaise.

Cook the noodles as described on the packet, drain and combine with the peanutty sauce. Garnish with the spring onions.

Lorne (or square) sausage is a lovely Scottish breakfast food, and my local butcher makes a particularly yummy version with black pudding in the centre. I picked some up on saturday to enjoy as a sunday brunch along with some saute potatoes and baked beans, add a big mug of tea and the papers in a sunny kitchen and it’s a lovely way to spend a morning.

If you’re lucky enough to be able to get hold of some lorne sausage you’ll see that it’s just about the perfect shape for putting in a roll (Morton’s for preference!) – infinitely better than messing around with recalcitrant links (bangers) – and if you can get some with black pudding (or, even better, a little haggis) in the middle do try it, the sausage keeps the centre moist and delicious.

Saute potatoes are a cracking way to use up any left over boiled potatoes – especially if they’re extras from making potato salad as waxy textured potatoes are best – or just a quick and tasty savoury carb for breakfast or brunch that doesn’t involve getting something out of the freezer.

Enough for one, but just up the potatoes for more!
Ingredients

• 1-2 Medium Waxy Potatoes, Diced
• 2tbsp Vegetable Oil
• Crushed Sea Salt, to taste

Method
If your potatoes are already cooked, simply dice the cooked potato, otherwise, dice the potatoes (skin on, but remove any eyes etc) and place in pan of cold water. Bring to boil and boil for 5 minutes, or until they yield to a fork but do not break up.

Drain the potatoes well (I sit them, once they’re drained, in the colander over the still warm pan to steam off). Heat the oil in a large, heavy based frying pan (skillet) and add the potatoes (they should hiss a little as they start to fry). Move the potatoes regularly, but gently – don’t break them up, until all the sides are golden brown.

Serve sprinkled with a little crushed sea salt.