Mini Potato Bake

I must confess that I love potatoes and will eat them in just about any form! Potato Bakes are one of the more indulgent ways to enjoy them and when you have a whole dish in front of you, it's hard to stop at just one slice. Hence, here are my mini potato bakes - perfect as individual side dishes for a family dinner and great for portion control. There are many different recipes out there for potato bake but this one is really easy to prepare.

 

I haven't included salt and pepper seasoning but you may add it to potatoes if you wish.

 

Mini Potato Bake

Serves 4

2 potatoes, sliced into thin rounds
1 cup thickened cream
125g tasty cheese
1 piece rindless shortcut bacon, diced into small pieces
Oil spray

1. Spray ramekins with oil.

2. Mix cream and cheese together and set aside.

3. Line base of ramekins with potatoes. It doesn't matter if whole base isn't covered, but do overlap if need be so that majority of base is covered.

4. Pour some of the cream and cheese mixture over the potatoes - about a spoonful will suffice.

5. Repeat steps 3 & 4 until ramekins are almost full.

6. Sprinkle with bacon.

7. Bake uncovered in 180 degrees celcius fan forced oven for approximately 1 hour. I like to have the ramekins on a baking tray so they can be removed easily. Take care not to burn yourself and remember to let the ramekins cool a little before placing them on a child's plate.

Crumbed Ling with Potato Salad

Time for a confession: I think my favourite way to eat fish is battered or fried! Defeats the health benefits but very tasty. This is a recipe using ling fillet, which is similar to perch. With soft, white flesh, it is great for fussy children as well. The recipe can be simplified by using store bought breadcrumbs.

 

The accompanying potato salad is delicious ad a new favourite in this household. I wouldn't really recommend using store bought mayonnaise because the secret to its charm is the homemade dressing.

I use my Thermomix to prepare the crumb for the fish, to hard boil the eggs, steam the potatoes and make the dressing. However, you can complete these steps using your stove top and other appliances.

 

Crumbed Ling with Potato Salad

 

Serves 4-6

 

Fish

 

600g Ling fish (or similar)

6 bread slices

Grated rind of 1 lemon

Salt & pepper to taste

1.5 teaspoons of Mixed Italian Herbs

2-3 eggs, beaten

1 cup flour

 

Potato Salad 

 

1kg potatoes

3 hard boiled eggs

3 trimmed and diced bacon rashers

Handful of chopped chives

Salt & pepper to taste

 

Dressing

 

2 egg yolks

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 garlic clove, crushed

125ml light olive oil

 

1. I always start with the mayonnaise dressing. To make the dressing, place egg yolks, mustard, lemon juice and garlic in the Thermomix (or a food processor). Mix 20 seconds/speed 4.

 

2. Then slowly add oil in a steady stream through top of lid over a period of 1 minute/speed 4. Finally mix for a further 2 minutes/speed 4. Your mayonnaise is now ready and can be set aside in fridge until ready to use.

 

3. Hard boil eggs, peel and set aside.

 

4. Cook bacon over medium heat in a non-stick fry pan until cooked to your liking and then set aside to cool.

 

5. Potatoes can be peeled or left unpeeled if preferred. Chop potatoes and boil or steam until just tender. 

 

6. Once potatoes are cooled to room temperature, combine with chopped hard boiled eggs, bacon and mayonnaise. Sprinkle with chives and lightly mix through.

 

7. Ling is usually sold de-boned and in large fillets. Slice it into serving size pieces and set aside whilst you prepare crumb mixture.

 

8. To make bread crumb coating, combine 6 roughly torn up slices of bread, lemon rind, salt and pepper and mixed Italian herbs in Thermomix and grind 10 seconds/speed 6. Pour into a bowl.

 

9. Coat fish pieces in flour, dip in egg and then coat with bread crumbs.

 

10. Shallow fry the fish in a pan and then serve with the potato salad.

 





Pasta e Broccoli

Most Italians, or at least Southern Italians, will recognise this traditional dish - pasta e broccoli (pasta and broccoli). As a child, you either loved it or hated it. As an adult, you will love the simplicity of this dish and the amount of time it takes to cook (it's very quick). My children all eat it, but best of all, my youngest and fussiest child eats it every time! Hallelujah!

 

 

Pasta e Broccoli

 

Serves 4-6

 

1-2 heads of broccoli

1-2 potatoes

300g spaghetti

oil

salt and pepper

Parmesan cheese (optional)

 

 

1. Clean broccoli and chop up into small pieces. I usually discard the thicker parts of the stem. Apparently, the florets are packed with the most nutrients anyway so this is okay. The florets cook the fastest, and that is why I prefer to just use them and not the thicker stems. However, there is no reason you can't include the stems.

 

2. Peel and chop potatoes into small bite size pieces.

 

3. Place broccoli and potatoes in a saucepan with water. Ensure the saucepan is large enough to also cook the pasta in. Place on stove top on high and bring to the boil. Leave it boil for at least 10 minutes so that the potatoes and broccoli become half cooked.

 

4. Meanwhile, break or snap your spaghetti into 2-3cm pieces. You don't need to be precise, so long as they are short enough to be picked up with a spoon. You can buy spaghetti already cut into smaller pieces but sometimes it's therapeutic to stand there snapping pasta!





The snapped pasta

5. Add the pasta to the half cooked broccoli and potatoes. Season with salt and pepper and add a touch of olive oil. Continue boiling until the pasta is cooked to your liking.

 

6. Then, simply dish out ready for eating. It is lovely served with fresh grated Parmesan on top.

 

 

Notes:

 

Some people mash the broccoli and potatoes up completely before adding the pasta. I have done this in the past when my children refused to eat broccoli, but I'm now able to leave it a little more intact :)

 

Amounts of pasta and other ingredients are easily adjustable and will depend on how many adults/children are eating and whether you are having this dish as a meal on its own or as a starter.

 

Are you familiar with this dish? Do you make it in a different way?