Breakfast in a Glass

Uovoa Affogate con Dragoncello & Pomodoro Secco

Coddled Eggs with Tarragon & Sun-Dried Tomato

Coddled eggs- an ages old tradition in Jolly Old England and a nice, simple and stylish way to enjoy your breakfast eggies- what's not to like about that? Of course, it helps to have some nice egg coddlers like these, but otherwise you can simply use any baking ramekins with lids or even ones without if you cover them with foil... it's a totally easy and fun thing to prepare!

Usually, the eggs are just "coddled" plain, but very often, they are elaborated upon with a few herbs, maybe a little ham or bacon... or cheese... on in this case, simply with some tangy sun-dried tomato and fragrant tarragon. Look good? Sound good? Well it IS good! You can take it from me!

These are my pretty Wagenfeld egg coddlers- classics here in Germany and unchanged since the 30's apparently... and with good reason! Those handy clips are the perfect way to seal the glass lids on top and also a totally safe way to remove the coddlers from the saucepan once they have finished cooking... needless to say, I love them!

Here are my ingredients again- eggs, tarragon, sun dried tomatoes and the best thing to enjoy them with, a nice whole grain role to toast to a rich, dark golden brown and to add a lot of crunch to this mild, fragrant, yet tangy affair- and that's all you need to have a spectacular start to your day!

Preparing this is about as simple as can be. Pluck a few leaves of tarragon and drop them into the bottom of the coddler, along with a few strips of finely sliced sun dried tomato. Not too much- you don't want to overpower things as these guys are pretty flavorful!

if you don't have the egg coddlers, again, simply use a ramekin or baking dish- anything that is heat resistant and can go into your saucepan later in a bath of boiling water... even a regular glass or a tea cup will do.

Next, crack in your egg, carefully, so as not to break the yolk. That's about the most complicated part of this, haha! I told you it is as simple as can be!

Here we go- let's have a close-up... just because it is so pretty! This is my favorite way to prepare eggs for breakfast hands-down!

Then on go the lids- or failing that, aluminum foil, nice and tight, and into a bath of water that is about 3/4 the depth of the coddlers or your container... the last thing you want is for water to get in there!

Let them boil away and cook for 7-8 minutes if you want you yolk soft and runny, or for 10-11 if you like it a little firmer and just "waxy" and soft, like I did this morning. Bear in mind that the egg will continue cooking in the residual heat until if gets set before your guests (or yourself!) at the breakfast table.

Once they are done, season with salt and pepper and enjoy with some crunchy bread or toast. A sprinkle of nutmeg would have been nice with this- or you may even like to add a pat of butter or a spot of cream... but I like mine plain and simple, just tasting of rich egg yolk, pungent tarragon and tangy sun-dried tomatoes... that is already plenty of good flavor in my books!

You may have seen my other favorite coddled egg variation with sun-dried tomato, bacon, mint and onion... more Sicilian, where this is a little more French- and you might possibly see more in the future! There are about a million and one things you can add to coddled eggs... and more than enough opportunities to try them... I suggest you get started now! Enjoy!

Yes, I Can...

Zuppa di Sardi "Laksa" con Fogli di Limone "Kaffir", Soia, Zenzero & Vermicelli

Sardine Laksa with Kaffir Lime Leaves, Edamame, Ginger & Mung Bean Vermicelli

That's right, Dear Reader, those are indeed little fishies swimming around in that bowl of soup- just imagine that, on my little blog of all places! What makes it even more curious, is the fact that I used canned sardines of all things to make this! But the fact is, I have been reading about and seeing more and more recipes from Asia in which canned sardines are used and was simply eager to find out for myself, what all the fuss is about...

The dish I made is a "kind-of Laksa"- a type of soup popular all over Asia, but especially in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. It is based on Chinese and Malay traditions of the Peranakan culture... at least that is what Wikipedia will have you know! Basically, these soups are made of something- some kind of meat, fish or vegetable- or a combination thereof, which is placed on a bed of noodles and then covered in a piping hot broth and some fresh herbs... and which is absolutely wonderful!

So apart from the sardines, the other ingredients I needed to make this delicious, improvised soup was about 50g of Mung bean vermicelli, a good handful of edamame (frozen in this case), celery, shallot, ginger and a 5-6 frozen Kaffir lime leaves- all down to Earth, simple and good stuff!

The first thing that needed doing, was to prepare a broth to pour over the noodles and I made this from about 2" worth of very finely sliced ginger, 1 small stick of celery, very finely sliced, 4-5 Kaffir lime leaves and of course spices! I made a mixture of 1 tablespoon of Tom Yum paste, 1 tablespoon of 5-Spice powder and about 1/3rd of a teaspoon of fine chili powder. 

I added the Edamame to the broth and let them bubble away for 10 minutes or so and in the meantime I popped the sardines very carefully onto a frying pan, added a good sprinkle of coarsely ground black pepper and let them come up to temperature, whilst I prepared the other ingredient- the noodles!

The great thing about Mung bean or "glass" noodles, is that they simply need to be submerged in boiling water and allowed to soak for 4-5 minutes- don'tcha just love that about them? :-)

So, what you can see here, are the sardines, hot from the frying pan, set out on top of the noodles, with the shallot, very finely sliced and some tender celery leaves and parsley. It could have been coriander if I had, had any- but today I didn't- and anyway, there is hardly anything "authentic" about this anyway... it was purely my own creation and that is just fine by me! As far as I am concerned, if you want authentic and traditional Asian food and are of Asian decent- you can go to a restaurant or even fly away on vacation to do so. If you aren't- then whatever tastes good works!
  

The next thing to do, before adding the broth and serving up the soup, was to fish out the edamame and to pop them out of the shell- fortunately a total easy affair! So out of the shells they came and straight back into the broth they went!

All that I needed to do now was to add the broth basically, which I carefully poured in, making sure to get all of the goodies into the bowl... the ginger and edamame and the celery leaves- all things with loads of flavor and now that they had all boiled together, so rich and delicious!

I added a little extra lime juice, just to make things a little tangier, as well as a hint more "heat" in the form of a dash of Sriracha chili sauce. There was a little seasoning missing, of of course a little sesame went in rather than salt- and the soup was now absolutely perfect and totally delicious, even for someone who is not a great fan of fish!

As long as you are careful with the sardines, they will remain intact and retain a nice consistency and bite- I must say that I was rather surprised! And very, very happy with the result!

So my final words to this posting here are that it may not be traditional, it may not be authentic, the spices may be a little too basic and the ingredients very simple. But oh yes- I can! And you can too! This is a great quick, economical, healthy and tasty meal! And definitely one NOT to miss!

What a Pear!

Pizzette alla Griglia con Gorgonzola, Pera, Salvia & Paprika Affumicata
Grill-Pan Pizza's with Gorgonzola, Pear, Sage and Smoked Paprika



Another lazy, Friday night snack of a supper here- but tasty and delicious all the same! Pear and gorgonzola- a classic combination and a crowd pleasure, it is no wonder that these wonderful little "pizzi" remind us just exactly why we love it so much!

I made the pizette (little pizza's) from super-convenient store-bought pizza dough, which I first quickly baked on a non-stick grill pan, before adding the topping of a mild Gorgonzola, some aromatic sage leaves, 1 extremely thinly sliced shallot and nice, ripe pear. Does that sound good to you? Does it float your boat as much as it did mine? Well good! Then pull up a chair and I will tell you how to make them!


I started off by cutting the pizza bases out using a sharp knife and "baking" them on a very hot grill pan for maybe 3-4 minutes from each side- just until the dough becomes firm enough to pick up and flip over. Don't worry if it is looking a little pale- raw even, except for those scorch marks as it is going back in the oven to finish later- but those scorch marks are what we want to have after all :-)



So, that was easy- now for the topping! The first thing we need is Gorgonzola, just 5-6 dabs of it here and there are more than enough. Even though this was a mild, "sweet" Gorgonzola "dolce" itself, it was still very rich. So less is probably more- especially as we can always add more cheese later. We would definitely have more of a hard time removing excess cheese than adding it after all!

Next- the sage leaves... 4-5 per individual, little pizza are more than enough- sage packs quite a punch after all! And now that we have the two ingredients with the strongest flavors, let's add 4-5 slices of sweet, ripe pear to balance things out... after all, that is the secret of great cooking, isn't it? The sweetness of the pear is really important to balance the extreme saltiness of the Gorgonzola- which becomes even more intense once it is melted and which is the reason we don't need to season these little beauties- so don't forget... no extra salt!



The shallot was the last ingredient, scattered here and there and pressed into the cheese a little- and then into the oven the pan went, at the highest temperature, for 5 minutes- just long enough for the cheese to melt. Once that happens, fetch the pizzas back out and press the pear, sage and shallot down into the melted Gorgonzola, so that it all sticks nicely together and becomes moist and juicy. Then pop it back into the oven for a further 5-6 minutes, until everything becomes a lovely, bubbly, golden brown- mmm!


The finishing touch is a sprinkle of smoked paprika powder, which gives the sweetness and saltiness a nice "lift" and keeps the flavors from being too heavy and one sided. Just a little of each ingredient is all you need to get a wonderful, tasty balance and to turn this tasty snack into a real treat. And for sure more fun than anything you can order from your local pizza joint... just sayin' ;-)

Using Your Loaf

Sformato di Melanzane con i Crespelle, Pinoli, Tahini, Zenzero & Harissa
Savory Aubergine Loaf with Barberries, Pine Nuts, Tahini, Ginger & Harissa

I have to admit that I really am happy that I can still get excited about eggplant and find new ways to prepare it. There is nothing more boring than... boring food! Just because you have favorite ingredients, doesn't mean they have to become tedious. I use the same ingredients over and over again, I just try to prepare them in different ways. All it takes is a little thought, or a bit of "using your loaf" as the British like to call it!

So I "used my loaf" and ended up making a kind of loaf this evening- who knew you could even do such a thing? I didn't really... this just kind-of happened to be honest- but I am glad that it did! My main objective this evening was to do something really flavorful with the eggplant, but as I began obsessing over whether I should serve it with rice... or pasta... or couscous... or something else entirely, I suddenly changed my mind at the last minute and transformed it into this yummy loaf!

To make this you will need 1 large eggplant, 2 eggs, 5-6 tablespoons of bread crumbs, 3 teaspoons of barberries, 2 teaspoons of pine nuts, 2 teaspoons of finely chopped ginger, 9-10 cherry tomatoes, an onion, 1 handful each of parsley and mint and Harissa and Tahini to taste.

I started off by peeling and dicing the eggplant, finely chopping the onion- and yes. very finely chopping the ginger... or grating even. The only thing that is really important is that those good flavors are in there! And speaking of good flavors, a finely chopped clove of garlic would have been wonderful in this combination... if only I'd have had some at home! Grrr!

So- the eggplant, onion, ginger, barberries and pine nuts all went into a dry, non-stick pan, with a good pinch of salt and pepper and the temperature turned up high. Fear not- as within a couple of minutes, enough moisture will develop for everything to cook wonderfully, without it getting soaked in oil. Just keep stirring every minute or so, and after 10-15 minutes, you will have a nice, tender and juicy result.

Once the eggplant and onion were nicely cooked, I added roughly 5-6 tablespoons of bread crumbs to them, along with the finely chopped mint and parsley and 9-10 finely diced tomatoes. At this point I also added a good tablespoon of tahini and a teaspoon of harissa, some salt and pepper and just a pinch of cinnamon. Once all of these ingredients were added, the eggplant of course both cooled down rapidly as well as being made firmer by the bread crumbs soaking up a lot of the moisture.

Now that everything was cooled down, I was able to add the egg- I did this one at a time and I suggest you do the same- it is all about finding the right balance and of course no two eggplants are the same size, nor eggs- so you may need to add bread-crumbs accordingly if your mix is too soft. 

But again- in my case this evening, I needed 6 tablespoons of bread crumbs and 2 eggs to bind the one large eggplant into a soft but firm mass- roughly the consistency as it happens of the ground meat you would use to form hamburgers with. Or in this case... meat loaf!

Now that the mix was ready, all I needed to do was to lightly coat a baking dish with a little olive oil and a sprinkle of bread crumbs to prevent the loaf from sticking and gently spooning it in and patting it down firmly. 

Into a pre-heated oven it went, for 30-40 minutes at 375°F, on the middle shelf, to bake and become transformed into a truly delicious alternative to a classic meat loaf- and it all just happened by coincidence believe it or not! It was just one of those spur of the moment ideas- often the best way to go about cooking if you ask me!

And in the meantime... I managed to do my washing-up, which I always prefer to get out of the way before dinner is served if I can... hate me for that if you must!

After around 30 minutes, I fetched the loaf out of the oven to have a little sneak preview... the fragrance was outstanding, I must say! I drizzled the loaf lightly with a few drops of sesame oil and spread it over the surface with a brush, just to let the outermost bread crumbs crisp-up better and become a lovely golden brown- as well as to heighten the sesame flavor already there from the tahini... the great thing was that as simple as this dish is, because of the barberries and ginger, the tahini and the harissa, the resulting flavor is so yummy, spicy, tangy and terrific along with the fresh mint and juicy tomatoes... there is just so much going on in there!

And 5-10 minutes later, it was ready to serve... but absolutely piping hot! Which means that I almost burned my lips- as it was so irresistible that just couldn't wait any longer and absolutely had to try it!

Let me just say that this tasted terrific- ok? May I do that? I am sure the pictures speak for themselves anyway, but the best way to know what was so special about this would be simply to make this yourselves. Somehow, I don't think you will regret it! Have fun!

Rags to Ridges

Penne Rigate con Straccetti di Maiale, Salvia & Sedano
Penne Rigate with Strips of Pork, Sage and Celery

The word "straccetti", or "little rags", is the description used in Italy to describe thin strips of meat such as these. The word "righe", meaning "ridges", is the word that the description "rigate" is derived from- hence the name "penne rigate", or "penne with ridges". So now you know ;-)

Also, if you are reading this, you plainly know that I brought these two ingredients together at suppertime this evening. More by chance than by design, more out of curiosity than necessity, I came up with this idea. There were 2 small slices of pork tenderloin left over from the other night and deciding that they would make only a meagre main course, I decided to use them in a slightly unusual way and to combine them with sage and celery, to make a tasty and rather different pasta dish. I am pretty good at doing things like that, you know... 

So here you have it- no more than a good handful of very thinly sliced pork strips, a shallot, half a carrot, a young, tender stick of celery (including the pale yellow leaves) and 5-6 fresh sage leaves. I doubt that it really matters exactly which cut of pork you would use for this, as it is cut so thinly and cooked so briefly, but as I said- this was an experiment with the tenderloin and it worked just fine.

The only prep-work to be done here, was to very finely dice the carrot, celery and the shallot for the "sofritto". A little garlic would have been a good addition here... but I didn't have any and shock! Horror! I used a little garlic salt to make up for it... but don't tell everybody!

The method here was simple- the water needed to boil for me to cook the penne in, so in the meantime I did the slicing and chopping that I have already mentioned and then the fun began. 

As soon as I had added the penne to the water, along with a good teaspoon of salt for this single serving, I heated up my non-stick frying pan nice and hot to be ready for the pork, which I then added with no extra fat. Of course, tenderloin is very lean, but it still had enough fat on it, so that when I added the sofritto, everything began to fry and brown wonderfully together.

Next, I added 4-5 sage leaves, finely chopped, a couple of finely chopped celery leaves, a pinch of garlic salt, a generous grind of pepper. Suddenly the whole kitchen smelled wonderful! As soon as the meat had changed color from bright pink to almost white, I deglazed the pan with a quick splash of white wine and a ladle of cooking water from the penne. This brought up all of the good flavors from the bottom of the pan.

After 6-7 minutes of cooking, the pasta was "getting there", but still really firm... perfect time to add it to the pork! So in it went, ladle-for-ladle, until it was all in the frying pan with just enough of the water to keep everything nice and moist.

I let the pasta, pork and sofritto gently simmer away and cook together, so that the pasta became flooded with good flavors and the pork became nice and tender. It only took 3-4 minutes at the most, on a nice high heat, all of the excess water evaporated away and all that was left was pasta, nice and juicy and flavorful!

I added a nice splash of olive oil before serving and tossed it through thoroughly, then added a few more of each the tiny, yellow, intense celery leaves and a couple of the youngest and tenderest sage leaves, along with a generous grind of coarse ground pepper.

So, sure, this was as usual a very simple and modest dish, but at the same time, the rich essential oils of the sage leaves and celery went so well with the pork, that together with the touch of wine, the sofritto and a hint of garlic... you couldn't want for much more flavor!

Try it and see- I myself was skeptical as to whether the pork would bring enough flavor with it- but it certainly does! I think I will be doing this again sometime soon and I think that you should all make it too!

Watch Your Fingers!

Lenticchie Gialle & Okra con una Crosta di Farina di Ceci alla Tandoori
Mung Dal & Tandoori Gram-Flour Crusted Okra

Ok- in my own defense, I am neither Indian, nor have I seen Madhur Jaffrey in a gazillion years... I have been here in Germany for the past 26 years and have been tv-less for a little more than a year now. So don't be too harsh in your judgement, please!

But all kidding aside though- as un-traditional or un-authentic as my supper may have been this evening, it was still tasty to eat and simple to make. And it was very, very healthy too. So I can live with any criticism- have at it! This was fat-free and tasty, done in 30 minutes- and that's good enough for me... and possibly for some of you too...

The ingredients were simple- "Mung Dal", also known as split mung beans or split yellow lentils... please don't ask how they can be both! Then of course okra, a handful of cherry tomatoes, some fresh ginger, a shallot, some gram (chickpea) flour and some Tandoori spice. I could have made it more intricate, I could have used more spices... I could have used a recipe! But that's not me! When I am in the kitchen, it is all about my instincts, what I have in the cupboard and what mood I am in- these are my 3 main ingredients!

My mission was to make a simple but tasty "dal" or lentil dish and to add the fresh okra I had bought in some way. I thought that ginger would be a good defining flavor for the dal and decided that I wanted something a little tangy to add to the okra, to pep it up a little. Nothing too hot and spicy, just a nice contrast. Also, I wanted to prepare it in a way that would not have it turn too sticky and slimy on me- and then it dawned on me to use the stickiness of the okra to give it a gram flour crust. And, yep- a good idea it was too!

I started off by boiling the lentils- 2 cups in this case, in 5-6 cups of water or so. I say this, because normally I would use double the amount of water to the amount of lentils I wanted to cook- but this evening, I did end up topping up the water twice by the time the lentils were finished around 25 minutes later. So there- now you know how long it took for them to cook as well! 

In the meantime, I started preparing the okra. For this I mixed 2 tablespoons of chickpea flour and 2 teaspoons of Tandoori spice together with a little salt and a pinch of cayenne pepper for a bit of heat. I then topped and tailed the okra and added it to the flour and spice, stirring it around with a spoon until each piece was coated.

Once the okra was well coated, I began toasting it in a non-stick pan with no added oil- just a dry heat. I kept stirring it occasionally, but basically left it to toast a little and for the flavor of the chickpeas and the spice to begin to develop. And in the meantime I did a little more prep-work for the lentils...

Which meant simply cutting both the shallot and about a 2" piece of ginger into a very fine dice. These then went into a small frying pan with a pat of ghee (clarified butter) and began to fry gently. Whilst they gently sizzled away and began to caramelize, I also chopped 5-6 cherry tomatoes up finely and added them to the onion and ginger. I let them sizzle away together for a couple of minutes and then scraped them into the saucepan with the lentils. Easy. And whilst they gently simmered on, I turned my attention back to the chickpeas...

By now the okra was beginning to wilt slightly and they were sticking together a little- my cue to add a good splash of water to the frying pan- just about enough to cover the base of the pan. Working very swiftly, I stirred the okra until the moisture was evenly distributed and kept on stirring. 

What the water did, was that it immediately finished the cooking process during turning to steam. It also transformed the light-colored flour coating into a vibrant red, as well as suddenly beginning to smell much more intense- in a very good way! But soon enough, after just a couple of minutes at the most, the moisture had evaporated away and the gram flour and spice mix began to dry out and toast and turn into a delicious crusty coating... yummy!

I checked on the dal which was nicely cooked and tasting nicely of ginger and shallot, but still had a little too much moisture to be totally delicious... and so what did I do? I scooped together the Tandoori-spiced flour that was left over, about 1 heaped teaspoon, and quickly dissolved it in a little water before adding it to the lentils to thicken them up a little... and let me tell you, the color that it changes to when you add the water will amaze you! I added this to the gently boiling dal, stirred it in quickly to prevent any clumping and let is simmer away for a minute or two before turning off the heat. 

And that was it!

The dal was now creamy and smooth, with a very gentle ginger flavor, and the okra was a great contrast with its tangy coating... yummy! I love using gram flour in this way, to give things a nice, light, crispy and chewy shell without having to drench things in oil- this is so much better for you. And being to quick to make on a weekday night? This was an absolutely brilliant idea! Even if I DO say so myself... Enjoy!

Getting Stoned for Supper

Involtini di Maiale con la Salvia & Fichi Secchi, Peperone Rosso, Chuño Blanco (Patata Seccha da Peru) & Annato

Pork, Sage, & Dried Fig Rolls, with Red Peppers, Chuño Blanco (Peruvian Dried Potatoes) & Annato

Oh, sure, this is another silly title for a post, as always, but fear not- it has nothing to do with drinking or taking drugs in any way, shape or form! No- even more distressingly, it is about eating something that really looks, rather distressingly, like a stone! No kidding!

Whilst checking out Mrs. Wong's incredible, unusual and always remarkable shelves of goodies, I discovered a bag of what at first looked like... well- stones! The kind of stones that people bring back from vacation sometime- porous and smooth and bleached white by the sun. Strange. I picked up the bag and found that it was incredibly light... stranger still! So I turned the bag over and read the small print on the back... "naturally freeze-dried, Peruvian potatoes"- and that was about the strangest thing I had ever heard! Who knew?!?! 

Having read the legend "El Sabor de Casa" on the bag- I decided to myself, "how bad can "the taste of home" be? And although Mrs. Wong wasn't able to tell me how they tasted, she did mention that certain Latino customers swear that they are good for the eyes ?!?! Curiouser and curiouser!

So in any case, I decided to risk them- I picked up a bag and took it home with me and then got busy looking up information on this obscure and unusual vegetable...

Chuño Blanco, or "Tunta" as they are known in Peru and Bolivia, are potatoes that some poor person stamps on, barefoot, until all of the water is squeezed out of them. The gentle but constant rubbing together of the potatoes, rubs away the skin, leaving them white and slightly dehydrated. The rest of the drying takes place up in the cold air and the sun at the tops of the mountains of Peru- how awesome!

So, this is what they look like! Pretty wild, huh? and each one just the size of a large egg maybe- but much lighter! Obviously, as they were dehydrated- the needed to be RE-hydrated and so I put them into a bowl of water to soak before leaving for work this morning. Immediately, they began to bubble as they stated to soak- water seeping in and forcing air out- fun! 

By the time I got home this evening, they were the same weight as a regular potato, but just a tad softer. I rinsed them off a couple of times and then got busy preparing the rest of the ingredients... it was time to cook already!

After reading up on them online, I found that the most common preparation was a stew, made with potatoes, chillies and peanuts- which sounded pretty good- but still- I have no real idea of what Peruvian or Bolivian food is like- so I decided to do my own thing. You know me by now! lol!

So what do we have here? 3 small slices of tender fillet of pork, 1 red pointy pepper, 1 onion, 3 dried figs, a little parsley, a little sage, ground annatto and cumin seeds... sounded like a good mix to me!

The first thing I did was to cut the figs in half, open them out and then lay them onto the pork slices, along with a couple of leaves of sage and some freshly ground salt and pepper. This was as simple to make as it was going to end up being delicious... this much I can promise!

I then rolled up the pork, tied it to keep it in shape and sautéed it for 3-4 minutes at a relatively high temperature to get it nice golden brown on the outside. It was still rosy and pink on the inside... all no problem! The whole reason for doing this is to get some good flavor into the surface of the meat and a nice residue of flavor in the bottom of the frying pan.

The pork can now go into the same saucepan as the potatoes, with just enough water to cover them and can be brought up to the boil. In the meantime, I quickly sautéed the onion and red pepper, along with about a half teaspoonful of cumin, for 2-3 minutes. By that time, the potatoes and meat were gently simmering away and the peppers and onions were beginning to brown- perfect timing. I added a heaped teaspoon of annatto powder to the peppers and onion and everything immediately turned a deep, orange-gold color. I took a ladle or two of water from the potatoes and deglazed the frying pan, then transferred the onions and peppers to the saucepan and let them sit on top of the meat and potatoes.

I seasoned with salt, pepper, a little cayenne and a little nutmeg, stirred everything gently, reduced the heat to a gentle simmer and then put the lid back on and let it sit and bubble away for at least an hour.

The potatoes seem soft on the outside, but they have a firmer and chewier consistency than a regular, fresh potato. And at this point I wish to point out that no- they are not a flavor that everyone is going to love! They did not taste bad as such, but the consistency is a little mealy and there is no denying of the fact that there is a slight hint of fermentation that has been going on during the process of drying...

After an hour or so, although they were still a little dense in the center, the potatoes were to all extents and purposes cooked through. I took a couple of the smaller ones, mashed them and then stirred them back in in order to thicken the sauce.

The next little chore that needed to be taken care of before I could plate up and enjoy, was to remove the threads from the rolls- so I did that and then popped them back into the gravy in order to keep warm and moist.

I served up the potatoes, peppers and onions first, with a couple of spoonfuls of sauce to go with them, then took the rolls and cut them into slices, which I arranged on top of the vegetables. An extra spoonful of sauce here and there, a little freshly ground pepper and a couple of sprigs of parsley later, my dish was ready and dinner was served!

Time for honesty again. The combination of pork, fig and sage is absolutely wonderful- a no brainer. The sweet peppers, onion and annatto are an absolutely perfect combination to go with it. But those potatoes? Where we have no problems having fresh potatoes all year round- they need to stop at the tops of those mountains! And you and I need to make this again using regular ones!

... but at least I had a little fun finding that out!